Pick apart my budget ! :)

VJ · Feb 25, 2008 8:32 pm

And by the way, if you're going ahead with the rumpus and alfresco, it won't be 35sq anymore.

Paula · Feb 25, 2008 8:52 pm

Hi Haygwl,
I'm building a house that I have designed myself and have already been discussung it with a builder. You said you wanted 35sq - base price I was told would be $10,000 - $11,000 a square and around $160,000 for the upgrades I wanted including a tiled pool

.

This means your house (that you could design to how you want) would start at $350,000 then you could use the extra money a few nicer things (upgraded kitchen, stone benchtops, feature staircase or even a pool!! etc).

BTW my price didnt include window furnishings but did include all floor coverings and driveway and rendered retaining walls.

Or you could have lots of money left over for furniture

Paula

haywgl · Feb 25, 2008 9:00 pm

VJ - I didn't even think of that, when I add the rumpus/alfresco on the M site it doesn't give measurements of their size. I'm just hoping that it will fit nicely on the block we choose with enough room for a trampoline for the kids

Do people find that when a builder sets a min block width, for our house it appears to be 12.50 but the house only measures 11.15, is that so you are not building fence to fence?? The block we are looking at is 13.50m wide, does this sound like the house will fit ok?

Paula - Thanks for that - i have thought about going with a custom, I guess I just found a plan and style I love with one of the bigger builders...hopefully you are right and I can save some $$ for some nice new furniture

Your house sounds lovely btw

VJ · Feb 25, 2008 9:06 pm

Quote:

Do people find that when a builder sets a min block width, for our house it appears to be 12.50 but the house only measures 11.15, is that so you are not building fence to fence?? The block we are looking at is 13.50m wide, does this sound like the house will fit ok?

Yes, they put allowance already.
You have to check what's the minimum setback (left and right) in your area.

haywgl · Feb 25, 2008 9:18 pm

Another thing I didn't think of!! I thought you only had to worry about set back from the front of your house to the pavement!!!

Looking at the houses in the street though they all seem pretty close together.

KerrieJ · Feb 27, 2008 11:24 am

My comment on the budget is not the house but the block of land. I don't want to be a party pooper but I think you will be extremely lucky to get a block of decent size for 410K in Newport. Anything over 500m2 is selling for quite a premium - the developers love to subdivide and build 2 townhouses. I would say that you probably need closer to 500K for house and stamp duty. Stamp Duty on $450K is approx $22K. I could be wrong though as they are saying the boom is over so you might get lucky and get a bargain.

One little thing to remember is that you get a discount on your stamp duty if the place is your primary residence and the purchase price is under $500K - it is not much from memory about $2.5K but at least it is something.

I think $850K is a very good budget - it is bigger than ours but I think you will prob end up spending a fair bit more of that on the land than you were originally hoping - I know we did.

Also something you haven't included in your budget is rental accommodation while you are building. The whole process will prob take 6-9mths. At $300pw rental you are looking at $8K-12K

Our thinking was the location and size of the block was THE most important thing, everything else could be upgraded later if we really wanted. We could not get a bigger backyard nor a better street in 5 years time without having to move again. But we could put in Caesarstone benchtops and Ducted Refridgerated AC down the track quite easily. IMHO I would say spend on the land and worry about the the nice to have luxuries later - Just my 2c though.

haywgl · Feb 27, 2008 12:57 pm

Kerrie - Thank-you you make some very good points.

I agree with you that blocks are going for heaps around here with builders looking to sub-divide etc, however, most of the blocks we have looked at are far too narrow to build more than 1 house on and hence they are going cheaper. eg. bigger blocks are anywhere from $650k +, most we are looking at state $380+ so I'm guessing they might get $420k, I should get a nice guide this weekend, as one is up for auction.

I definatly agree that land and street is more important than extras, this is our main priority, however, if we can get some nice extras along the way it would be great.

We won't have to worry about rental property as we own the home we live in now, and will just stay in it til the building is near complete, then we will put it on the market and move in with the folks if it sells b4 the house is ready etc...one big saving definatly!

Thanks for all your advice, I will check out that stamp duty saving - sounds great! Every little bit helps right ? :wink:

The Dynamic Duo · Feb 27, 2008 1:19 pm

KerrieJ

IMHO I would say spend on the land and worry about the the nice to have luxuries later - Just my 2c though.

Agreed.

Simon

KerrieJ · Feb 27, 2008 2:29 pm

The smaller blocks (under 500m2) may not be big enough for what you are what you are wanting to do. I would also look at the length of the block. What is the length of the house you are looking at approx 21m? Depending on your neighbours you may need to have a setback of between 4-7m. If it is worst case 7m your house will be 28m, will that leave you enough room to add the rumpus and alfresco you want as well as leaving a backyard for the kids to play in?

haywgl · Feb 27, 2008 3:49 pm

Hi Kerrie,

Currently most of the blocks we are looking at are around 13-14m wide x 34m long. The house plan we are interesed in is around 11m x 21 (add on the rumpus as the alfresco is at the side and it would be around 25m long)

The set back from the front would be about 4m, leaving around 4m in length for the backyard/grassed area, also the alfresco area would be at the side of the living area so while it would add to the backyard in terms of use it won't take up any length.

Of course this could all be give/take a few metres as we have not finalised a block or house plan, and won't be until mid year...

Cheers Belinda