Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Apr 22, 2012 8:29 pm Hi, We had our prelim drawing back last week, and have decided to make a small(ish) change. We are going with a small builder - not a project builder. Does anyone have any experience of how much we're likely to be charged for that???? Are we talking hundreds, thousands????? Does it depend on how small the change is?? Or are changes at prelim stage quite normal????? urno Re: changes to prelim stage plans - whats the cost????? 2Apr 22, 2012 8:38 pm Hi Sarat, It really depends on what you mean by "smallish" ? if you only want to add say a sliding door instead of having just an opening between say the dining room & lounge & or kitchen, then you're probably looking at $500 to $1000....however, if it's adding say a meter to the house to make it longer or wider, then that's different & can cost you a considerable amount more . Re: changes to prelim stage plans - whats the cost????? 3Apr 22, 2012 8:56 pm Springtime, thanks - maybe our initial plan wasn't too bad after all then!! What if what you've sent the drafty (in sketch form) isn't what he drew - i.e. the orientation of the house on the land? I struggled to get it facing north and on the prelim plan its facing north east, meaning I'm getting lots of summer sun in a place I don't want! Re: changes to prelim stage plans - whats the cost????? 4Apr 22, 2012 9:14 pm That's really at preliminary stage, it shouldn't cost much for the change or should actually be free in most case. When you are talking about orientation, do you mean your living area are facing north in your design or your house facing north? Both can end up quite different in some case. Re: changes to prelim stage plans - whats the cost????? 5Apr 22, 2012 9:34 pm there isnt a lot of additional effort required by your chnge, but it will take the builder and draftsman some time. I agree it could be free but would budget on $150 . Ask your builder if there will be a cost. @builderforlife Building inspector and passionate about construction When you need an expert to take a look. Re: changes to prelim stage plans - whats the cost????? 6Apr 22, 2012 9:50 pm The orientation isn't the smallish change we need, unfortunately....... We need a portion of the house flipped 180degrees (whilst maintaining same area), which takes me 30seconds on photoshop, but I bet takes a lot longer to do properly, especially if it makes the exterior of the house look different - which in turn affects every elevation drawing. Also noticed things like the fridge space is only 900wide - and I swear our fridge is 1000 and if it isn't our next one would probably be..... So, a few things need to be discussed. Am hoping the cost isn't too much......... Re: changes to prelim stage plans - whats the cost????? 7Apr 22, 2012 10:32 pm I still think these are managable changes for the draftsment. You may also be alerting the work of your energy rater, so similar additional cost may be incurred there. Just ask for a cost and then ask them to proceed or not. @builderforlife Building inspector and passionate about construction When you need an expert to take a look. Re: changes to prelim stage plans - whats the cost????? 8Apr 23, 2012 4:31 am At early stage, these kind of changes will happen. I would suggest you play with your prelim design and identify the more significant changes first. Since you have a prelim plan, plan with it by drawing sketches of how things will look when things get flipped around, or use whatever way that suits you. ie: photoshop. Once you have think through them, get the builder to make the changes. Sure one or two times with major changes won't really bother them, after all it is still the concept stage. The smaller changes like dimensions for fridge can go after the overall layout is pretty much defined. Hi All, We signed a prelim agreement last year (May 2022) and paid deposit to a builder. However, we didn't go ahead with them and never signed a contract. We ended going… 0 2311 I engaged my builder in December last year and we’ve been working on preliminary drawings for last couple of months. I got a call from the salesperson this morning… 0 559 Not unless you have managed to put it as a special condition into the contract somehow. 1 6155 |