Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Oct 10, 2011 8:18 pm Hi all, Long time reader, first time poster! My partner and I were never planning to build - in fact I have been particularly against the idea, and wanted to buy an established house, move in and get on with life! We went to a lot of open inspections last weekend and I was eventually convinced to have a look at the Lightsview estate (Northgate, SA) which is going up at the moment. Well, it is beautiful, and I don't think I can go back to the idea of buying a plain old house in a plain old street any more! I've had a look through this forum and there is not much about Lightsview in here, which surprises me a little because SA is well represented otherwise. The block we are planning to sign for this week is 5.5mx27.5m - tiny I know, but the salesperson showed us the place he has built himself on the same size block and it is amazing what you can do with the space! So we are very early on in the process at the moment.. but I would love to hear from you guys if you have any guidance for me. We had a chat to some builders at Lightsview yesterday, but it is hard to read between the lines when you've never been in the situation before. Apparently a lot of builders won't touch terrace houses, so we know our choices are somewhat limited. Lightsview has very strict encumbrances, which reduces our options even further. The choices we know of at the moment are Precision Homes, Sterling Homes, APS Homes and Medallion Homes. We are hoping to go for a smaller builder who will have more time for us and be more accessible (will allow us to speak to the SS, etc) but don't know who fits. Does anyone have any advice regarding these or other builders? Also, what is your experience with timeframe? This will most likely be a 3br, 2.5 bath, 2 storey townhouse. One builder told us to expect 14 months from signing - 6 for pre-construction and 8 for construction. I thought that sounded like a lot. I mentioned it to the Lightsview sales rep and he sounded surprised and suggested that was 'extremely conservative'. What do you think? Land is $137k and we are budgeting $240-260k for the build which, based on our conversations with builders and the sales office, is doable. We are looking for medium-range quality fittings, not the cheapest but not the highest-end either, perhaps with a few nice touches when it comes to tapware, kitchen bench etc - but we are generally quite conservative with our spending. Do you think this sounds reasonable? Anyway, sorry for the essay - I look forward to your sage advice Juski 5.5m Terrace House - Lightsview (Northgate SA) Moved in!! - 22 February 2013 /viewtopic.php?f=31&t=53455 Re: Terrace house in Lightsview SA - Advice welcomed :) 2Oct 12, 2011 8:42 am Nobody? Also wondering if anyone can identify some small/independent builders in Adelaide. Thanks, Juski 5.5m Terrace House - Lightsview (Northgate SA) Moved in!! - 22 February 2013 /viewtopic.php?f=31&t=53455 Re: Terrace house in Lightsview SA - Advice welcomed :) 3Oct 13, 2011 4:30 pm Hi Juski, we built a similar home as you are describing, 28sq 2 storey, 3 br, 2.5 bathroom. Have just recently moved in. We built with a medium- budget builder (not cheap, not expensive) and we paid more than 10% more than the higher end of your budget - just to the builder. And then on top of that we have cement, driveways, rain water tank, deck, pergola, landscaping etc.. so we are looking at $50k on top of that. We chose medium upgrades for most things, but no 2 pac kitchens or stone benchtops here.. We also had about $40k of unexpected expenses to do with retaining walls, connecting the sewer and electricity and neighbours significant trees etc. I'm not sure if this is normal or if we were just unlucky. Ours was a subdivided block so I think thats why we had the sewer and electricity issues. As far as timelines go - we signed our first contract in November 2009 (the one where you pay the deposit) the next actual contract in March 2010, we had a few issues with council and then selections and getting prices etc seemed to take ages, and it was Dec 2010 before we had the slab down. 7 months later we had the keys. I think you can take medalion off your list because I think its unlikely they would build anything in that budget (could be wrong though thats just a guess). I can't make any suggestions for smaller builders either unfortunately. Would love to follow your thread if you decide to write one. Good Luck Re: Terrace house in Lightsview SA - Advice welcomed :) 4Oct 13, 2011 5:19 pm Hi Lee - thanks so much for your response! Yes, budget is one of the things that makes me nervous about this whole experience. When you say >10% over my budget, does that include the 40k extra you mentioned later on? Or was that on top again? I agree that Medallion is probably over our budget - we realised that pretty quickly! - but the other builders we've spoken to have given us (quick, mind you) quotes of 240k-ish for the block we're looking at, which supposedly includes footings and floor coverings (but not AC). I know you have to look very very carefully at inclusions but it's so hard to gauge what is actually realistic. Lightsview themselves say you should be able to get a complete house for less than 400k all up on one of those blocks.. Where did you build? And who with if you don't mind me asking? In reality we can probably afford up to about 420-430 without being in dire straits but I would much prefer to keep it lower. While I'm at it, has anyone heard of Clairville Homes? Know anyone who's had some experience with them? Time to go and talk to the sales office.. wish me luck.. Juski 5.5m Terrace House - Lightsview (Northgate SA) Moved in!! - 22 February 2013 /viewtopic.php?f=31&t=53455 Re: Terrace house in Lightsview SA - Advice welcomed :) 5Oct 13, 2011 5:37 pm Hi Juski, wow that price includes floor coverings?!! What is the square meterage of the house you will be building? The builder we went with had really great selections but we still upgraded. The basic inclusions had plastic shower bases upstairs so it was an upgrade to have tiles. Basic ceramic sinks and normal but quite nice taps (but we wanted mixers and square basins) and a few sets of pot drawers in the kitchen. We also upgraded to different tiles because the ones in their range were ok but we found some that we really liked, bigger oven and rangehood and a bit more insulation - I think we spent $10 - $15k on selections. No floor coverings were included. (air conditioning was included in the initial price I mentioned) Let us know how you go with the sales office - good luck !! Re: Terrace house in Lightsview SA - Advice welcomed :) 6Oct 13, 2011 8:01 pm Well, I thought he said floor coverings.. but I could be mistaken. Sooo... we signed! Settlement won't be for a while yet but it's halfway to being ours. I was feeling a bit nervous but our sales guy gave us some pointers on what to keep in mind when comparing builders and went through everything in detail so I came out more confident than before. I'm not really sure of the square meterage of the house... I have an example plan for a block the same size which will probably be close to what we'll do, and it is 165sqm. How does that convert to 'squares'? 5.5m Terrace House - Lightsview (Northgate SA) Moved in!! - 22 February 2013 /viewtopic.php?f=31&t=53455 Re: Terrace house in Lightsview SA - Advice welcomed :) 7Oct 13, 2011 9:34 pm Welcome juski. Congrats on your new purchase. I think the budget for your build is achievable. I assume it's only for the build itself and you'd budget extra for all the things that need doing afterwards - there's plenty to do after you hand over your final cheque! It really depends on what builder you choose and what finish. You may have to sacrifice a few things. I think AV Jennings might build terrace homes. Maybe look at the St Clair development at Woodville. I think there could be terrace houses there. Our build is taking 14 months. Only 6 months for construction. Probably could’ve been 6 months for pre-construction as well but we had a couple of delays such as the demolition company starting late. Re: Terrace house in Lightsview SA - Advice welcomed :) 8Oct 13, 2011 9:47 pm Thanks Theresa. I think at the moment we are looking at doing flooring and a/c ourselves, and landscaping but there is very little space outside for much of that, it will be the bare minimum! Trying to think of what else we would need to do.. we still have plenty to learn about what to expect to be included. We are generally trying to keep things simple and functional and tasteful.. nothing showy or over-the-top, this is our first home after all. Hoping that kind of attitude will stop us overspending. 5.5m Terrace House - Lightsview (Northgate SA) Moved in!! - 22 February 2013 /viewtopic.php?f=31&t=53455 Re: Terrace house in Lightsview SA - Advice welcomed :) 9Oct 14, 2011 6:52 am We decided to do the flooring and air-conditioning ourselves. I think it just gives us more choice and probably cheaper. Lucky you're not having to do much landscaping! That is expensive as I've just found out!! Other things you'll need to budget for are: Curtains - they can get expensive, especially if you go custom Downlights, if you want them, they're expensive with a builder though Pergola, if you don't get the builder to build an alfresco Stormwater Rainwater tank - needs plumbing to at least the toilet and small slimline tanks are more expensive than the larger ones! Furniture Re: Terrace house in Lightsview SA - Advice welcomed :) 10Oct 14, 2011 9:05 am Thanks for the tips Theresa! Yes I am glad about the landscaping - the back is essentially a courtyard so I think we will just lay some turf and maybe chuck in a plant or two further down the line. Would love a big garden one day though... Regarding the water.. every property in lightsview has to be connected to recycled water - I think it's called purple water - you pay for the connection to that at settlement, 4.5k. I'm not sure if rainwater/stormwater then come into it? He did say something about not needing a rainwater tank, and he said there were no 'stormwater easements'... does that cover it? I feel so naive at the moment! Soft furnishings we are either going to start cheap or with what we've already got and start replacing things once we recover from the build! As we will be built right up to the boundary and the next house starts a few mm away, the only windows will be at the front and back of the house. I think we have everything we need to furnish a house even if it looks a bit crappy for a while - we will need to purchase a dishwasher and a front load washing machine though. Good call on the pergola and downlights. I haven't even thought about lighting yet! I was looking into the costs of hard floors and I was so surprised that it costs the same or even more to have the tiles laid than to buy the tiles in the first place! Geez. So much to learn. I must say, I don't know if I would have gone for this if I hadn't known this forum was out there... 5.5m Terrace House - Lightsview (Northgate SA) Moved in!! - 22 February 2013 /viewtopic.php?f=31&t=53455 Re: Terrace house in Lightsview SA - Advice welcomed :) 12May 01, 2012 1:22 pm hi juski i also bought a land at lightsview who did you end up going???? I am interesting to see if you still achieve ur budget with no hidden cost. we were thinking of buying 5.5m terrace block too, was heard sales saying the completed price can be achieved under 400k. However, we soon found out it's not real, it's very hard to get under 450k. We end up with buying 7.5M on the waterford lake side. We will do tiles on whole house, mainly because my girl friend hates carpet and timber floor (we have a puppy) and another reason is doing tiles is cheaper than carpet and timbers cos i can get them straight from supplier. 7.5M Dual Frontage terrace @ lightsview SA /viewtopic.php?f=31&t=58754 moved in - April 2014 furnitured - August 2014 home theatre - September 2014 Game room - December 2013 moved in - 09 April 2014 Re: Terrace house in Lightsview SA - Advice welcomed :) 13Aug 09, 2012 9:57 am Hi Juski, i am new here and am most interested in some of the building stories here, since i am also looking to buy land at the lightsview.... i built in Mawson Lakes over 12 years ago but prices for land and building costs have (obviously) gone up substantially now... i look forward to your updates and share my findings here too. forzenkuku, i am curious to know how much did you pay for that 7.5m land you bought by the waterford lakeside? i am looking at some but the price tag is really high (may be it's just me), at $269k.... the salesperson there said the price is firm, not negotiable, is it true? what kind of budget do you have in mind now to building a 2 story home on your land? Your sharing is very much appreciated and i too hope to be able to open my thread soon to share my findings after visiting a few other developing estates. best of luck to you all. Re: Terrace house in Lightsview SA - Advice welcomed :) 14Aug 09, 2012 10:10 am Hi pandoracrystal, welcome! As far as I know, the land's not negotiable. But I didn't try to negotiate... If you have any questions about my experience, I update the thread in my signature whenever something happens Juski 5.5m Terrace House - Lightsview (Northgate SA) Moved in!! - 22 February 2013 /viewtopic.php?f=31&t=53455 Versaloc is a mortarless besser block system that still needs a properly engineered footing. If you just do a 400x200 footing it will fail in time. At 17m long you need it… 1 18165 I posted the floorplan on Houzz.com forum and got some really good ideas and advice from people there. Then we reached out to a couple of renovation companies and one… 5 10106 Hi All, I engaged a tradie to install concrete retaining wall 600-800mm high over 32 meters in Victoria. Sleepers are 200*75*2000 mm installed over 17 steel posts. I… 0 6917 |