Browse Forums Building A New House 1 May 21, 2012 11:45 am Hi all. I am a newbie to this forum so appreciate you all's patience if i ask a few dumb questions. Basically I am looking for some advice as we are just starting out on what our options for our block here in one of the northern suburbs of Sydney. We are trying to build to a budget however want to also maximize block potential, views etc Block Details; -approx 16m Frontage -approx 700sqm -slopes from street down approx 7 meters drop from street level Questions - -Ideally we would like to use a project builder as that seems to be the most cost effective - so I guess first question is which Project Home companies build on such blocks? - I'd also like to consider alternatives, such as kit homes, prefab etc - seems there is a lot of new concepts in that area and - Any experiences and or suggestions you may like to share. Thanks Re: Sloping Block - Looking for Ideas, Builders Designs 2May 21, 2012 1:13 pm Clarendon build sloping block too, a friend of mine built with them 10 yrs ago. A very sloping land. But best to shop around and speak to the builders yourself. Re: Sloping Block - Looking for Ideas, Builders Designs 3May 21, 2012 2:09 pm Thanks for your comment "willcres", Clarendon (and most project builders) now only do relatively small slopes so anything above a 3m (ours is around 5m for the building envelope) drop they aren't interested in. Hence my posting on here to see what builders could be. Re: Sloping Block - Looking for Ideas, Builders Designs 4May 22, 2012 1:04 am You might need to look at builder specialized for slopes. With a slope of 7m, most project builders would not want to touch it. Depends on how big you want your house to be, you still have a bit of choice. Pole house would be a budget option. Split level with a fair bit of cut and fill is your other choice. Re: Sloping Block - Looking for Ideas, Builders Designs 5May 22, 2012 8:25 am Manshan, there are a few companies that build custom design homes at project prices, we are building with zen homes and although our block is relatively flat, 1m fall, they have added a 600mm step in the centre of house for minimal cost. they will build on a variety of sites and design your home to suit your block(pm me if you want) There is also hotondo homes who Nina Marie is building with in the north and is having a great build, Montgomery homes have recently opened two displays at kellyville and they call themselves sloping block specialists, reviews seem mixed on here for them. I honestly don't believe any standard project builder will touch a 7m fall so you need to look further afield, good luck! Re: Sloping Block - Looking for Ideas, Builders Designs 6Nov 16, 2012 6:53 am I think custom design for difficult blocks is essential. Some people think that this is more expensive, but why would that be so if one is specifically designing for the actual block? Surely one can get economical benefits by designing to suit? Anyway, sloping blocks are a challenge but they offer rewards Re: Sloping Block - Looking for Ideas, Builders Designs 7Nov 16, 2012 7:40 am leighton I think custom design for difficult blocks is essential. Some people think that this is more expensive, but why would that be so if one is specifically designing for the actual block? Surely one can get economical benefits by designing to suit? Anyway, sloping blocks are a challenge but they offer rewards Leighton's wrong.....and right. Custom designers should be considered for all blocks, not just difficult ones. We only have a fall of about 2m diagonally across our block and due to the Brisbane floods we now have a higher minimum FFL. We were dealing with a large project builder (with a modified version of one of their standard designs) who were going to build the standard waffle pod slab on ground. This required a huge amount of earthworks and retaining walls to get it to work. We ‘let them go’ due to other issues. Enter new smaller builder with a custom design to suit us and more importantly, suit our block and outlook. We now get a considered footing/foundation system to suit the block and house, no mega earthworks, no retaining walls and no expensive system to get stormwater off the block. The best bit was the initially quote from the new builder was cheaper than the project builder and now that we are about to sign the contract, final price is just a bit higher but we hadn’t done the colour/fittings or electrical selection with the project builder yet so who knows what the final price was going to be. We’ll end up spending less with our small custom builder but are getting exactly what we! ----------------------------------------------- http://pab34newdigs.blogspot.com.au/ ----------------------------------------------- Re: Sloping Block - Looking for Ideas, Builders Designs 8Nov 16, 2012 3:39 pm Hi We are in a very similar situation to you it sounds like, north shore Sydney, we have a narrower block ~13m, and a cross fall as well as a downward slope. Sandstone and a bushfire rating (6km from CBD and we are in a bushfire zone!!!!) We are currently in very early stages of looking at either a custom design with a smaller project home builder or using a design service and private builder. One of the project home builders quoted my other half 70K site costs over the phone with out even looking at the site. Im finding it hard to assess cost of the house + inclusions + site costs vs a fixed price contract from a private builder which would lump all those costs together. Will send you a PM with more details cheers Re: Sloping Block - Looking for Ideas, Builders Designs 9Nov 16, 2012 4:00 pm Hi Manshan, Have a look at my thread for ideas - my block is the same, 16m frontage, 7m downward slope and 630sqm size. With a sloping block you'll either have to stump up for lots of retaining or build with the slope of the land (split level) or play around with stilts.. As stated by others, most project builders won't want to touch a slope like that, and the ones that do will charge like a wounded bull. Re: Sloping Block - Looking for Ideas, Builders Designs 10Nov 16, 2012 7:43 pm We are at tender stage for our 8m fall block. We have tenders with two project builders and one custom builder. I started by walking around a display village with a copy of my contour map asking each builder if they would consider our block. Most didn't. For the record, MH wouldn't build on our block as you can only build to their plans and we needed something different for our block. So far I've had ballpark prices up to 200K different to each other. In my experience, the custom builders were charging significantly more than the project builders. Regardless of who you go with, ensure you have fixed site costs. You may pay a little more than if you only had a provision but there would be nothing worse than being hit for many thousands if the provisions are too low. The ground work is a major cost on the house so it's imperative that you know how much that bit will cost. Land at Chermside At tender stage Hello all, bought a block of land and would like to find designs now. We want a void over the living/dining room. We’re looking at Savoy 32 from Eden Brae, are there any… 0 156 Give Jonathan a call. Tell him you know me. He is in my opinion the best surveyor I have ever worked with. His number is 0425 285 622 All the best Simeon 3 12423 i did click it, still couldnt make it out rofl. in any case, doesnt look like too extreme a slope, you may be in luck. Just shoot out some emails to volume builders in… 3 18575 |