Browse Forums Building A New House Re: How much discounts have you received from your builder? 3Apr 23, 2013 4:35 pm None! I'd find it pretty hard to believe any builder would give away too much for free, even packages that you think you are getting for free are not. Not saying you didn't, you may be a lucky one but our builder surely didn't give us anything for free even though there was a "free" home of luxury package included... Re: How much discounts have you received from your builder? 4Apr 23, 2013 4:38 pm swings and round-abouts I say. I think what ever is "given" is taken by other means as stated above. one area where i am saving is replacing certain items outright. I am being credited for windows which means the upgrade to double glazing is less painful. Re: How much discounts have you received from your builder? 5Apr 23, 2013 4:41 pm Zilch! Give with one hand, take with the other We thought we were getting a good deal with a $32k reduction in price from a promotion last year - turns out the 'discounted' price is only $2k cheaper than the current retail price of the house Oh but I managed to get them to convert my linen cupboard to 2/3 linen, 1/3 broom cupboard for no charge. Re: How much discounts have you received from your builder? 6Apr 23, 2013 6:36 pm We got free Colourbond on the roof of the garage, even though the quoted price was for tiles. The fact that they would usually charge someone extra for Colourbond over tiles, when other builders will charge extra for tiles over Colourbond & yet more builders just all charge the same amount for both, is the bit which surprised me ... Re: How much discounts have you received from your builder? 7Apr 23, 2013 6:56 pm I thought that some people would have good things to say about their builder. Maybe because I am only just starting I haven't had as much experience. ftdt7882 Zilch! Give with one hand, take with the other I am sure that is the case. In my case the house has a base price and you can just pick and pay that price and I am sure many people do that. But I asked for a discount and they just took off 15k from that original base price. The base price probably has plenty of room to move but if I didn't ask then I would have had to pay 15k more. That's what I consider free i.e. something that not everyone would have gotten. Re: How much discounts have you received from your builder? 8Apr 23, 2013 7:26 pm Wait until you change anything on the plan, e.g. increase ceiling height, add water points, change a cuppboard, go full render, the list goes on. they will recover as builders are in business to make a certain bottom line, and they will. to be honest 15K is not a lot over the cost of the build, look at it another way, the builder can also cut corners to save money too and thus make up the difference. If it is truly a discount then good for you , well done. I would be skeptical and be on guard myself, but that is the accountant in me. Re: How much discounts have you received from your builder? 9Apr 23, 2013 7:33 pm we have a good builder built a custom home he did not charge to drop the triple garage and then to add steps to attain access to rest of house we now have around 12 foot high ceilings in the garage. no charge added overhead cupboards to the fridge area. door added to shelving above study. we know there was no charge as we already had a fixed price before any of the above happened or was even mentioned also added a concrete pad to laundry area as well they also had a promotion where taps etc were upgraded and also ceasar stone benchtops were added to kitchen Re: How much discounts have you received from your builder? 10Apr 23, 2013 8:10 pm 1rocky we have a good builder built a custom home he did not charge to drop the triple garage and then to add steps to attain access to rest of house we now have around 12 foot high ceilings in the garage. no charge added overhead cupboards to the fridge area. door added to shelving above study. we know there was no charge as we already had a fixed price before any of the above happened or was even mentioned also added a concrete pad to laundry area as well they also had a promotion where taps etc were upgraded and also ceasar stone benchtops were added to kitchen That's the kind of answer I was looking for. These are the things that other people may not have gotten if they didn't ask for it. Sometimes we are all a little happier thinking we get a bit of added value for free, right? Re: How much discounts have you received from your builder? 11Apr 23, 2013 8:30 pm Juv 1rocky we have a good builder built a custom home he did not charge to drop the triple garage and then to add steps to attain access to rest of house we now have around 12 foot high ceilings in the garage. no charge added overhead cupboards to the fridge area. door added to shelving above study. we know there was no charge as we already had a fixed price before any of the above happened or was even mentioned also added a concrete pad to laundry area as well they also had a promotion where taps etc were upgraded and also ceasar stone benchtops were added to kitchen That's the kind of answer I was looking for. These are the things that other people may not have gotten if they didn't ask for it. Sometimes we are all a little happier thinking we get a bit of added value for free, right? Haha I may have been a little out of line earlier ( bad day at work). Here is what happened to us and we feel very blessed and lucky that this happened.. So when we initially chose our house the base was 183k and the block we wanted was 180k..it was the perfect orientation and well within our budget, we asked our sales guy to put the block on hold so we could arrange the deposit. This was all on a Sunday, come Monday the block was unfortunately already put on hold by someone else. For a whole week I kept tabs on that block, but unfortunately we didn't get it, so we had to settle on another block which was 22k more, east facing orientation and had a wasted 15m setback ( which would have cost another 10k just to driveway it) About 2 months after we had sorted out deposit and signed contract for land and were half way through organising the house, I noticed the original block was back on the market. I immediately called our developer and asked if we could swap blocks, which they happily agreed on!! I had to let my builder know and they noted that we would have to start all over again from sales, I was worried as the base price had jumped to 193k, but lucky for us they adhered to the original base price. So all in all we saved 22k on the block and about 10k on driveway costs(up to 30m2 was already included in the promo of 183k)! Re: How much discounts have you received from your builder? 12Apr 23, 2013 8:55 pm I think that with all the positives it is still wise to cross check things. Builders are in business to make money and necessarily must mark most things up. I was given a number of discounts at the beginning of my build but because of so many changes I requested that the builder restart and cost from scratch. I have managed to get some items better costed in my favour but you are absolutely right, you must point it out and ask for it. 1 Rocky you are very lucky and I am pleased to hear that your builder has looked after you. I think its about balance, I have mentioned to my builder that I do not mind paying but I expect top quality. Fingers crossed your build, my build and other's builds are as smooth as possible. I think one area where you obviously save on is flooring, driveways and other larger items. I am also saving by getting a credit on appliances then supplying my own. Good luck...... Re: How much discounts have you received from your builder? 13Apr 23, 2013 9:02 pm AussieMark I think that with all the positives it is still wise to cross check things. Builders are in business to make money and necessarily must mark most things up. I was given a number of discounts at the beginning of my build but because of so many changes I requested that the builder restart and cost from scratch. I have managed to get some items better costed in my favour but you are absolutely right, you must point it out and ask for it. 1 Rocky you are very lucky and I am pleased to hear that your builder has looked after you. I think its about balance, I have mentioned to my builder that I do not mind paying but I expect top quality. Fingers crossed your build, my build and other's builds are as smooth as possible. I think one area where you obviously save on is flooring, driveways and other larger items. I am also saving by getting a credit on appliances then supplying my own. Good luck...... agreed, but how much did you get off for appliances? builders get them for dirt cheap. cheaper than the retailers! Re: How much discounts have you received from your builder? 14Apr 23, 2013 9:07 pm AussieMark I think that with all the positives it is still wise to cross check things. Builders are in business to make money and necessarily must mark most things up. On that note I did have a little look at some of the prices a bit harder. Doesn't $518 seem a bit expensive for a letterbox? 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 39709 Hi All, I just wanted to close this topic out with an update. So we ended up agreeing to a number with the insurance company, and after an extensive amount of hand… 8 23401 You have mandatory building inspections and privately engaged building inspections. 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