Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 20, 2012 4:41 pm I posted this earlier, but think I may have put it in the wrong thread. If anyone can assist, its much appreciated. I thought I would post here to see if anyway could shed any assistance. My wife and I are looking at buying some land in Newcastle, NSW and building a home from scratch. Having never done this before, there is only so much research you can do, so I thought I would ask people that have experienced what we are looking to achieve. To help, - The land size we are looking at is between 800 - 1100 sq m - The house would be approximately 200-250 sq m. My specific questions are around time and costs. Mainly:- - from signing the contracts, what is the time to complete - also, the actual building time - Within that, at what point in time could we move in (on the basis we could finish things on once moved in - painting, decking, tiling etc) - I have the advantage of having a brother in law who is an architect, another brother in law who is a sparky, and a father in law (retired) who was a builder and could therefore act as forman and odd-job man - I have some experience of basic DIY, but would have to get tradesmen in for most of it - What would be a (very) generic cost of the build, assuming nice appliances, fixtures and fittings etc with a pool and decking area (I have thought approx $14,000 for 1 en-suite bathroom, one family bathroom and downstairs toilet, and a further $10,000 for the kitchen, $10,000 for decking and $5,000 for a pool - but appreciate I may be way off!) - How easy/expensive is it to install an underground wine cellar (accessed from internal) as the build takes place - The property would have a double garage - Wooden floors downstairs and carpet upstairs - Bi-fold doors at the back of the house - Separate lounge, with open plan kitchen, dining and sitting room - 3/4 bedrooms and a study - Is my approx house size even big enough for the above I've estimated about 200 man days, with some projects running concurrently. But with things like kitchen build and electrics being done myself on weekends during the build, decking paining and tiling being done after moving in, I've estimated 80 calendar days is possible. Any advice, tips and estimates are greatly appreciated. I can also provide any additional info if needed. Thanks in advance. Iain Re: First time OB 2Aug 20, 2012 5:42 pm Way to many variables to go close to answering anything specifically....but for starters.... Write a full list (best off using excel) of all the rooms you want and roughly their size e.g. Bed 1 4000x4000 Bed 2 3600x3000 Etc... Tally up the total floor area and add a percentage for halls/circulation area. Roughly (and I mean it!) give some $/m2 to different zones. E.g. living/bed/hall - $1500/m2 wet areas - $1800/m2 Kitchen - $2200/m2 Once this is all listed down the page in excel you’ll have (1) a good idea of how much floor area you want to build and a cost to do it. This may also be of benefit http://www.homedesigndirectory.com.au/c ... ator.shtml Pools – budget for around $1500 per liner metre of pool edge. As for your cellar, a flat block will be much harder to do the cellar than say a sloping block where you can dig back into the earth. Good luck – it’s a big journey! ----------------------------------------------- http://pab34newdigs.blogspot.com.au/ ----------------------------------------------- Re: First time OB 3Aug 20, 2012 8:47 pm Thanks very much for getting back in touch. I am in no way underestimating the potential job at hand - but I'm hoping that with the assistance of family members with experience, might just soften the blow a little bit! Your advice is great - I've started to measure my current (rented) home to get a feel as to room sizes etc. From there, I'll do a rough diagram of things before entering in room sizes to do a calculation. I've heard $1,500 is a pretty good (rough) estimate to start for the entire house, but that only really accounts for basic fixtures and fittings, so I would allow more for bathrooms and kitchen anyway. The pool, I think, is a luxury that can wait - I was thinking it might be cheaper (and in fact, to an extent it probably is) to do whilst doing the main build as access will be easy, and all equipment for excavation etc will be on-site. But at $1,500 per metre, unless we go for a glorified puddle, i think its out of our budget. I'm hoping for 200 sq metres internal, and to do the build all up for about $250K - which I think might be stretching it, hence enlisting as many family members as I can with the appropriate skills, and doing things like tiling, painting, decking myself. I don't think my timing is too far off, based on concurrent man days, and also doing a lot on weekends ourselves (and some after moving in). As for the cellar - I've seen the spiral cellars, but they are about $25,000 without the excavation, so was hoping to something similar without getting a firm in to do it. I think that is an entirely different challenge though! Thanks again Iain Can anyone give me any onfo on New Homes WA? Good or bad, hopefully good just need to know if my choice was good or not? Thanks ❤️ 0 4944 Thanks NativeZen! I can't wait to start landscaping, though it's going to be a while away yet. No movement on site yet as of the weekend. Hoping to see some earthworks… 3 2148 I’m curious about how you went with this. We are planning a KDRB and considering Plantation Homes as a builder. I’m aware that after the demolition another soil test… 1 6313 |