Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Sep 27, 2011 2:45 pm Hello We are about to embark on building an investment property in Point Cook, VIC and using a major builder (National Builders). We have chosen the house plan (Blaxland 220E) and have received a "Tender" which provides an estimate of expenses incurred. The base price includes a whole swag of inclusions however the tender lists a number of other additional costs which I wish to review including : - site scrape required to produce a level building platform with excess spoil removed from site ($3520) - upgrade of slab to 'P' class as per engineers report ($5659) - fall protection due to insufficient fall zone ($1924) - material handling fee due to restricted access for bricklayer ($1560) The block is level and completely clean so I am querying cost of $3520. Is the upgrade to slab a bit pricey considering a normal slab is around $6000? What is the deal with fall protection? I have spoken to a bricklayer who stated that this fee is not necessary as bricks are delivered and placed around block/slab for easy access or trolleyed to suitable area so why the expense? There is a 1.2m space between fence and slab? Where can I receive advice prior to signing this contract as I believe I may be taken for a ride? Also, NBG has assigned Construction West PL as the builder - Is there any word on this builder (good or bad)? Thanks for any feedback. Jamie D Re: Need advice before signing building contract 2Sep 28, 2011 9:18 am there is not so much you can do about $3520 site scrape, lands in point cook are generally flat but to build a house it still need to be leveled, and then depending on your slab strucuture they need to dig drench etc. most of what you mention up there is site cost, site cost in point cook generally is around 10 - 12k, some get up to 18 - 19k because of land fill site, there is nothing much you can do about this. only item i would query is "material handling fee for bricklayer", haven't seen this before, if you are building a house on a vacant block facing the street which mean there will always be enough opening space for brick layer to shift those bricks to the location they required, even if you are building double storey or having garage wall < 200mm from neighbor they should still be able to do the brick without much problem. just a site note, make sure the house sitting is higher than street level, i've seen quite a few houses built below street level due to too much soil removed during site scrapping, it's not so much about appearance, it's the rain water, when everyone has their house sitting high it's not hard to imagine where the water goes when raining. hope this help. You talk about deletions, are they variations or PS and PC adjustments? pleas list them 1 16542 There is no reason why building contract reconciliation cannot be done prior to handover, if the builder won't do it get someone to do it for you. Why would you pay for… 3 6680 Building a fence now will help limit people dumping rubbish and soil on your property. Many houses in suburbia on small lots have fences up before a build. I moved into a… 1 4384 |