Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Apr 08, 2012 1:13 pm Hi, We are starting the process of building our new house and have just received the tender from the builder. Just a couple of quick questions for those who have done this before: a) We have been charged $8k as an "out of area" charge. We live in metro Sydney and the builder is in metro Sydney. OK, they don't have any houses that we know of in our suburb but neither are we close to any display villages (probably about 20 minutes from the closest). We would have thought that building their first house in a new suburb (older established suburb, but new for this builder) would actually be a good thing? In any case, we think it's a bit rich. b) The tender is valid for 7 days. To put this into some perspective, the house "sticker price" is a tad over several hundred thousand dollars. We think THIS is a bit much ... expecting us to agree to a tender for this amount of money in 7 days ! There are obviously bits and pieces in the tender that we need to review because the devil is always in the detail ... like extra power points because quite frankly, one double in each room is a bit hopeless ... Anyway, any comments more than welcome. Re: New house tender questions, for those who've done it bef 2Apr 08, 2012 1:37 pm We had 7 days with our builder to sign off on a tender, which caught us by surprise too. Our tender price included the base price, facade upgrade, plus any additional major upgrades we wanted included like stairs, air conditioning, caesarstone benchtops etc We did a few upgrades later at the internal appointment, and still have our electrical appointment to go later this month, so don't blow your budget completely at tender. Depending on who you're building with there are some prices floating around the forum for electrical prices/upgrade prices etc, so just have a quick search. In regards to the out of area surcharge, I'd question them and put your valid point to them about being metro sydney still and the fact that it would open others to their building company, so essentially free advertising!! Or perhaps contact a few other builders and ask them if they would charge an out of areas surcharge and then report back to your builder and say that X builder doesn't charge and you're considering using them and they may credit that charge. Good luck Built the Seaview 36 with Rawson Homes - Read about it on my blog http://lamaisondemorgan.blogspot.com.au/ Re: New house tender questions, for those who've done it bef 3Apr 08, 2012 1:46 pm Out of area charge is insane. We live in the country - and we got builders to quote from a few places (more than half an hour away) and didn't come across this. Neither did any of our quotes have a 7 day expiry. Also don't forget to make sure you compare apples with apples. Each of the quotes we got contained different things that you may not consider - like outside paving, clothesline, and so on. One builder didn't even include the price for two external doors! Re: New house tender questions, for those who've done it bef 4Apr 08, 2012 9:28 pm magical a) We have been charged $8k as an "out of area" charge. We live in metro Sydney and the builder is in metro Sydney. OK, they don't have any houses that we know of in our suburb but neither are we close to any display villages (probably about 20 minutes from the closest). We would have thought that building their first house in a new suburb (older established suburb, but new for this builder) would actually be a good thing? In any case, we think it's a bit rich. This one of the key thing that turned us away from the builder we were talking to. Our tender had a "Distance Allowance" of $14,000!!!!!!!! We live in the North Shore but this builder does build in the area. We weren't told the fee initially, but after months of back and forth on the tender the price slipped out. That's when I flipped out! We were told it was for two things: travel time / location, but also a contingency for Council fines (as this builder had received some hefty fines in a neighbouring Council. I said - take the fee out and I will wear the risk (with Council fees being around $500 it would take a LOT of fines to get to $14K). Then guess what, they put the 'owner risk' clause for fines but then kept the Distance Allowance in. That was the last straw. Sorry to hijack - this issue really gets my goat up. PM me if you want any more details on which builder it was. Agree with what others have said - essential to compare apples with apples. After I started looking around at builders (we looked at 7 in the end), I spent a whole weekend ticking and crossing off lists comparing inclusions to get a real sense of price. ps: Don't worry about the 7 days. We had something like that in ours, and 18 months later we still hadn't signed (and in fact didn't sign at all in the end, due to the Distance Allowance issue as per the above. Much prefer that money to go into the build and upgrades). Definitely take your time. Good luck! SunshineT's Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34585 Designs start: 4/12/09 DA: 5/7/11 Demo: 22/12/11 Slab: 24/2/12 Keys: 31/8/12 Re: New house tender questions, for those who've done it bef 7Apr 09, 2012 5:25 am We paid $10k. We also found through the tendering/ enquiry process that it is not unique just our builder. It is annoying, but I guess it depends on how much you want them to build your house.....We got the same responses as you. Out of area "contigency" for difficult councils and getting tradesman to work at the location. I agree with charging the customer something, but we also found $10,000 a bit excessive...we paid it though. Re: New house tender questions, for those who've done it bef 8Apr 10, 2012 2:03 pm Thanks for all the suggestions and ideas. We have been told that a charge listed on our tender as "Out of Area Charge" is for the likely increase in costs when the carbon tax is introduced ... and that most other companies do it / are doing it. To us, this sounds like simply a way of being able to recoup money which is supposedly discounted from the cost of the house." Any thoughts on what they have now told us ? Thanks Re: New house tender questions, for those who've done it bef 9Apr 10, 2012 2:44 pm magical Thanks for all the suggestions and ideas. We have been told that a charge listed on our tender as "Out of Area Charge" is for the likely increase in costs when the carbon tax is introduced ... and that most other companies do it / are doing it. To us, this sounds like simply a way of being able to recoup money which is supposedly discounted from the cost of the house." Any thoughts on what they have now told us ? Thanks Sounds like someone doesn't know what they are talking about and a weak excuse to charge more money. They should call it "Carbon Costs" instead then. Even then, I can't see how it would apply, or even if the introduction would be effective during your build time. Sounds like a bank when they increase fees. Rubbish. SunshineT's Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34585 Designs start: 4/12/09 DA: 5/7/11 Demo: 22/12/11 Slab: 24/2/12 Keys: 31/8/12 Re: New house tender questions, for those who've done it bef 10Apr 10, 2012 3:02 pm magical Thanks for all the suggestions and ideas. We have been told that a charge listed on our tender as "Out of Area Charge" is for the likely increase in costs when the carbon tax is introduced ... and that most other companies do it / are doing it. To us, this sounds like simply a way of being able to recoup money which is supposedly discounted from the cost of the house." Any thoughts on what they have now told us ? Thanks In my final contract which was signed just a few months ago, there was a clause relating to “Variations to state or commonwealth laws about tax changes that occur during the build process (clause 22.0 on page 26)”. So I asked my builder the following question “Given that all of these are already known for the estimated build time, can these costs be added to the contract value now, or to state any tax laws/changes that are not currently announced or expected to happen during 2012.” And their answer a few months ago was The government has not brought in any new taxes and this contract is only subject to GST (which is included in the contract price). So unless the government creates some new tax applicable to new house construction you won’t be paying any more money. PS. Carbon tax cannot be passed on to consumers so this will not affect you when it is introduced. So basically the carbon tax cannot be passed onto consumers and your builder is talking out their arses and treating you like an idiot, for which they can be heavily fined by the ACCC. I’d be asking for them to take it out just for their deceitfulness to you or you’ll take your business elsewhere. Re: New house tender questions, for those who've done it bef 11Apr 10, 2012 3:26 pm I have been charged an out of area zone allowance $8000 but I am building at Scone, which really is a bit out of the way. i have no problem with this fee. Some builders wouldn't even come to Scone. Re: New house tender questions, for those who've done it bef 12Apr 10, 2012 4:57 pm Jester magical I’d be asking for them to take it out just for their deceitfulness to you or you’ll take your business elsewhere. Agree with the above. As for DRG - Scone is a long way out, so that fee is understandable. (Whereas my $14K fee seemed outrageous when they have built properties 300metres away from our house recently!). SunshineT's Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34585 Designs start: 4/12/09 DA: 5/7/11 Demo: 22/12/11 Slab: 24/2/12 Keys: 31/8/12 I am in the same situation, would you be able to give some insights in to this? I am in SA 8 17055 Ardo That is so funny! I wonder how many people know who Larry Haun is these days. I have a couple of young guys we call Mo 1 & Mo 2 who run a crew of 6 boys and… 9 15532 You should check your detail drawings, it may show downpipe within brick pier. 14 14120 |