Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 27, 2011 12:41 pm Hi sorry if this info is else where but my partner and I are looking to build our first home. Being young (23 and 21) we dont have much experience in the building process. We found some land and are in the process of attaining funds and are looking to build the coral homes hamilton 232. The base price is around 159K. Our question is, is it possible to build a house for about 200K with bathroom, kitchen and facade upgrades? From what ive read, there seems to be alot of hidden costs and other things which seem to blow out budgets after the fixed tender is completed :S. It would be great to hear from other people who have built with coral and see how much over the base price they went with upgrades as it will help greatly with our budget. Thanks Pat n Ash Re: Noobs Here, Coral Homes question 2Jan 27, 2011 11:44 pm Hi! We built with Coral last year, so I hope I can help you out . We built the Hamilton 252, which at the time had a start price of around $150K (we are in Newcastle, so I think the price can vary depending on where you are, and we signed contracts over a year ago, so I think there have been a couple of price hikes and changes to the inclusion packages since then though). We didn't upgrade a whole lot... only very minor things, however, we are in NSW, so we had to pay BASIX. On top of that, we were rated as medium threat for bushfires, so had some added extras there. In terms of cost, not including BASIX, site costs, council fees, onsite management and bushfire, we went about $35K over starting price. That included: Colourbond patio roof (custom made, but DH installed after handover - we organised this ourselves though, not through Coral) upgrade one window to a sliding door insulation upgrade wardobe / linen cupboard doors to match internal doors Aspire upgrade Overhead cupboards in kitchen woodgrain cupboard doors in kitchen, diamondgloss laminate benchtops gas fitting for cooktop and HWS Ducted Daikin air con (there's around $13K on it's own) Driveway (our driveway is a little bit longer than average and has a bit of a slope, so I think it was more expensive than a lot of other blocks) That does not include floor coverings, which we organised ourselves after handover (around $12K). We could have gone with Coral's floor coverings for a pretty similar price, but we wanted the same brand of laminate flooring we had in our old house which Coral didn't offer. To get this brand, we had to organise it ourselves. We also didn't pay for a facade at all... we were really happy with the classic facade and didn't feel the need to upgrade that at all. This is the classic facade http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o314/Nic1311/P9290061.jpg I wish they didn't put that downpipe on the front of the house though.... I REALLY wish we could get rid of that. So, including the upgrades and floor coverings, we went about $47K over the start price. Bear in mind, that doesn't include site costs etc. Have a chat to the sales rep you have been dealing with about site costs... we found that our sales rep was pretty accurate when she guessed ours for us - she guessed around $1500 more than what it turned out to be. My best advice would be to talk to the sales rep you have dealt with and see if they can give you an idea of the charges you will come across. Realistically, you don't HAVE to upgrade much of anything (although I would recomend the Aspire upgrade... doesn't cost much, but little things like nicer doors and door handles, dishwasher, garage door openers etc make a lot of difference). Get the essentials like site costs sorted out, and then add what you can from there. We found Coral to be very flexible and accomodating whenever we made changes and I really can't rate them highly enough. Good luck!!! Nic. Built the Coral Homes Hamilton 252 - moved in 20/10/2010 and loving it!! https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=27215 Re: Noobs Here, Coral Homes question 3Jan 28, 2011 1:57 pm Hi Pat and Ash. We are just about to start building the Stradbroke 279. We have signed the tender letter and are just about to sign contracts. Out contract price is about $204000 but that isn't including concreting, blinds, fences etc. In saying that, we upgraded heaps!! We spent thousands on bigger windows, sliding doors, bathroom and kitchen upgrades, extending 2 bedrooms, tv recesses, higher ceilings, 25 degree roof pitch etc. If we stuck witht he basic plan, we could have stayed close to the base price. Also, bear in mind that your base price does not include site costs. That all depends on the soil tests and whether there is rock etc on your land. Get your sales to do a preliminary estimate. Ours was pretty close. Unfortunately you can't find out the true cost of the site costs until you pay the $1600 to get soil tests done and go to tender. Good luck!! Re: Noobs Here, Coral Homes question 4Jan 28, 2011 11:28 pm Howdy We're also building the stradbroke 279 with coral homes, at the moment we've just finished with council (post contract stage) so we should be getting the go ahead to build anytime soon. The base price was $154,000 and the final contract price is $201,400 Our package includes garage extension, acid washed brick work, aspire package, gas HW and 900mm stove, reduction in size through the middle of the house, Class M slab, minimal sitework costs as the block is less than 300mm fall, extra lighting and power points, addition of double door to activity room, painted downpipes, wood look garage door, front portico, higher ceilings, additional external drainage, & white grout on external bricks. we still have yet to get flooring, driveway, landscaping, letter box, blinds, tv points, fencing, (furniture ) gas & phone connection, all up minus landscaping and furniture the extras will be around $24,000 Hopes this gives you some indication of what is ahead. Cheers Ant Re: Noobs Here, Coral Homes question 5Jan 31, 2011 8:59 am Thanks for the info guys. Its definetely food for thought! Its good to hear that people have been around that 200k mark. This really eases our minds about building. It seems all your base prices are so much lower than ours (northern rivers nsw) which sucks because we would love to build a larger home but it would be to expensive. Re: Noobs Here, Coral Homes question 6Jan 31, 2011 9:22 am blues87 It seems all your base prices are so much lower than ours (northern rivers nsw) which sucks because we would love to build a larger home but it would be to expensive. Yeah mate, i just had a look at corals pricing and it seems that northern rivers etc is around 13k more expensive than qld. I hope everything works out for both of you Ask the council if there is a chance of getting build over easement exemption. Sometimes easements are unused and 24cm is not all that much. Good luck. And yes any builder… 2 13769 In Qld it is a requirement that a builder must have a cost breakdown, for building a home to the same specification, with the same inclusions and the same finish. So ask… 1 4335 Ask for references and speak to them. If they are defensive or try to avoid the request, walk. 1 74701 |