Bargaining?

So my cousin reckons I'm an idiot for just agreeing to a contract without having bargained for anything. :/
The house came with tiled floors, carpets, ducted evaporative aircon, venetian blinds, china basins, double GPO in every room.

Did any of you guys bargain??
I have prestart next week.. any tips on how I can get my own back by demanding some things??

yeah, we negotiated. Asked to take some things out, so we could see the value of them, added some other things in (again so we could see the value), asked for some sweetners. Not much though, as our builder was already at a good price. Depends what the starting point is with the tender price. Have you signed the tender / contract already?

I have signed the contract already, yes.
I feel so annoyed at myself. What sweeteners did you ask for?

Hi turtleschell!

Some recent discussion which you may find helpful:

How much 'room' is there when negotiating $ on a new build?
http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=56934

What extras did you get included at no cost ?
http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=56806

Hope this helps!

Gosh, now that I think about it, I can't remember specifics... but small things like extra plumbing to the patio (for outdoor sink). Our tender started out higher than we expected, so for us it was more about trying to bargain down with deductions that we thought were fair.

buildingbee thanks.
Having now read both those threads, I don't feel so bad. I don't know what a standard house price is before upgrades, but I think ours is quite cheap, at $166k with those inclusions.
Any opinions?

Hi turtleschell

The cost will depend on where you're building and what you're building! i.e. how easy is it to build on your block (flat/slope), level of inclusions (basic/mid-range/high-end), single or double storey, is it a turnkey package (ready to move in) etc.

I'm no expert but the general consensus/rule of thumb is to add $50K-$100K on the base price of your home?

I can see from your blog that you're building a good sized single storey home so if you're paying $166K with no more to pay then this seems quite reasonable?

Here is another link with some discussion on the typical costs to consider:

Metric*n - The Real Cost
http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=53678&start=20

wow - $166K for the house? That must be base price. I haven't heard of many places at that price, most are well above that. You've got a good deal there. I would estimate $100K on top, so to be safe expect $300K total (including rent, driveway, landscaping, site costs, upgrades etc.). Just to give you an idea, when we were going to sign with Masterton, our site costs were $90K!!! (but that included a silly $14K distance allowance just to build in our area).

I've worked out that it's actually $161 Base Price, and then another 27k for adjustments I was forced to make due to block size/shape and additions like storeroom and portico, kitchen package, extended alfresco.
I estimate Prestart to cost me another $15000 at most - I plan to upgrade roof tiles, internal doors, entrance door, bench top to 40mm and two waterfall ends, increase tile height in bathrooms and kitchen, two shower niches if possible, extra paving, and hopefully if it's not too much, all downlight fittings in the whole house (Ill supply the lights myself).
It's encouraging to hear that it sounds like a good deal, I do trust my sales rep deep down.

, I don't think 15 grand will cover all the things you've listed... I think you'd be looking at doubling that amount...

I don't know, I've got costs for most of the things, I'm thinking it should be farely close. Unless they decide to give me bogus prices, which I hope they don't coz I really want these upgrades and if they demand a ridiculous price, I'll just have to say no.