Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jun 04, 2012 12:31 pm We have just received our contract from Metr!con for our new build in the sutherland shire in Sydney and I'm a bit surprised by the site costs that they've got on there. Could someone please let me know if this seems reasonable or if we should question it. We are due to sign the contract tomorrow. This is what the contact says: Standard Site Costs Concrete Slab: Waffle pod construction up to Class 'M' classification - Included Connection of Natural Gas Supply - Included Provide Standard Site Costs to include: [*] Concrete piering to a depth of 1000mm including concrete handling [*] Connection of sewerage system, stormwater drains and water supply [*] Earthworks (we have a very flat block so only a scrape is required, no cut and fill) [*] Underground power - 3 phase provision up to house only Cost: 17,800 This seems like a lot more than what I've seen on this site for other people with an M class slab, especially considering we only need a scrape of our site and the slab is included in the base price of our house. Any help is much appreciated! Re: Site Costs - M Class Slab 3Jun 04, 2012 2:57 pm Mine wouldn't be far from this with Metricoin - site works and a P-class slab were $14,900, plus $3447 for additional concrete piering. Then recycled water connection was a further $2330. So right there you've got $20677, effectively for the slab and developer requirements. Then there's a further $3947 for council/OHS requirements. Building a Delta 21 at Craigieburn - http://homeofzero.blogspot.com.au/ Deposit: 26/02. Contract: 22/05. Settlement: 29/05. Site start: 18/10. Re: Site Costs - M Class Slab 5Jun 04, 2012 3:50 pm Hi Don't know how much help I will be as we are going with a different builder and I am no expert here but we just got our contract back last week and we need 51 piers to a depth of 1500mm, house is 32 squares. This has added on an extra $5,000 to our site costs which are at just over $29,000, this does include Bushfire Attack level 12.5 which is 5,500 so take that out and we are at just under 24k and we have a completely flat block too. Not sure how many you need but the cement pier things seem to be a big cost. Re: Site Costs - M Class Slab 6Jun 04, 2012 6:37 pm jpc Hi Don't know how much help I will be as we are going with a different builder and I am no expert here but we just got our contract back last week and we need 51 piers to a depth of 1500mm, house is 32 squares. This has added on an extra $5,000 to our site costs which are at just over $29,000, this does include Bushfire Attack level 12.5 which is 5,500 so take that out and we are at just under 24k and we have a completely flat block too. Not sure how many you need but the cement pier things seem to be a big cost. Just for the record a block looking "completely flat" should ring the alarm bells in terms of fill being used to make it look that way - land in general is hardly ever completely flat in its natural state (it generally requires the intervention of a friendly species known taxonomically by the name "H0mo Sapiens" to make it look that way). It's always what's hiding below the surface that makes a difference in your site costs, not what you can see on top and it really is the dirty little secret that a developer's selling agents hide from potential buyers when they are going the hard sell. It often is the case that land sales staff use the pre-conceived notion that a flat block means low site costs to their advantage as a selling point, even when they know there are (literally) truckloads of fill on some (or in bad cases on most/all) blocks (in some stages of some developments) to make them look "flat". Some people apparently have nothing better to do than comment on other people's sigs. Re: Site Costs - M Class Slab 7Jun 04, 2012 7:11 pm Thanks for the info cmhamilton, our block was not flat when we bought it, it was on a hill and the cut and retaining wall was done recently by the developer so we now have a flat block. I was just mentioning to the poster who also mentioned he/she has a flat block that we also (now) have a flat block but that has not stopped our site costs from being higher. Re: Site Costs - M Class Slab 8Jun 04, 2012 8:03 pm I built with M and was very satisfied with their footing costs. I previously went through AV Jennings and Hickinbotham, however, I pulled out of those contracts upon receiving their estimations (due to their ****** also). Both came back at $34,000 NOT fixed during build!! With M, they had a fixed price which came back to $20,000 FIXED. I was very happy with that and even though they may seem a little more expensive, after you add up all the other builders costs, they are actually better in our circumstance. I have a flat block but ended up being M class with cut and fill. I'd be very happy with your costs if it was me. Re: Site Costs - M Class Slab 9Jun 04, 2012 9:09 pm I just went through our site costs for a H class slab with screw piering, dead flat block, came to $22k in site costs My building blog is here: http://metriconcedar32.blogspot.com.au Re: Site Costs - M Class Slab 10Jun 04, 2012 10:19 pm Thanks for the responses everyone. I suspect that what cmhamilton has said is 100% accurate as all the blocks in our development are very level. I've gone back to M to ask for a bit more of a breakdown of the costs rather than just one bulk number. If that's what it costs I guess we have to pay it but it would be nice to have a bit more clarity around what makes up that number - even if just so I know what to expect if we ever build again. Re: Site Costs - M Class Slab 11Jun 04, 2012 10:20 pm If you pre commit with the builder before soil test you are giving the builder opportunity to charge premium without competition. If possible give builder soil test and then ask for a firm price, then compare prices with other builders. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Site Costs - M Class Slab 12Jun 04, 2012 10:29 pm Building with PD in Vic 44sq 2 story. Breakdown as follows : Excavation $5322 Slab upgrade from M to M-D and piering $5402 Services (agi drains, silt pit, additional storm water, sewer elec, riser pipes) $2174 Retaining Walls $2967 TOTAL $15865 Still Waiting for Titles!!!! Re: Site Costs - M Class Slab 14Jun 05, 2012 3:38 am For the record our site costs were about $20k - H class slab with 19 piers and deepened edge beams along with all the other goodies (stronger reo, thicker ribs, ag drainage, etc) you need with about a 2m fall running diagonally across the building footprint requiring a balanced cut + fill (1.2m cut front right corner, 0.9m fill back left corner) on heavy clay with basaltic floaters present starting at about 1m down. Big M do revise their site costs after the footings have been completed, but as BE mentioned it might be a good idea to wait until after the initial soil test before locking anything in in terms of fixed-price site costs. Some people apparently have nothing better to do than comment on other people's sigs. Re: Site Costs - M Class Slab 15Jun 05, 2012 8:05 am cmhamilton cut + fill (1.2m cut front right corner, 0.9m fill back left corner) on heavy clay ... My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Site Costs - M Class Slab 16Jun 05, 2012 10:36 am Lex cmhamilton cut + fill (1.2m cut front right corner, 0.9m fill back left corner) on heavy clay ... First of all the 2m fall wasn't quite as bad as it sounded - the was a crown on the front corner right corner about 1.5m in from the street which resulted in a significant higher degree of slope pretty much ending before the front right corner of the building footprint, so the depth of the cut on the front right corner of the house itself was about 0.8m and the fill at the back left corner was about 0.8m as well (the fill on the back left corner had to be extended a little to accommodate our RWT). We had stiff clay at the horizon 'B' level starting from about 200-300mm down with basaltic floaters of reasonable size present starting at about 1m from the natural ground level (thus giving us something solid to found the piers into) and I think the piers themselves ended up being 1.5m deep starting from the cut/fill line back towards the back left corner - 11 external piers , 6 internal (all piers spaced roughly 3.5 m apart). Some people apparently have nothing better to do than comment on other people's sigs. Re: Site Costs - M Class Slab 17Jun 05, 2012 3:04 pm Ah, I see ... (well, 'cept for the start of the second paragraph ... you're talking to a layman here, to me a horizon is where the sky meets the land ) Anyhoo, you had some serious piers, that slab shouldn't be moving around !! My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Site Costs - M Class Slab 18Jun 05, 2012 3:41 pm I'm a layman too - but I've done my homework and understand what it all means (kind of). When they take a soil sample the soil structure itself is arranged in layers (kind of like the rings in a tree trunk only horizontal instead of circular) - as soil particles come to rest on a surface they theoretically build up another layer over time, in turn compressing the layer beneath further. Horizon "A' is the soil layer beneath the whatever is sitting on top (topsoil or fill) - this soil will generally speaking have lower load-bearing capacity as it has either been deposited more recently than the soil in the next layer down (thus having less time to be compacted naturally) or has been disturbed in some way. Horizon "B"" is the next soil layer down below Horizon "A " - the subsurface soil structure on this lower level generally tends to be the real stuff the ground in the area you're building in is made of (clay, rock, floodplain silt, sandy silt, etc) and is what will support your footings in the longer term. The soil the builder is usually going to be interested in is the stuff in Horizon B, as it is the best indicator of how the soil beneath the footings will perform under compression (vertical) and shear (horizontal) loads, as well as when moisture levels in the soil increase/decrease over time as they naturally tend to do. I'm not educated in the traditional sense in geological science - I have google to thank for what meagre knowledge I do possess on the subject... Some people apparently have nothing better to do than comment on other people's sigs. Re: Site Costs - M Class Slab 19Jun 05, 2012 7:12 pm We met with the contact presenter from M today and were told that the 17k is the standard amount that they charge for site costs for a vacant block (it is 22k for KDRB). When I asked for more of a breakdown of the costs I was told that they don't breakdown the costs and that on some sites one thing costs more and on others it might be a different thing. She said that sometimes they lose out on the site costs and sometimes they win. I find this a bit hard to swallow as they also charge a whole lot of extras if you don't fit in the standard site conditions. For example we have been charged extra for connection of services as our setback is 6m and their site costs are base on a 5m setback so I'm not really seeing how they could lose out on site costs. We have already had soil tests done. There is about 1.2m of solid fill on the land which is why it is classified as an M class slab. Below that is sand as we are right near the beach so if it wasn't for the fill I think our costs would have been more. So it seems M won't budge on the site costs but it is a fixed cost so shouldn't go up any more from there. Re: Site Costs - M Class Slab 20Jun 05, 2012 7:32 pm Are you sitting down? Basic site costs: $6,900 Plus: Provision for rock excavation: $7,700 Plus Earthworks for 850 cut 1200 fill: $9,000 Provisional allowance for bored concrete piers under slab: $4,600 Provide concrete pump: $1,100 Material handling due to sit fall: $2,000 Provisional allowance for second water service for fire sprinklers: $2,250 Total $33,550 We have a set back of 44m, but our own earth-worker is digging all trenches for services so the additional cost in running services wouldn't be too high to the builder. This is all only for the house site too - driveway and site scrape also by our own private earth-worker. And while we are having a laugh our council specific requirements add $41,690 BAL $6,500 provisional Fire sprinklers $13,200 EER provisional $2,000 Rainwater tank (potable water source) $12,250 plus $590 plus $3,105 for concrete pad and retaining wall Coloubond roof $4,595 Sewerage pod $5,500 plus $450 for power Tender /1/12 Contract 14/6/12 Planning 12/10/12 Site 23/10/12 Piers 27/11/12 Slab 12/12/12 Frame 15/12/12 Trusses 17/1/13 Roof 24/1/13 Bricks 13/2/13 Plaster 1/3/13 I am not sure whether Perth has its own way of doing things in regards to this. Most of Perth has class A (sandy soil), except for some areas near rivers or hills. 2 13091 The Soil classification has little to do with piers. The purpose of the classing of the soil is to identify the clay content and the "average expected range of movement… 2 9853 I don’t think so as the floor area over 300 square meters then it is class 3…. 12 17935 |