Browse Forums Building A New House Re: What are the biggest money savers when building 2Feb 11, 2012 6:17 pm Oyster type light fittings rather than downlights. Otherwise don't build bigger than you need. Some thoughts here: http://www.anewhouse.com.au/?p=867 The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: What are the biggest money savers when building 3Feb 11, 2012 7:02 pm Hi MT, we were able to get certain things done by tradies while they were working. For example, we had our joists reinforced by the carpenters before the roof went on. This reduced the cost when the pergola installed all for the cost of a case of beer. We did this with a number of things but while it saves it's mainly 'nickel and diming' and doesn't make a huge difference. Handover February 2011 Happy with our home Re: What are the biggest money savers when building 4Feb 11, 2012 9:03 pm 600, 1200, 1800, 2100mm wide window openings . . . so you can buy cheapo ready-made blinds from the likes of Big W, Bunnings and Spotlight. Big walk-in-pantry in lieu of lots more kitchen cupboards? Re: What are the biggest money savers when building 5Feb 11, 2012 9:09 pm Know the difference between dreams & reality! Wants and needs are truly two different things............measure your furniture and make sure it will fit! Think about door placement ( and which way doors will open). Know the currency of choice for most tradies ( alcohol ) and research,research and research! KNOW the price of things before accepting builders quotes for upgrades. GET IT IN WRITING! Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Re: What are the biggest money savers when building 6Feb 11, 2012 10:30 pm you can approach the tradies on site and pay them cash in hand for upgrades behind the builder's back, as long as you don't ask for a receipt with gst. It's illegal and since there is no receipt, there's no evidence to claim the warranties on. 13-08 Moved in 13-05 Build restart 13-04 VMIA compensation 12-08 Builder liquidation 12-03 Fixing 11-12 Lockup 11-11 Frame 11-09 Slab 11-09 Start 11-07 Contract 10-11 2K deposit 10-06 Titled land Re: What are the biggest money savers when building 7Feb 12, 2012 8:15 am zeitgeber you can approach the tradies on site and pay them cash in hand for upgrades behind the builder's back, as long as you don't ask for a receipt with gst. It's illegal and since there is no receipt, there's no evidence to claim the warranties on. Now this is such plainly stupid advice on so many different levels I don't even know where to begin. You do realise that the house is inspected by the builder's QA inspector don't you? You don't think the aren't going to notice a slew of unauthorised upgrades which aren't on the plans when they walk through the house with their checklist? That's not even considering any structural upgrades you try to get done on the sly may violate building code. How long do you think the sub-contractors are going to continue to get work from the builder for when said builder finds out they have been shaving their profit margins on upgrades behind the builder's back. Not long I would suspect. However getting a tradie who is working on your house to come back and do some extra stuff later on as an additional "normally" paid job is fine (you'll save on the builder's margin that way). Some people apparently have nothing better to do than comment on other people's sigs. Re: What are the biggest money savers when building 8Feb 12, 2012 9:22 am cmhamilton zeitgeber you can approach the tradies on site and pay them cash in hand for upgrades behind the builder's back, as long as you don't ask for a receipt with gst. It's illegal and since there is no receipt, there's no evidence to claim the warranties on. Now this is such plainly stupid advice on so many different levels I don't even know where to begin. You do realise that the house is inspected by the builder's QA inspector don't you? You don't think the aren't going to notice a slew of unauthorised upgrades which aren't on the plans when they walk through the house with their checklist? That's not even considering any structural upgrades you try to get done on the sly may violate building code. How long do you think the sub-contractors are going to continue to get work from the builder for when said builder finds out they have been shaving their profit margins on upgrades behind the builder's back. Not long I would suspect. However getting a tradie who is working on your house to come back and do some extra stuff later on as an additional "normally" paid job is fine (you'll save on the builder's margin that way). I think the practice is wide spread....l I had the airconditioning guy, the tiler and the electrician all infer they would do work on the side during construction. I was to naive (or honest) to accept their solicititation. Re: What are the biggest money savers when building 9Feb 12, 2012 10:04 am Just because it is offered it doesn't mean you should do it (especially for "off-the-books" cash jobs that are not warrantied and often aren't done to code). Asking the tradies who are doing your concreting/tiling/landscaping if they'd like to do more contracted work on other stuff such as external concreting or paving, landscaping or even throwing in that extra split system you think you might need is fine - but you should -always- get a warranty (and a certificate of compliance where applicable) with it. Why in gods name would anyone would risk their $200k+ home with potentially iffy, unwarrantied work is beyond me and trust me if it's "off the books" and nobody is going to inspect the work then you're essentially playing the lottery in terms of the quality of the work being done - when things start going wrong that's when the job being off the books and not being covered by warranty starts to sting. Some people apparently have nothing better to do than comment on other people's sigs. Re: What are the biggest money savers when building 10Feb 12, 2012 11:14 am As someone else has said most of the savings are small items though Windows to standard sizes is an excellent one to do. Things you can do. Anything that can be done afterwards especially by yourself that would have a big markup. Paving? Additional tiling? Get the basic stove and oven and ask them not to install if you want better. That way you can sell the basic items as brand new and buy your own upgraded versions. - door frames no doors, fully fit out one bathroom not both ( to do later), skip internal painting to do yourself ( but get ceilings done as there are a number of issues that can occur with ceilings that would mean it would be easier to get the builder to do them. If building in WA do walls yourself. If ES and/or you'll have plaster board walls I'd also have the builder do them. ). Re: What are the biggest money savers when building 11Feb 12, 2012 12:19 pm Actually, probably the best way to save money is to buy a house that someone else has already finished! Hahahaha! We've still got an awful lot to do after two years of being in the house. We've spent a small fortune both before and since we've moved in, and we did a lot of the work ourselves. From my experience, I'd say that building a house is probably going to cost you more than buying one ready-made. The bonus is that you're getting something that's a lot closer to what you want. . . hopefully. . . I think that Dee's right about knowing the difference between what you want and what you need, as I'm sure that all of us had to cross some dreams off the list. . . But I think that, if you're really doing everything that you can to cut costs (and I'm not inferring that anybody is here), maybe it's best to wait a while and save a bigger deposit, or buy an existing house instead. We underestimated the costs massively. . . being niave first time builders . . And we're still paying for it now. . . Overseas holidays? Not a hope! We have landscaping, driveways, new furniture and a huge mortgage to pay for! Re: What are the biggest money savers when building 12Feb 12, 2012 8:10 pm We have built 4 times because there is NO way we could have afforded what we have if we had bought established! Mind you, we do our landscaping because gardening is my love-but we would have had to settle for a 50 year old house needing much work and probaly only 2/3 the size of what we have ( and that doen't include the acre!). HOWEVER- jodge makes a good point about not really understanding the overall costs when you build the first ( or second) time-and that's what I mean about research! Fencing,curtains, security doors, oathways, garden edging-it all adds upand you need to allow for it. Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Re: What are the biggest money savers when building 13Feb 13, 2012 3:27 pm 1. Use standard windows and doors 2. Keep the house and square / rectangular as possible. minimise adding perimeter by avoiding pushing external walls out a bit here, in a bit there (this of course has to balanced with aesthetics ... your house still needs to look good) 3. Use local materials and standard trades. In WA double is still cheapest, over east I believe brick veneer is cheapest (and performs better) 4. Build on a block that is completely flat and sandy soil (site costs can be a killer) 5. Avoid prestart extras. Use the minimum lighting and power points, then get a tradie to do the extras later. (WA TiP: put your builder provided GPO's on internal walls. Then your after handover tradie can chase wires down the cavity of the external walls without having to cut into the brick walls) 6. Solar passive design. Following basic solar passive design principles will in most cases minimise the costs associated with 6 star compliance and will also help to reduce the year to year running costs of the house. 7. The idea of leaving out as much as possible is an interesting one. You have to decide if your time is worth assigning a value. If you are all about the final dollar amount then yes cut out as much as you can, but be prepared to wait several years after handover to have a completed home Re: What are the biggest money savers when building 14Feb 13, 2012 8:40 pm Hey Dee. . . I agree that there are some cases where you're better off building rather than buying an existing house. . . yours are obviously 4 of those cases. (dammit) It does help if you're handy enough to do the landscaping yourself though Re: What are the biggest money savers when building 15Feb 13, 2012 8:54 pm Ours is an area where established is quite expensive due to the fact that we have many workers moving to the area who need something NOW! Also, land developers have kept land releases to a minimum, so building could take a while... Passive solar is one of the best decisions you can make to save money long term-each of our houses has been placed on the block to maximise passive solar benefits ( even our 1st one built in 1991! ). This house ( our last) also has a light coloured roof-it is much more comfortable on a hot day than any of the others around us! Cross ventialtion keeps it cooler and the larger windows across the back ( facing NE) mean that in the winter the hosue stays comfortable and needs less heating....all of which = less $'s! Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Re: What are the biggest money savers when building 16Feb 13, 2012 9:14 pm You know what Dee. . . so few people actually think of solar stuff when they're building. . . floorplan is EVERYTHING! As I'm a bit of a researcher (another word for it - anal). . . I found out about the whole sun blah blah north blah south thing. Phil wanted our house to face the cul-de-sac. . . I won and now the back of our house (with all of the big windows) is pretty much due north, and all the small windows are due south. Score! I only wish we had a bit of a corner room that was sunny from all angles. . . ahhhh Just look at that northness! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: What are the biggest money savers when building 17Feb 13, 2012 9:17 pm One of the houses in our street has ALL the living areas on the southern side of their block-and bedrooms on the North & N-West....they can't believe how hot their bedrooms are in Summer and how dark & cold the living areas are in Winter....I couldn't believe that in this day & age the Council's pass plans which are totally inefficient when it comes to solar benefits! Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Re: What are the biggest money savers when building 18Feb 13, 2012 9:25 pm I'd like a commendation on my northness please! If you don't mind! please! Hahaha I gave advice to someone not so long ago, to turn their house around by 90 degrees. . . they didn't listen. Can't imagine why? They just wanted to build as quickly as possible. . . wonder how they're enjoying their stinking hot house now? HAHAHA! Re: What are the biggest money savers when building 19Feb 14, 2012 7:55 am So, to the OP-check your orientation! jodge- on your vast Northness! Needy much? Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Re: What are the biggest money savers when building 20Feb 14, 2012 7:58 am Insulation-has anyone mentioned insulation? Good insulation will make a huge difference to the comfort of your home and is much cheaper to install during the build than to try and retrofit. Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ As a tradesmen get a private inspector although I don't think there worth it in their profession themselves the reminder they serve to the tradesmen doing the work is… 3 27361 I've just had a look at the website. The company are just building broker's. There are plenty of similar companies that basically draw your plans (they own them so you… 8 10927 |