Reducing the cost

There was a previous post about the difference from base price to typical build price and, from memory, the typical build price (site costs, typical upgrades, etc) was 1.5 times more than the base price. If you can't afford the base price, you're pushing the proverbial uphill.

Some building companies will reduce the cost if there are things you are willing to do yourself, such as flooring, the kitchen, or whatever. It might be cheaper to do such things yourself, it might not. Some companies include window treatments, fly screens, etc. (not many, though) so perhaps savings might be made in that area if you're willing to wait for blinds for a while!

The standard house plans are just that - standard, and the displays of the houses one likes are usually filled with all sorts of yummy extras, so oftentimes thinking of something to get rid of can be difficult!

If even the base version of a particular plan is over your budget, are you able to consider a similar plan, one that is perhaps a square or two smaller, so you can have all the bells and whistles you want? It depends on what is more important to you: the size or the asthetics. We are going for a house two squares smaller than we originally wanted as we want the frills over the size, so we're going to expand on our alfresco area a few months later. The house itself will be a good size (31 sq, inlcuding an averagely-sized alfresco) but we want a BIG alfresco, so we'll add to it after a few months of further income LOL.

Think where you can cut down and, if need be, look at a slightly smaller plan so you can get the quality you want.

Don't know if I've helped - there are others here on this forum who are better qualified to advise, I'm sure!

Fiona

You can usually negotiate on reducing costs by removing certain items i.e. underfloor heating, do the flooring, airconditioning and lighting yourself, etc.

I know what you mean by not wanting to spend too much ... no one does. Ask the Salesperson if you can take out certain non essential items. You will probably find more inclusions later down the track that you simply MUST have!!

There us only two approaches I know that work.

One, make sure you are playing with two builders so you can price one against another throughout the negotiating process and don't be shy about it.

The second way does not suit everyone if you are connected and get trades you can ask for a shell price and finish it yourself. This can be easier than you think and is a nice compromise the banks will normally finance against an owner builder situation.

HTH

Careful, you may find that when deleting standard items the builder will only credit back cost only.
For example: The builder may charge you $60 (cost + gst + margin) for a standard light point when adding more. But if you were to delete a standard light point you would only receive a credit of $35 (cost only).
Hence, deleting heating and cooling items doesn't always work as volume builders usually have a greater buying power than an individual. The credit that you get back may not actually save you anything if you cannot purchase it at a better rate. Most find that the credit they get only covers the purchase of a cooler or a heater not both.
Food for thought.

Hennig

That's a fair call.
I agree, there are some items that we can purchase for as good as a builder - in many cases they are not offered in the standard house/price.
But it's not really the nickel and dime stuff of saving $30 here and $40 there that is going to do the trick. To effectively reduce the costs you are more than likely going to look at the big ticket items (heating and cooling). I haven't seen too many cases where an owner has been able to delete out these items (credit of say $5.5k - $6k) and then be able to replace them for the same or less (supplied and installed).
Sorry, getting off track of this string.
Base price for many builders will not include complete site costs - unless you're building on a flat 700m2 block with an 'M' class soil, which is quite rare - due to the way developers are leaving sites.

H