Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 13, 2013 9:06 am Hi there, We are in the process of buying a block of land to build and wanted to know how you went about doing up a budget for the home build? Did you use a spreadsheet, phone app, other program? It would be very helpful to see a template... I'd also love to know what items you put in there and how accurately your budget reflected the actual cost? Thanks in advance! Linda Re: How did you keep on create your building budget? 2Jan 13, 2013 9:19 am The big item in the budget is the base cost of the house so it depends on how you choose that. If you go for a project home the base price is quoted directly with the major unknown being site costs (there are several threads here if you search site costs). Go for an architect designed home and the price is "how long is a piece of string" One of the next areas of budget overun is upgrades at prestart/selection. If you want a house like the display house expect to add 50% to the base cost. We were fairly disciplined about keeping the cost down and you can see the budget for our last house here (http://www.anewhouse.com.au/?p=6) The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: How did you keep on create your building budget? 3Jan 13, 2013 2:45 pm expect to pay 20% more than the base price. That is what I used as a measure. Our home custom built on our own land I budget for $260,000 base price ended up at $305,000 with all the upgrades. Re: How did you keep on create your building budget? 4Jan 13, 2013 3:19 pm Its like any budget really, put in the big items like base house cost and land then compartmentalise each area to consider additional costs. I used a spreadsheet and have various columns for credited items and upgrade costs. Certain items will be ball park lump sums such as Aircon etc. Other items need to be costed at materials plus labour such as flooring. Where flooring and tiling was concerned I upped the cost by 10% to buffer for wastage. Certain items supplied in the cost will be worth taking out such as driveways as they often are only for a set portion and better prices can be arrange for doing all drive and walk way work. The builder will have standard upgrade options for power points etc which you can also build in. I would go for the skies the limit approach to get a worst case cost and then cut back from that. Don't forget the big items like painting the house, establishing gardens, widow treatments as it is scary how fast it can add up. Then for good measure drop a "buffer" amount for the "oh damn I forgot about that" items. Spreadsheets are good as they provide flexibility, but I would say that as I work with them every day..... Hope this makes it less muddy... Ciao Mark Cheers Re: How did you keep on create your building budget? 5Jan 13, 2013 3:38 pm Start with this... http://www.homedesigndirectory.com.au/calculators/ConstructionCostEstimatorPage2.shtml then build up a list of extras like driveway, landscaping, window treatments, solar power, extra furniture and electrical, etc. As AM has said move all that info into your own spread sheet and go from there and start at the high end of things and work down. Makes for a much better experience than starting low and being surprised/disappointed along the way. ----------------------------------------------- http://pab34newdigs.blogspot.com.au/ ----------------------------------------------- Re: How did you keep on create your building budget? 6Jan 13, 2013 3:50 pm +1 PAB_34 Makes for a much better experience than starting low and being surprised/disappointed along the way. Re: How did you keep on create your building budget? 7Jan 13, 2013 9:30 pm DH used a spreadsheet. He was a tad on the conservative side, but we came in 9% under budget. We didn't have any nasty surprises or hidden costs from the builder. Most the variables have been things like landscaping, furniture, blinds - all post build things that he over forecast and as we have spent less we came in under budget. As mentioned above, really important to budget for EVERYTHING so you don't get into trouble later. I posted a list of items to budget in months ago but can't find it now, sorry. Also, as a rule of thumb I would add $100K to the base price of a project home (to cater for site costs, driveway, electrical upgrades, tile upgrades etc). Or $150K if you start doing fancy upgrades with appliances, materials, extra luxuries etc. We ended up going full architectural custom with a small builder, and total cost for us (including rent during build, driveway, landscaping, blinds, cabinets, electricals etc) came in just under $500K. SunshineT's Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34585 Designs start: 4/12/09 DA: 5/7/11 Demo: 22/12/11 Slab: 24/2/12 Keys: 31/8/12 Re: How did you keep on create your building budget? 8Jan 13, 2013 9:44 pm We are currently owner building....we had an estimator do an estimation of the build, I put that into a spreadsheet and then added actual costs and variances <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=62083">viewtopic.php?t=62083</a><!-- l --> Flamingo Give me a call and I will do my best to talk you through it. For those who would like an answer, Subject to seeing your actual DA condition, I think you are… 1 4572 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. The twist of not knowing… 1 3476 Thanks mate. Yeah good points! Leaning towards Option 3 to get a bit extra space in the cabinets but not going too crazy high (and expensive). Would require a mini… 13 39703 |