Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 20, 2011 3:51 pm Having never built a home before we would love some advice on budgets and what can be achieved? Currently we are tossing up between buying an established house or spending around $500k on building a dream house on a 1 acre country parcel of land. The question is, what can you get for your money? Our dream is a New England country style. It doesn't need to be an enormous house, more cosy then sprawling. 2 story with picture box windows upstairs (raked ceilings would be gorgeous), shingled roof, 4/5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms + powder room + ducted heating essential + 2/3 car garage + separate Barn/Studio space. Large white country kitchen + conservatory are my two main requests. Being a designer myself (not of houses unfortunately) i know I have expensive taste when it comes to fittings which no doubt will be my downfall. Is it achievable? We really have no idea what is possible when it comes to the cost of building houses? We are torn between buying an already established house (but then spend 5 years fiddling on it as we have done with our current house) or just having built what we really want? Due to work commitments, owner builder isn't an option for us. Your advice would be greatly appreciated!! Re: What can $500K build? 2Jan 20, 2011 4:11 pm Depends is that $500 just for the house or for house and land, it will also depend where you are building, what the block is like. Cheers Lou http://take2-customdesigndownslope.blogspot.com 07-10-09 omg they have cut the block 14-05-10 we finally have the keys Re: What can $500K build? 3Jan 20, 2011 5:57 pm Hello, thanks for the reply. The $500k is just for the house and fittings. We are looking to building in the Southern Highlands of NSW on a fairly level cleared 1 acre block with services available. Re: What can $500K build? 4Jan 20, 2011 6:39 pm Fittings alone can go for 200k. Depends on what ur after. A good double story with display home fittings punches well above the 400 mark. Re: What can $500K build? 5Jan 21, 2011 9:00 am I would start with a house design that you are after, building is all about compromise unless you have an unlimited budget. Work out a list of what you want then break that down to the must have, would be nice to have and what is easy to change or add later. Like you mention a shingled roof which would be expensive there are tiles around that would give a similar look without the price tag and the extra money would be better allocated to upgrading the kitchen. We designed our own home and too us the most important thing was getting the layout of the house how we wanted, and we are so happy with the result, There are a few areas we compromised on like the type of carpet, some of the cabinetry work but these things are easy to change later on. We used the rule of using standard products well it is when you start getting custom products made (like windows) that costs can get out of hand. But I would start with a house design and talk to some builders. Cheers Lou http://take2-customdesigndownslope.blogspot.com 07-10-09 omg they have cut the block 14-05-10 we finally have the keys Re: What can $500K build? 6Jan 21, 2011 11:22 am I'm building a double story "volume" builder home on acreage with additional massive garages, balcony etc. and its come out at $600k. Was looking at custom build, but this house ticks all the boxes, and to build the same sized\featured house would cost a LOT more. H's Emperor Q1 on acreage Site cut 16/6/11 Slab 2/8 Frame 29/8 Tiles 9/9 Bricks 13/10 Plaster 2/11 Fittings 28/11 PCI 19/3 Re: What can $500K build? 7Jan 21, 2011 12:16 pm Hi movetohighlands. i am hoping to start building there this year. I made a plan for a 22square home (30 with verandahs) which was single story on flat land and basic fitouts. The quote I got from a builder (will get more once draftsman finishes the plans) was 475,000. So given the area and what you are describing, I think you would be very hard pressed in that area to get a builder to do what you want for 500k. Building tip No. 3: A raft slab will not get you down a river. A waffle pod slab does not go with maple syrup. My building thread https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=53000 Re: What can $500K build? 8Jan 21, 2011 12:30 pm You will get it a lot cheaper if you can start with a builders plan. We made our own plan from scratch, simplified it as much as we could based on advice from builders and ended up with a circa $600K quote for 32sqm from a custom builder. Then found a plan by a smaller "volume" builder, modified it (mainly internally) and now have a quote for around $500K for 43sqm. If you are after something really special you will need to look at something much smaller as anything outside of the norm usually adds to the price significantly (e.g. we were quoted over $5K just to use a stepped cornice instead of the standard). Re: What can $500K build? 9Jan 21, 2011 1:21 pm barker Hi movetohighlands. i am hoping to start building there this year. I made a plan for a 22square home (30 with verandahs) which was single story on flat land and basic fitouts. The quote I got from a builder (will get more once draftsman finishes the plans) was 475,000. So given the area and what you are describing, I think you would be very hard pressed in that area to get a builder to do what you want for 500k. Barker, Correct me if i missed something. Is this 475,000 house and land? Re: What can $500K build? 11Jan 21, 2011 1:27 pm I have some plans for a house that may be to your liking, although I have no idea what a "New England Style country home" is. GLW and I looked at this place but were put off as it was on an OK size block (623m) but just horribly positioned and didn't really like the idea of sharing common land either. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I can see if I can get the actual plans for you if this would suit or just put you on to the agent. We really liked the design of this place. Was going to be in weather board so would suit a WB barn also. Re: What can $500K build? 12Jan 21, 2011 1:44 pm I seem to remember we were going to put a door between Bed 2 and Lounge and delete the other door as Bed 2 would be home office for GLW. Extending En-suite to include the WC then yurning the dead end hallway(from removing bed2 door) and making that the shared WC then relocate linen closet. I believe they were after around $440k with land for this one. I'm thin land value would have been around $150k Re: What can $500K build? 13Jan 21, 2011 2:55 pm hi we are about to start our build, and we ended up going with our own plan as it worked out cheaper. we couldn't quite find what we wanted in off the plan homes, and once we added in changes it was going to be too much. so we did our own plans. at least that way it's what we want. over in wa we have architect companies that draw up your plans for free and tender them out to builders who build in the area, they just take the comission that a sales from a building company would normally get. our plan is 324sqm, with no garage, but we r building country so will have a shed and add a garage on later as working to strict budget now. the build cost is going to be about $315k. but we r going no frills, and we r single storey. if u can find an off the plan design that u like without having to make too many changes to it, i'd go that way, but if u find u have to make too many changes, might be cheaper to design ur own. that's my 2 cents worth anyways viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43238 building with kerdels in gabbadah, wa block purchased april 2010 signed with builder oct 2010 papers signed jan 2011 prestart done 17/01/2011 Re: What can $500K build? 14Jan 21, 2011 3:28 pm JJ305 barker Hi movetohighlands. i am hoping to start building there this year. I made a plan for a 22square home (30 with verandahs) which was single story on flat land and basic fitouts. The quote I got from a builder (will get more once draftsman finishes the plans) was 475,000. So given the area and what you are describing, I think you would be very hard pressed in that area to get a builder to do what you want for 500k. Barker, Correct me if i missed something. Is this 475,000 house and land? Nope, that was just for the house. It did involve polished concrete floors which may have put the price up but everything else was not high spec. I am going OB with a slightly simpler design with a goal of 250k complete build and site costs. Otherwise it would have been project builder for me as well. Just outside of Bowral there is a hotondo display home you might be interested in, kind of meets what you were looking for and can be built for about 370k with good fitout. Building tip No. 3: A raft slab will not get you down a river. A waffle pod slab does not go with maple syrup. My building thread https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=53000 Re: What can $500K build? 15Jan 21, 2011 3:44 pm Something to keep in mind: As you are building on acreage, work out where the house is and work out how much the services are going to cost-power, water, sewerage and also remember what you are going to do for a driveway. These little things may chew into your 500 grand quite considerably. Re: What can $500K build? 16Jan 21, 2011 9:57 pm Don't be disheartened by some of the price been mentioned, every project is so different there as so many different variables, sketch out what you are after, take photos and images from mags and go and talk to the local builders. This is how we started we ended up with the home we wanted in our budget, we had quotes from ranging from $420 to $550 for the same build, all this is takes time and you need patients but it will pay off in the end. Cheers Lou http://take2-customdesigndownslope.blogspot.com 07-10-09 omg they have cut the block 14-05-10 we finally have the keys Re: What can $500K build? 17Jan 23, 2011 7:51 pm I agree with take2!!! We are in the process at the moment and our first quote was $300000 and the quote was missing a lot of things (thank you turn key builder who didnt want to build our house) Hotondo were our saviour! same house $220000 if not less with more inclusions!!! look at Hotondo! First home builder... Building with HOTONDO in Wollongong... Land settlement 13th May 2010 Any advice is appreciated! Good Luck with your homes! Re: What can $500K build? 18Jan 23, 2011 8:12 pm For 500, 000 you can build our house 2.7 times. Our new house - moved in but so much more to do! https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=31696&p=442009#p442009 Re: What can $500K build? 19Jan 24, 2011 7:42 am We also looked at Polished concrete floors, but they weren't going to add serious $$ to the build Re: What can $500K build? 20Jan 25, 2011 11:36 am E1109 Something to keep in mind: As you are building on acreage, work out where the house is and work out how much the services are going to cost-power, water, sewerage and also remember what you are going to do for a driveway. These little things may chew into your 500 grand quite considerably. Definitely. Its cost me $50k for connections, probably another $15k+ for a gravel driveway And the site didn't have a planning permit, so that cost another $10k for a planner to handle that. H's Emperor Q1 on acreage Site cut 16/6/11 Slab 2/8 Frame 29/8 Tiles 9/9 Bricks 13/10 Plaster 2/11 Fittings 28/11 PCI 19/3 Hey everyone Not for me or anyone I know, just generally interested. For a single allotment house, are you allowed to take the fence on both sides of your house and… 0 20877 Thank you so much everyone. This all makes a lot of sense. I guess when you talk to a builder who butters up everything to look very polished, you get to start believing… 7 17517 I work with owner, he/she is my man on the ground and I instruct them when to visit the site and take photos and I have other tools in the bag. 4 15244 |