Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 20, 2012 12:01 am Evening All, By way of brief background we have put down deposits on land and with a builder (Dale Alcock) and have drawn up the preliminary plans so haven't got any structural changes to make. We are scared that we will go massively over budget with our pre-start upgrades to the point we could build a two storey instead of a single storey. In addition we have had a confidence issue with the builder and are torn between continuing into the unknown and walking away and starting from scratch. The build is the Nautilus at display spec (so already includes a lot of stuff upgraded) with the office removed and a scullery and 5th bedroom added in. I have asked the sales rep to get me a price for the upgrades but it is going to take some time and so I am hoping that the vast array of experienced members on here might be able to help I will paste our list of wants below and just wonder whether any of you are able to guestimate what our pre-start costs might be. I know it can only be a rough idea. I genuinely (as an FTB) have no idea if we are looking at $5k, $20 or $50k and I think if we have a better idea of what the figure will be in the region of we can work out what to so next so: External Garage door - Centurian custom. Opal Makrolon with Silver Lustre frame (frame to consist of 3 horizontal bars only) Price for E-vents Solar Energy Panels Hallway Double wooden corner shelving as per the nautilus display Cabinet to right hand side as a 'drop zone' full length in the style of the cabinets in the Kayana (between garage door and the entrance to the master suite) Tiles From entrance through all corridors into the main living area and out to cover full alfresco - the tiles from the Archer living area (rectified porcelain) - I think they are 900 x 900 3 phase power Anticon insulation Doors All internal doors to be upgraded to Deco 03 Robe doors in bedrooms to be mirror/mirror not mirror/kote Kitchen Mirror splashback Plumbing to fridge recess Niagara U2 double sink and tap as displayed at DAC 900mm oven under the hob instead of 600mm over in the upright bank of units Remove microwave space and standard oven and replace with cupboard Scullery Stone bench top 30mm Overhead cabinets above the bench and window Water provided to scullery for dishwasher and sink Integrated dishwasher sink and tap ware En-suite Minko mixer taps Track fixed shower roses Stone bench top to look the same as the nautilus display (deep edge) Mirrored kickboard Shower drain to run full length along the back wall Bathroom Track fixed shower rose Stone bench top as per the en-suite Mirrored kickboard Shower drain to run full length along the back wall Laundry Glass splashback Powder room Rectangular basin sat on a floating wall mounted cupboard Thank you so much for taking the time to read this!! Emma Building the Nautilus with Dale Alcock follow my thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=58854&p=909574#p909574 14/8/12 Pre-start! Re: Help estimating pre-start costs / budget / allowance 2Jul 20, 2012 2:05 am I have some prices that might help you:
viewtopic.php?p=886915#p886915 Garage door - Centurian custom. Opal Makrolon with Silver Lustre frame (frame to consist of 3 horizontal bars only) I can tell you straight away, FORGET IT. We wanted to upgrade to this door but it was $4,500. I think you can find a better place to spend 5 grand... Porcelain tiles better be done not through the builder, Approximate price for this size will be over $150-180 per m2 plus installation which will be about another $70-80 per m2. So you're looking at $250 per m2 installed... Our laundry glass splashback came to $1,350 for a small bit of the wall... Our bench tops were upgraded from Freestyle and for the whole house in standard range it was about 2,5k (30mm in the kitchen and 20mm everywhere else). Be honest, we started with the whole list of things we would like. Our tender came back with $75,000 and it was upgrades for display version of the house. Plus don't forget your electrical upgrades. Just to put Saturn Switches and extra GPOs will be well over 7 grand. In the end you start thinking about what things you can live without... At first you want everything under the sun but later you start thinking if you will even notice certain things, like your towel rack doesn't have specific square shape... for example: http://www.dorf.com.au/product-ranges/b ... rail-800mm for $250 vs http://www.dorf.com.au/product-ranges/b ... rail-900mm for $87 and things like that... Re: Help estimating pre-start costs / budget / allowance 3Jul 20, 2012 11:33 am AubinGroveFan, Thank you so much for such a comprehensive response - it's really useful! I will contact Centurian direct and see if they will quote to install and if so whether it's cheaper than going through the builder, but yes - there is a lot we could spend $5k on other than a garage door!!! The link was very helpful as well and just gave me an idea of what to expect - I don't think it will be quite as horrific as I origianally thought but we might be able to get some of the dearer items (such as the mirror splashback) done after handover - I shall start asking for provisional quotes from a multitude of companies!! Thanks again - hope you managed to narrow down your pre-start list without having to take out a second mortgage!! Emma Building the Nautilus with Dale Alcock follow my thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=58854&p=909574#p909574 14/8/12 Pre-start! Re: Help estimating pre-start costs / budget / allowance 4Jul 20, 2012 12:41 pm Hi Emma I am not building with Dales but I remember also being very apprehensive going into prestart wanting so many upgrades but having absolutely no idea what to expect in terms of pricing. All I can recommend is doing a lot of homework re: tapware, sinks, appliances and having two options for each, the one you want and a similar less expensive option. This will save you time in the long run as you can get pricing for both and then make a decision on what you willing to go ahead with, without spending heaps of time requesting pricing after prestart when everything you thought you wanted comes back probably more than you thought. I have previously sent pricing to someone else of the forum, and the below is based on my builder but is perhaps a good guide as to what to expect for these kind of upgrades. DOORS Internal doors (Corinthian Rockport) - $894 for 14 doors Door handles (Gainsborough Fiora) - $532 BATHROOMS Hobless showers (ensuite and main bath) - $1040 total (you pay that one price even if you only want one hobless, something to do with installing a valve) Upgrade shower screens to semi frameless - $500 each mitred edge to tiles where applicable - $250 Caroma Saracom basin, bath and shower mixers (main bath) - $463 for all Caroma Cube undermount sink - $355 each Caroma Newbury 1675 bath - $313 Dorf Tiber rainshower head with right angle arm - $581 each Caroma Saracom basin and shower mixers (ensuite bath) - $317 for both Silver edged mirrors (instead of direct stick) - $700 for both bathrooms Full length wall mirror in main bathroom - $235 Caroma Metro toilet - $1384 for both toilets KITCHEN/LAUNDRY Caroma Saracom kitchen/laundry sink mixer - $132each Cold water tap to fridge recess - $275 Waterfall ends to island - $1800 (all other stone in our build was included and we could have either 20 or 30mm) Smeg fully integrated dishwasher - $1699 Smeg microwave with trim kit - $772 Full height and full width overhead cupboards to laundry - $2466 MISC Gas point to alfresco - $310 3 panel stacking doors to living - $558 Silver anodised strip handles to kitchen/laundry and bathrooms - 2k Tiling is very expensive, our upgrades in this area using rectified porcelain (to wet areas only) was over 4k. Our lighting/other electrics is probably going to be an extra 5k, and we are having a friend do it, so be aware that extras in this area will also be quite hefty through the builder. From our experience so far if you want everything "just so" in your house I would be adding about 50k on top of the base price of the build as a guide. I hope this helps Re: Help estimating pre-start costs / budget / allowance 5Jul 24, 2012 2:52 pm Thanks LeighLou (Loved your comment to PerthBuilder the other day by the way!!) I really appreciate you providing the detail of your pre-start quotes - very helpful. We have got a few things already included as part of a 'package' but basically got our sales rep round to the house last night, gave him 3 pages of things we wanted credit and quote prices for and sent him off - no, we didn't sign the contract If he wants our money he has to work for it and we want to know the costs up front. Think that's they best thing for us! Have a great rest of week Emma Building the Nautilus with Dale Alcock follow my thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=58854&p=909574#p909574 14/8/12 Pre-start! Re: Help estimating pre-start costs / budget / allowance 6Jul 24, 2012 3:28 pm emmanewman Thanks LeighLou (Loved your comment to PerthBuilder the other day by the way!!) I really appreciate you providing the detail of your pre-start quotes - very helpful. We have got a few things already included as part of a 'package' but basically got our sales rep round to the house last night, gave him 3 pages of things we wanted credit and quote prices for and sent him off - no, we didn't sign the contract If he wants our money he has to work for it and we want to know the costs up front. Think that's they best thing for us! Have a great rest of week Emma YAY! you have done the right thing! Try to get as much as it done as you can in the contract price and not during prestart! Dales are good in that most things at prestart are costed on the day! External Price for E-vents: we got 2 for $638 Tiles From entrance through all corridors into the main living area and out to cover full alfresco - the tiles from the Archer living area (rectified porcelain) - I think they are 900 x 900 Or site supervisor told us that just to lay rectified porcelain tiles they charge about $120sqm. If the tiles cost $60sqm in the shop expect no less then $100sqm. That is from our site supervisor...he told us getting them done afterwards like we did is the way to go! Kitchen Plumbing to fridge recess $120 900mm oven under the hob instead of 600mm over in the upright bank of units: you should be able to get this as a standard inclusion! Remove microwave space and standard oven and replace with cupboard This should be next to nothing as they should replace each other (you are taking cabinets out somewhere else to put in the oven and then adding cupboards there...so shouldnt be any cost variation!) En-suite Track fixed shower roses: not sure which ones these are but if you are getting the display version, you should have something like this standard! Sorry can't help with exact prices but a bit! A few others you might be interested in knowing: Cupboards are expensive! We wanted a wine rack over our double fridge recess and was going to cost $2455! ended up going with just an open cupboard and cost $822. So add on doors and probably be $1200 or so! OUCH! If you are after hobless shower, our ensuite was this: add full height wall and add reflux valve $867 and tile the shower area to full height with waterproofing etc $516 Our basins were an extra $289 adn they are the round ones that sit in the bench a bit. Wall mounted tapware is $150 for both bathroom/ensuite Extra privacy locks for doors $30 each Water filter $110 Hope it helps! Re: Help estimating pre-start costs / budget / allowance 7Jul 24, 2012 4:24 pm This forum is just the best place for getting advice, opinions, information and help - thank you!! Vans - yes, we are trying to get as much into the contract as possible so we don't have to find tens of thousands of $'s to be able to finish the house at hand over stage! We have asked for a quote for the tiling but yes - think it's going to be astronomical so can't see it being one of the things we can justify. Interesting to know about the cupboards as we have asked for more to be put in the scullery. I really must get round to starting my own blog and uploading the plans.... Great news about the fridge plumbing - thats a good price! Have a great rest of week Building the Nautilus with Dale Alcock follow my thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=58854&p=909574#p909574 14/8/12 Pre-start! Re: Help estimating pre-start costs / budget / allowance 8Jul 24, 2012 4:38 pm I dont have my prestart list with me (albiet different builder), I would see about doing you PV panels, events and glass splash backs after handover so the builder does not add their markup.
Definately do non wet area tiling after handover, they may sting you with the install costs for large format tiles (even upgrading our wet area tiles to 300 x 300 cost more, then there was an excess for porcilian and rectified edges - they didnt want to lay 600 x 600 in our laundry and said we could do it after handover) Ask about shower screens, but keep in mind that even if it says they can be done after handover the sparky may want them installed prior to handover due to splashes and power points. Those mirrored kickboards sound awesome, do you have a photo??? We saved money by changing non standard sized items to standard sizes, e.g. increasing to depth of our ensuite vanity from a non standard slimline depth to the same as our bathroom ones (we went from 380mm to 500mm and saved $200). I know what you mean about finding truck loads of money after handover, but 20% markup on big items ends up making it worthwhile. My advice is to do as much as possible after handover, take your plans to some local companies and get some quotes, you may well be surprised. In addition you will have time to take advantage of any sales that happen between now and handover, and get to choose exactly what you want. It is also worth doing this to make sure you aren't being ripped off. hmmm what else... oh those shower drain grate things, expect to pay over $400 each. I just ordered one for our build (tile insert) and it cost me $400, I would hate to know what the builder's mark up would be. We were charged $70 each to upgrade the standard floor wastes to the square tile insert ones - you can find them a lot cheaper on line, but the cheaper ones are to fit 100mm pipe, not the standard 50mm pipe :/ I remember it cost use $1200 to upgrade our loos to the wall faced caroma metro, I love the idea of not having to dust the hump at the back! Re: Help estimating pre-start costs / budget / allowance 9Jul 24, 2012 4:49 pm The Vans emmanewman Thanks LeighLou (Loved your comment to PerthBuilder the other day by the way!!) Tiles From entrance through all corridors into the main living area and out to cover full alfresco - the tiles from the Archer living area (rectified porcelain) - I think they are 900 x 900 Hope it helps! tiles - 900 x 900n - that is huge. I have never seen tiles larger than 600 x 600. Re: Help estimating pre-start costs / budget / allowance 10Jul 24, 2012 5:47 pm Thanks alt0160 - yes, post handover tiling is looking likely, I do have a photo of the mirrored kickboards but need to send it to my phone which I can't do from work - will try and get it sorted! Wow - $400 for shower grates!! That's more than I predicted Good call on the toilets though - smart thinking!! CC101 [quote="The Vans tiles - 900 x 900n - that is huge. I have never seen tiles larger than 600 x 600. CC101 - yes, they are 600 x 600 - Building the Nautilus with Dale Alcock follow my thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=58854&p=909574#p909574 14/8/12 Pre-start! Re: Help estimating pre-start costs / budget / allowance 11Aug 01, 2012 5:56 pm Hi emmanewman. How's all the preparation going? There's a lot to think about I know - but it sounds like you're being really thorough, which is great. This forum is such a good place for getting info and advice from those in the same boat as you. And remember if there's anything I can help with at any point, just let me know. Have a great week! Jemima. Dale Alcock Homes. We love building. T: 08 9242 9200 Mon – Fri 8am-5pm Sat - 10-4 thedacrew@dalealcock.com.au http://www.dalealcock.com.au http://www.facebook.com/dalealcockhomes Re: Help estimating pre-start costs / budget / allowance 12Aug 02, 2012 11:07 am Thank goodness you are back Jemima - I think we are spolit having you and your absence was noticed!! Hope the wedding went well, the sun shined and you had a nice time in the UK. Bet is already seems like ages ago! We hit a stumbling block with some mis-communication about the budget and as a result have been considering another builder. We saw our sales consultant again last week and asked for a whole heaps of price information to halp us make a decision and will see him again on Tuesday hopefully after that we will know who we are going to build with. The big issue was that when DH and I talked about budget we meant the house finished with all the big ticket items and the sales consultant was talking about brinks and mortar basically. It means we are now so far over the original base price that 2 storey builds are costing the same as our proposed one storey! Anyway, time will tell, hoping that DA can be flexible and that Tuesday is productive. Have a great Thursday Building the Nautilus with Dale Alcock follow my thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=58854&p=909574#p909574 14/8/12 Pre-start! Re: Help estimating pre-start costs / budget / allowance 13Aug 03, 2012 3:06 pm Hi Emma We are going with a different builder but our costing for the Anticon just to the main living areas of the home so excluding the garage and alfresco was $4081. Our 3 phase power is $800 and then we have $250 for a load centre (not sure what this actually is but something for the A/C) and $290 for the metre box upgrade. We did exactly what you did and got different builders to cost all the things up for us before we would sign with anyone so then we could compare them against each other as they all have different spec's. I highly suggest you do look around as we got offered lots of things - one even offered us a 20 grand discount and another offered us a miele oven, ducted recycled air con, 30mm stone bench tops with waterfall ends and anticon for no extra charge! Good luck with it all! Re: Help estimating pre-start costs / budget / allowance 14Aug 03, 2012 8:33 pm NatsyPatsy78 Hi Emma We are going with a different builder but our costing for the Anticon just to the main living areas of the home so excluding the garage and alfresco was $4081. We have been quoted around the $3400-$4000 mark. Re: Help estimating pre-start costs / budget / allowance 15Aug 04, 2012 12:37 am NatsyPatsy78 I highly suggest you do look around as we got offered lots of things - one even offered us a 20 grand discount and another offered us a miele oven, ducted recycled air con, 30mm stone bench tops with waterfall ends and anticon for no extra charge! Good luck with it all! Which Builder was that? Re: Help estimating pre-start costs / budget / allowance 16Aug 04, 2012 12:05 pm Wow - didn't realise Anticon was so expensive but supposedly very effective at reducing the noise when it rains! Def getting a variety of pricing - although builders are saying trade has picked up they still want our business! Thanks Donna - would love to know who that was if you could pm me? Love a builder who is flexible!! Building the Nautilus with Dale Alcock follow my thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=58854&p=909574#p909574 14/8/12 Pre-start! Re: Help estimating pre-start costs / budget / allowance 17Aug 09, 2012 2:12 pm Hi Emma. The wedding went really well, thank you. I have been out of the office since Monday, but I'm back now and not going anywhere so I shall be around each day for any queries anyone has. How is everything going - how was Tuesday? I hope things are starting to make sense for you. There are always so many decisions, particularly at the beginning. But I'm confident it will be worth it. I suppose the trick is to give yourself a limited choice - you know, a bit like a wedding dress! I remember choosing mine 18 months before the Big Day - I just fell in love with it right away and bought it without thinking it over too much. Then I kept allowing myself to look at other dresses online and kept questioning whether I'd made the right choice. But the fact is, there are so many beautiful dresses that would suit me, but I'd made the choice I did for a reason, and so I stopped looking. I loved it on my W-Day and have no regrets. So for all those decisions you need to make, such as colours, tiles, timbers, doors and every item inside your home (all as important as each other in their own way) - listen out to your instinct and just go with it sometimes. It will feel good! You're always going to look back and say 'what if', but that's a natural part of the building journey. I know this stage is a lot about early decisions and a little waiting, but hopefully you can start to really feel excited soon and start looking forward to the journey ahead, taking you all the way to your brand new home. Have a fabulous day and if we don't catch up before, then enjoy your weekend and perhaps we can meet in person when you're next in the office? Take care and chat soon. Jemima. Dale Alcock Homes. We love building. T: 08 9242 9200 Mon – Fri 8am-5pm Sat - 10-4 thedacrew@dalealcock.com.au http://www.dalealcock.com.au http://www.facebook.com/dalealcockhomes Re: Help estimating pre-start costs / budget / allowance 18Aug 09, 2012 10:33 pm I have PM'ed you Building the Nautilus with Dale Alcock follow my thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=58854&p=909574#p909574 14/8/12 Pre-start! Coming back to your old stomping grounds, huh? Renovations on a budget can be quite the journey. It's like giving your house a new lease on life. 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