Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 01, 2008 11:30 pm Hello everyone,
It’s been a while since I have posted anything on this forum as I could find answers to all of my queries in the various posts posted by other members having the similar question/issues. It’s been wonderful to see how many of you are there to help others with your experience and knowledge. Today I’m posting because I really need that piece of advice and help from all of you who have had to face similar kind of situation and/or can help us with assessing the additional cost that our builder has come up with. To give you a background, we started our journey sometime in late 2006 and were waiting for our land to be settled, which eventually happened in December last year (2007) after a long dreadful waiting period of 1 year. During this period we also looked at lot of builders and finally decided to go with NBG as we liked one of their plans which closely matched our requirement. However, as said “No Pain, No Gain” that too hadn’t been a smooth ride for us. It’s been very slow and painful process for us. So far 2 of our sales consultants have left the company since we paid our initial deposit of $500 (Sep 07). This left us with repeating the process again with the new consultant and making sure he/she understand what we wanted/changed etc. as we made lot of structural changes to the plan so accommodate our needs. The soil test was conducted by them in Nov’07 and we finally got the quote (in Jan 08) with the total site cost and variation cost etc. The cost they have quoted us is outrageous as I haven’t seen anything like this before. We are still in shock with this horrendous cost of Slab and Concrete. Our soil classification has come out to be “P” class and total site and foundation cost to be around $34K (297m2 house). Here is the breakup of the major cost i.e. Slab + Concrete Class “P” Engineered Designed concrete raft slab = $7949 Bulk concrete to 450mm approx. diameter bored piers to penetrate through fill material = $17,555 Could you please provide your comments and suggestions, if this is acceptable and as to what we can ask the builder with regards to justifying these costs? Thanks very much in advance and any help would really be appreciated. rajmicky Re: Please help !!! Shocking Site Cost 2Feb 02, 2008 7:20 am Sounds like your site has had fill material. Do you know if this is the case?
Also, do you know how far down down the fill material is? Your soil test should tell you this. Also how deep is the fill material? Basically 450 mm bored peirs come out to about $100 per meter (various between States). Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: Please help !!! Shocking Site Cost 3Feb 02, 2008 9:49 am What is the fall of the Land? I do know that National Builders don't include any fall of land on there house costs, so site costs are always going to be higher with them.
Even then I still think they work out cheaper than anybody else in terms of inclusions and everything. Re: Please help !!! Shocking Site Cost 4Feb 02, 2008 10:00 am The soil test was conducted by them in Nov’07 and we finally got the quote (in Jan 08) with the total site cost and variation cost etc. The cost they have quoted us is outrageous as I haven’t seen anything like this before. We are still in shock with this horrendous cost of Slab and Concrete. Our soil classification has come out to be “P” class and total site and foundation cost to be around $34K (297m2 house). Here is the breakup of the major cost i.e. Slab + Concrete
Class “P” Engineered Designed concrete raft slab = $7949 Bulk concrete to 450mm approx. diameter bored piers to penetrate through fill material = $17,555 Could you please provide your comments and suggestions, if this is acceptable and as to what we can ask the builder with regards to justifying these costs? Thanks very much in advance and any help would really be appreciated. rajmicky[/quote] Hello Rajmicky, We have been in a very similar situation and believe me we were in shock as well. I met additionally with two engineers they explained to me what is going to happen. you should talk rather to engineers because they are the one that design your slab and supervise the work. This was our costing (double story, 386m2): 1. thickening beams $13k 2. Y12 starter bars $2.6k 3. P site classification slip coupling $660 4. F92 in lieu of F72 mesh $826 5. Extra steel $1.1k 6 concrete pump $880 7. to cart footing fill away $3k all together $22k What has happened is that our fill was not a problem but what was under the fill. Under our fill there is extreme reactive soil. The raft slab is deep on about 1 m and moves with the soil. We had so many doubts because it is a lot of money but today after a year of living here I don't regret spending it. My neighbours have houses on waffle packs and experience problems all the time: breaking driveway, blocked door to the laundry, changing already doors. As I lived before in a house on reactive soil I don't miss that experience. Here are the examples: - our front door didn't want to close for a fortnight until earth moved again. We ended up replacing the door. - suddenly all door in the house were just opening, other times didn't want to close - you cannot close the windows properly We have been lucky as our house had one crack only through a long time but other houses reported much more. And believe me that the buyer looked in every corner for cracks. with the new land. Unfortunately you don't know full condition of soil until you buy the land so don't blame yourself for it. Enjoy your land and a house and within a time you will forget about that. The most important is your safety and the feeling of living there years without a problem. Last but not least! Collect all the reports and keep the builder letter with explanation of slab costing. If you haven't got one, ask for it. When you next land evaluation comes through for unimproved land value lodge an abjection and attach all of that. I have done it and NRW reduced the value. That will not reduce the value of your house with land but will reduce your value on rates. kate Re: Please help !!! Shocking Site Cost 5Feb 02, 2008 12:11 pm Thank you all for your quick replies and keeping our spirit still alive.
Casa2 Sounds like your site has had fill material. Do you know if this is the case? Also, do you know how far down down the fill material is? Your soil test should tell you this. Also how deep is the fill material? Basically 450 mm bored peirs come out to about $100 per meter (various between States). Yes, we were aware of the fill material and as per our developer and compaction report it's a "Level 1 Supervised Compacted Fill". As part of soil test they did 5 bore holes and have noted the following level of fills Bore 1 = 700mm Bore 2 = 400mm Bore 3 = 450mm Bore 4 = 800mm Bore 5 = 750mm aussiebell What is the fall of the Land? I do know that National Builders don't include any fall of land on there house costs, so site costs are always going to be higher with them. Even then I still think they work out cheaper than anybody else in terms of inclusions and everything. They haven't noted any fall on the land but have quoted $1344 for "Site cut of 200mm and fill of 150mm (350mm total) approx to an RL of 100.25 as required to produce a level building platform" My main concern is the amount they have quoted for pouring the concrete as to me it looks bit over priced. Kind Regards rajmicky Re: Please help !!! Shocking Site Cost 6Feb 02, 2008 12:34 pm Hi
Our raft slab cost was 48K for 300 sqm (Class HD soil) double story. No slope. Just received the bill the other day . Thank goodness we had a fixed price contract - although I'm sure it was always included. Re: Please help !!! Shocking Site Cost 7Feb 02, 2008 2:42 pm Our slab "p" is $7165 -, We have additional builk concrete of $ 5055-. We have quite a slope and including cut, fill ($7451) , retaining walls (for house) and all the normal site costs we are up to $50,000 site costs for the house. We are with the same builders as you. We also got soil tests and costs done from a custom builder whose site costs were similar. I also went to Metricon with the soil test and they predicted over $40,000. Unfortunately we are building on a slope with reactive soil. The view had better be good! Fi has moved in!! Re: Please help !!! Shocking Site Cost 8Feb 04, 2008 7:17 pm G'day... know how you feel. We're building with Metr$c$n in Vic and fell off our chairs. Our site has 3 metres of fall, so steeper than you're average block. 31sq home:
Cut & Fill $10,092 Slab P Class $9050 Retaining walls to one side of the house $4,600 Additional siting (post demolition) fending and clean $2,500 We spoke to some builder friends and also spoke to Whelan the wreckers who are demolition the existing home. They gave us a quote to do the cut & fill (while they were pulling the house down we thought we'd save some money) the costs were comparable and our friends agreed. It sucks, but as mentioned above it's the foundation of a sound structure. We looked at other costs in the home to compensate and excluded a couple of things in our contract we could do after lock up that is not a specialty for volume builders (that's were you get gouged - stuff like timber bi-fold doors etc). What ever you do, do not have anything in your contract that is a "provisional sum". They should know, and committ to, up front the cost of everything. They tried to put a provisional amount in our contract for crainage (because our site is steep) of $6k, we said no, you have the information lock in a price. It came down to $3k. Talk to as many people as you can. Good luck! Thunder1 Re: Please help !!! Shocking Site Cost 9Feb 05, 2008 11:21 am Just my 2c...
Is it possible to pay deposit to a different builder without signing any contract, just to verify if the slab price is not too much? Worst case, you lost the deposit (hopefully also around $500) and found that the slab price is similar. Best case, you could save thousands, and get a different, hopefully much quicker and better service builder. Re: Please help !!! Shocking Site Cost 10Feb 05, 2008 12:22 pm We didn't even have to pay the deposit. We were interested in building the buckingham with one builder or the tribeca with another builder. We paid a deposit with the first one. When I got the soil tests I took them to the tribeca builder who did an estimation on site costs for me there and then. We preferred the design of the buckingham more. Fi has moved in!! Re: Please help !!! Shocking Site Cost 11Feb 05, 2008 12:23 pm our site costs were $55,000 for concrete slab with 1.6m footings on clay soil! needless to say, we were floored at the price (excuse pun )
Helen Re: Please help !!! Shocking Site Cost 12Feb 05, 2008 3:04 pm the quoted price for the slab specs you have mentioned is not over the top its average for that type of slab
i used to do house slabs , factory floors etc if you ask the builder for a cost break down on slab they may or may not give it to you as an example: the average 4-5 stage boom pump with 2 operators for a day is $3 - $ 4 k concrete to spec 25/14/120 to 32/14-20/140 is around at trade cost for a pump mix $142 a q/m y12 6mtr is $16 odd dollars a length if you look on your slab plan you can work out how many l/m there are 3f11 trench mesh $20 - $25 a 6 mtr length f82 average $70 - $75 a sheet, one sheet will fill 12 sqm have a look on your slab plan it may be double steel pad sand $30 a q/m + del. excavator $75 odd dollars an hr poly plastic x 3 odd rolls $350 excavator for screw piles $75 hr on house slabs the average concretor will cost $5000 a slab inc all prep work, labours x 4 who average $250 - $300 a day, cost of running choppers, tools etc and profit of around $3000 To almost all people inc my self when i quote the cost does look high but when everything is tallied up , all costs etc profit for the buisnesses involved it is quite resonable also the cost of warranty insurance for the slab, workcover etc i would ask to see cost break down of your slab best advise i can give Da Vinci Outdoor Living Architectural landscaping http://www.davincioutdoor.com Re: Please help !!! Shocking Site Cost 13Mar 11, 2009 1:40 pm Hi Raj,
How did it go eventually, what is the status?? curious to know as i have about 2 m fall on my land as well going to meet the NBG consultants with my quote next week. Where abouts are you building?? Regards Rajjo Bought land in Bayview Rise, Bayswater North, Vic Looking for builder!!!?? We were lucky in that our old house was so small (86 square metres) compared to the new house, they were able to take enough readings around the old backyard house before… 8 36901 Thanks for the insight! My plot is a new development so hopefully I won't have too much problem during build as everyone should be roughly building together. I also… 2 3330 Approvals are covered in the cost we are paying to the pool company. The only thing stated in our home build contract for the additional cost is engineering support. … 3 7101 |