Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Building a house in Sydney, tips, builders, etc 3Apr 02, 2013 9:43 am Winston Pang So I always wonder if these project builders are anything to go by, or are they expensive and poor quality? They can be expensive, and they can be poor quality. But they don't have to be either; in fact, they're supposed to be cheap, which is why most people go with them. You basically have to be aware of what's going-on, research everything, and make sure that you know exactly what you want & that the builder can/will provide it. With respect to "expensive", project home builders are almost always cheaper if you go with one of their standard designs and make very few changes. The price starts to add up disproportionately as you make changes, and before long the price goes over what a custom builder would have done. As a rule of thumb, it should cost about 10% more for an equivalent house if you go with a custom builder. I say "should", because we tried a few custom builders and they were more than that. If we'd tried longer we probably would have found one, but we've been trying to get something built for about 18 months now and we're a little sick of the process; so we're settling with something that's partway towards what we originally wanted. Many project builders will tell you they can do anything, but you can spend up to 6 months working with them before they finally tell you they don't want to do it. My advice is to decide what you want; what features you're after, which rooms, whether you're at all concerned with things like using the sun for heating & using breezes for cooling & that sort of stuff. If all you're after is a house with X rooms and they must be of a certain size, then a project builder can probably work for you; if you want to get a bit smart with the facings of rooms & have a few fancier design features, then you're probably better-off getting an architect to design you something & a custom builder to build it - remembering that a good architect will save you more than their fees, and a bad architect will charge you good money to draw something which costs an absolute packet to build. There's also an in-between I was recommended; a company called Jandson Homes make a few standard designs but have a very small section that does totally custom designs. I know Alkira Homes has something similar, but we didn't go down that path with them. It's an alternative that might work, if you don't want something standard but don't want to pay through the nose for something totally custom. If a project builder does suit, then find the name of every project builder you can, and trawl through the designs on their website. Be aware of council & CDC rules on floorspace-ratios etc, and you'll know what you're allowed to build on your block (if it's a new block there may also be rules enforced by the developer). Oh - and one other thing to be aware of with project builders - expect any paperwork, any communication you have with them, any planning ... to take forever. Expect literally months to elapse; for example if you get a draft floorplan drawing back & want to move a couple of doors or maybe extend some eaves, it can take 2 months to get the changed drawing back again. Thank you so much. This has been very helpful. We definitely wish to settle and get these people out of our life. They are trying to charge us interest on late… 7 9319 Hi, This is my first post. We are planning to buy new home via House and Land (H&L) Package around Boxhill/Gables/Marsden Park in Syndey. Googled reviews for most of… 0 10468 Very good points. Thanks so much ponzutwo for your advice. Appreciate it. 2 10367 |