Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 22, 2012 11:18 pm Hi everyone! We've recently decided to 'Knockdown and Rebuild' and have spent a lot of last week checking out display homes. I am hoping to get some advice on a few things: 1. Recommended Project Home builders - there are sooooo many out there and I thought Product Review website would be a good start but then I realised a lot of the builders who do a lot of volume have many positive AND negative comments and its seems very much a 'luck of the draw'. Can anyone tell me who they would recommend out of Eden Brae, Wisdom, Provincial, Rawson homes, Tullipan, Alkira, Metri c, Beechwood and Fowler homes? And is Eden Brae really good to win the HIA awards for some many years in a row? 2. Home Design - I'm having a lot of trouble finding a wide house design 15-17m wide for our 20m wide block. Also would love a more symmetric, classic/traditional facade where the garage is part of the house structure rather than jutting out to the side etc. 3. Site costs - what is the likely range for site costs if I'm in the Kuring-gai council area? Slightly sloping contour, maybe 1 in 10 slope. Don't know what is in the soil. Are we talking about $30-60K? 4. Realistic Budget? - Is it realistic to expect to have a budget of around $350K total to build a double storey 33-35sq house? including site costs etc that is. This IS my first post so please let me know if there are threads already addressing these issues. Thanks! Re: Building Project Home - A few questions 2Aug 23, 2012 12:02 am CKL ….. decided to 'Knockdown and Rebuild' and have spent a lot of last week checking out display homes. Well done! Brave decision. CKL Recommended Project Home builders….. Too many, too much variety. You’ll either find a design that you like and can alter to what you really want and be able to work with/trust the project builder OR you’ll find a design you like but not the project builder (for whatever reason) and take it to a smaller custom builder who will tweak the design to what you, can actually be a better cost option. CKL Home Design - I'm having a lot of trouble finding….. I know that some project builders web sites have the ability to dial in the block width to narrow the designs that suit. As for a more traditional design you may have to design it yourself or re-design the front of someone else’s plans and try and get it built. CKL Realistic Budget ….. $350k – It will be tight. 350k for 34sq is about $1100/m2. You may get the house built for that but that’s assuming that you ground condition is good, there is no rock, no services to be built over, etc. and will have standard fit out & features. What you then have to also include is driveways/landscaping/outdoor entertainment area/window dressings/new furniture (if you don’t have enough in your current place). Some of these things can wait a bit but others will need to be done before you move in. We are going through this exact process right now. Our rate is about $1700/m2 for a mid-spec 2 story, 4 bed home. This rate DOES included everything, e.g. window dressing, security screens, driveway and paths, a bit of landscaping, fencing, a bit of home automation and A/V control. Other cost implications for our block are building over services, poor soil (H/E) and the fact we were flooded in 2011 so our block has to be built (to meet new council minimum floor levels) up meaning 50m + of retaining walls have to be built. Good luck! ----------------------------------------------- http://pab34newdigs.blogspot.com.au/ ----------------------------------------------- Re: Building Project Home - A few questions 3Aug 23, 2012 6:32 am Hi CKL, Welcome to a very exciting & at times scary adventure of your lives. We have just finished building our home & moved in 3 months ago . Two & a half years ago, we too bought an old house & knocked it down & rebuilt. As we have built before, we thought the best thing to do & safest is to go with a big project home builder. We didn't even consider a more smaller builder at all. To cut a long story short, after we paid the initial deposit in June 2010, the bulder kept stalling, then Xmas was upon us. Come Easter 2011, we only had a slab & frames & nothing else. The house was supposed to have been finished in August 2011, Come October, the builder went bankrupt & all we had to show for it was payment of 50% of the contract, & a frame & slab. As we were paying a mortgage, we opted to get a paid out 20% of the contract price from HWI rather than wait for another builder to take over, it was the best decision we made. Finding another builder to take over a half built house was a big ask, especially since the frame was exposed to the elements foe 9 months, but thankfully, we were introduced to Adam. Adam was very simpathetic & understanding of our situation, & took over the build in Dec 2011. As I said earlier, the house was completed at Easter 2012. So the moral of the story is before you commit to anything, do your research very well, because once you sign on the dotted line, there is no going back, & you're stuck for the duration of the the contract. Most contracts by the way are " Front ended" which means you pay most of your money upfront, so the % of money paid does not neccessarily equal % built. The house we built was actually suited for a 20m frontage block, but as our block was 15m only, it was modified. The actual width of the house was 17m . Our garage is actually part of the house, it's two storey, 4 bedrooms, games room, separate lounge & combined rumpus & kitchen. As far as build costs go, The safest thing is to add $100K to the price of your build, & that should cover things like basix, driveway ( Which I strongly suggest as a must do before you move in ) & landsacping to say the least. Adam's company is called Construction Inc, if you want his details, please pm me. In conclusion, research, research & then some before you do anything. Goodluck Re: Building Project Home - A few questions 4Aug 23, 2012 11:14 am You might be able to knock a few builders off that list before you start. Eden Brae don't like to build on slopes, Tullipan do but you'll pay for the privilege as well. Does KMC require a Dropped Edge Beam (DEB ??) if so you're site costs might be a lot more. Re: Building Project Home - A few questions 5Aug 23, 2012 11:42 am Hi there, Ku-ring-gai - what a great area to be in - I grew up there. I am currently building with Rawson Homes. We are going through the pre-building phase, but should start building in the next couple of months. I have found them different then the other large project builders, they look more expensive from the outset, but they include all their site costs etc in their price quoted. They do not have a base price and then add off of their site costs on top. For us this worked better as we really knew up front what we were likely to pay, rather than continually adding to the base price. For other project builders you will pay at least $100K over the base price and with your sloping block many large project builders will not touch the site. Rawson will work on site with up to 1000mm fall, our block which is 4000m2 looks like it has a gentle fall from right to left, actually it is greater than 500mm. All this is included with Rawson. I have also found with them that most of the things that are upgrades with the other building companies are included as standard with them. Another builder that seems to be having some good reviews here and is flexible with design is Zen Homes. there are a few of the people on here that will be able to give more information on them as they are currently building or just recently finished. Our house with Rawson is 42.5 squares - it is 2 storey, 5 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, 15m wide (including the garage) however, it is 27m long is currently about $380,000 so less than $1,000m2 - so your budget at $350,000 is not unrealistic, however, saying that, that price does not include floor coverings, driveway and landscaping. Rawson does include these items in their price, however, we have deleted these from the contract and we will do them after handover. I would look really closely at your project builders and see what they include as standard and what they don't include. I have heard that some do not include toilet roll holders as standard and a lot don't include your kitchen overhead cupboards as standard. Modified Fernside 38 Rawson Homes Blog: http://www.thehousethatmatandjenbuilt.blogspot.com Build Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=60501 Re: Building Project Home - A few questions 6Aug 23, 2012 2:27 pm Following on from Jen1977's post .... if you can get to a DiLorenzo tile shop and see the difference between the Eden Brae tiles and the Metr icon tiles that are "in your allocation". We crossed Metr icon off the list because their build cost was too high, but the tiles that are included in the range is awesome. With Eden Brae, it's a cheaper build cost but you're going to pay extra for nice finishes as well. I don't know what other builders do, but for electrical Eden Brae include ONE bayonet light fitting and one double power point in each room. Everything else is extra, so on the typical display home what they never tell you is that you have to add $8,000 - $15,000 for a proper electrical fit-out (lights, power, tv points, etc...) Re: Building Project Home - A few questions 7Aug 23, 2012 2:36 pm laser what you say is so true, I reckon anyone building should first ask to see the prospective builder's tile range as well as other "fittings" . They basically include standard tiles, anything else is extra , so you end up paying extra for tiles, extra power points, nicer door handles etc etc etc, & in the end it all adds up . Re: Building Project Home - A few questions 8Aug 23, 2012 8:50 pm PAB_34 Well done! Brave decision. Thanks PAB_34. It is a huge decision but I hope we won't regret it and it will be our dream house that we'll be in for a LONG LONG time! PAB_34 Recommended Project Home builders….. yeh, right now I'm keeping an open mind about ALL options. Custom builders, small builders, anything! I'm basically going to put together all our requirements and block info and send it out to a whole bunch of builders and see what comes back. PAB_34 I know that some project builders web sites have the ability to dial in the block width to narrow the designs that suit. yeh I've tried those sites but I'm just surprised that there aren't many designs where it is wider or at least more square (width=depth) CKL $350k – It will be tight. 350k for 34sq is about $1100/m2. You may get the house built for that but that’s assuming that you ground condition is good, there is no rock, no services to be built over, etc. and will have standard fit out & features. What you then have to also include is driveways/landscaping/outdoor entertainment area/window dressings/new furniture (if you don’t have enough in your current place). Some of these things can wait a bit but others will need to be done before you move in. Yeh I'll have to check out site specific issues to do with our block but having to read through every builder's list of inclusions and comparing the differences is not something I'm looking forward to hahaha. What is 'poor soil (H/E)' stand for? Thanks for your helpful reply! Re: Building Project Home - A few questions 9Aug 23, 2012 8:55 pm springtime Come October, the builder went bankrupt & all we had to show for it was payment of 50% of the contract, & a frame & slab. What a pain! Did someone else by up that business and are they still around now or have they disappeared? What or who is HWI? Adam's company sounds good. I'd like to PM you to ask a few more questions if that's ok. Thanks for your help! Re: Building Project Home - A few questions 11Aug 23, 2012 9:46 pm Westminster Homes went out of business, so they are no longer building homes. HWI stands for Home Warranty Insurance, which is compulsory insurance set up by the government incase the builder goes bankrupt or dies. The policy only gives you 20% of the contract price to finish off your home, any other shortfall, you have to make it up yourself. Re: Building Project Home - A few questions 12Aug 24, 2012 8:06 am We know some people who use Tulipan homes and they were very happy. Not cheap though. Also have friends happy with Masterton. 1 in 10 fall is quite a lot and this could add 25-40 for site costs. Lots of builders have zone allowances for more expensive suburbs so you could be up 10k for that and 10k for handling due to KDR. Retention tanks if required can be $10-15k. Personally I think you will struggle to do for $350k. If you want reasonable choice for floors electrical, facade etc then I would suggest $500k as a budget. Re: Building Project Home - A few questions 13Aug 24, 2012 9:40 am Hi ckl, once a soil test is done then then the quality of the earth on which you want to build is graded. H type, s type etc all the way down to h/e which is pretty average. The bore hole went down about 2m and bought up a sludge type of earth. This has a large bearing on what type and how thick a slab or what type of footings you need designed for your house to sit on. Most project builders original price is based on a slab to suit the best type of soil conditions therefore the cheapest to build on. If you want to get more info do a search on soil testing and you'll learn what you up for. The more you learn the less youll get mislead. ----------------------------------------------- http://pab34newdigs.blogspot.com.au/ ----------------------------------------------- Re: Building Project Home - A few questions 14Aug 24, 2012 11:30 am Agree with lots of what others have said, rawson does get good reviews and seem to be very flexible, we have built with zen and are very happy with the end product, a couple have done KDRB with them Anything over a metre fall does get very expensive and will add dollars, soil classification wasn't an issue for us really even though we had P ( problem) classification but most builders will add a min $5k for poor soil. We have a 600mm step down in our house to offset the fall in our land, something that is easily incorporated into your plans if building with a small company but not so easy for some of the project homes. In regards to budget I think $400k would be more reasonable minimum if you wanted inclusions like stone benches nice kitchen etc definitely add 100k to the base price. Alkira get a bad write up here due to poor sales follow up. Edenbrae are a reasonable builder they seem to build quick but you get a start date that could be 6 months in advance. Our friends built with masterton, happy with the result but very slow although they do a lot of KDRB. Good luck, read lots of reviews and peoples threads to get an idea Re: Building Project Home - A few questions 15Aug 25, 2012 7:33 pm springtime Westminster Homes went out of business, so they are no longer building homes. HWI stands for Home Warranty Insurance, which is compulsory insurance set up by the government incase the builder goes bankrupt or dies. The policy only gives you 20% of the contract price to finish off your home, any other shortfall, you have to make it up yourself. They give you 20% of contract price no matter how much you have or haven't paid yet? free will We know some people who use Tulipan homes and they were very happy. Not cheap though. Also have friends happy with Masterton. 1 in 10 fall is quite a lot and this could add 25-40 for site costs. Lots of builders have zone allowances for more expensive suburbs so you could be up 10k for that and 10k for handling due to KDR. Retention tanks if required can be $10-15k. Yeh I think Tullipan will be more expensive but interestingly I've only seen good reviews online and you get to deal with the owners themselves, so I'll check them out. Actually my fall is probably more like 1 in 20, so here's hoping! PAB_34 Hi ckl, once a soil test is done then then the quality of the earth on which you want to build is graded. H type, s type etc all the way down to h/e which is pretty average. The bore hole went down about 2m and bought up a sludge type of earth. This has a large bearing on what type and how thick a slab or what type of footings you need designed for your house to sit on. Most project builders original price is based on a slab to suit the best type of soil conditions therefore the cheapest to build on. If you want to get more info do a search on soil testing and you'll learn what you up for. The more you learn the less youll get mislead. Thanks for that! Actually I want to organise my own contour survey and borehole test now if that saves me some money and I can keep all the results. Is that possible and do builders allow that? gogo65 Agree with lots of what others have said, rawson does get good reviews and seem to be very flexible, we have built with zen and are very happy with the end product, a couple have done KDRB with them Thanks gogo65 for all your comments! I will def check out Zen homes as well. Hopefully I will get some good estimates and I will be able to budget better and get a good idea of what is realistic! Thanks everyone for your help. Re: Building Project Home - A few questions 16Aug 26, 2012 12:03 am Good call, do get your own survey and soil test done. When shopping around for builders they should be quite happy to see that you've taken an active roll in the start of your own project and I know with our builder he took of the price of the survey and soil test off his initial costs as we could already supply them. ----------------------------------------------- http://pab34newdigs.blogspot.com.au/ ----------------------------------------------- Re: Building Project Home - A few questions 17Aug 26, 2012 6:04 pm PAB_34 Good call, do get your own survey and soil test done. When shopping around for builders they should be quite happy to see that you've taken an active roll in the start of your own project and I know with our builder he took of the price of the survey and soil test off his initial costs as we could already supply them. That's great. I will do that. Can anyone recommend any surveyors and geotech companies? Re: Building Project Home - A few questions 18Aug 26, 2012 8:42 pm A lot of builders wont use your surveys and soil tests as they like to do their own. I personally think your better off getting it done with the builder you choose to save $$. However, I recommend you talk to the builders you are considering using and see what they say about it. Re: Building Project Home - A few questions 19Mar 05, 2013 7:51 am Hi All We have just decided that we also want to knock down and rebuild. CKL - have you decided who you will be going with in terms of building? I am also wanting to build in the Kuringai council and am budgeting $50K for all the Kuringai requirements/site costs, water rentention, sewrage etc, is that enough do you think? Did you have to put your plans through council or did you build on CDC? Jen1977 - interested to know how your home is progressing with Rawson as i am looking to building with them as they seem the most honest and upfront regarding costs. Are you also building in the Kuringai council? tx Re: Building Project Home - A few questions 20Aug 25, 2014 10:26 pm Its been a long time since I've checked this thread. Basically our DA is with council now awaiting approval. We have paid a commencement fee and signed with the builder so there's no going back now! Looking for a demolition contractor at the moment. Hi Suku18 In NSW the statutory required insurances are: 1. HBCF ( Home Building Compensation Fund) - This is if the builder dies or goes broke. But this only covers 20%… 1 2713 Hi all, Been browsing project builders' website and saw Masterton with attached granny flat design Seeing bad reviews from masterton in this website/facebook, does… 0 18306 Following these simple steps will help you mitigate unwanted costs, have your expectations met and give… 0 4543 |