Browse Forums Building A New House 1 May 19, 2013 7:11 pm We're trying to work out if we can afford to build, but we're finding it hard to work out what the building costs would actually be with one the 'big' builders. It's easy enough to look at their base price and add in extras for a nicer kitchen, nicer carpet, etc (as per their brochures), but we're really unsure what the other types of hidden costs are? So, it's base price + extra inclusions + stuff that's not included in the house (eg. a letterbox, or curtains instead of blinds, paying for different coloured paint inside, etc), but then are site costs always extra or if it's a completely flat site that can be included (I know completely flat sites are super rare though!)? What do site costs tend to start at for a 4 bed, single storey house? Is $20,000 about average, or it is often closer to $50,000? Do you get given any idea of these costs before you sign the contract? But, then what are the other expenses? Are council fees massive? Do you have to pay for lawyers to draft things along the way or is $1,000 - $2,000 enough to cover the lawyer fees (like the sale of a normal house)? I know it varies from state to state and council to council, but I'm just trying to get some vague idea of what the truly hidden extras might be. We've looked into building on an estate and found the rules at the one we were considering really onerous and potentially leading to lots of extra expense, so we're considering knock-down/rebuild or buying a subdivided block for our build instead. Thanks heaps in advance! Re: What are the hidden costs of building? 2May 19, 2013 8:38 pm There are some ideas on price here. http://www.anewhouse.com.au/?p=6. Knock down rebuild isn't neccesarily cheaper and established neighbours can make things as difficult as developer conditions (some of the developer conditions may be planning conditions which will apply to any block) 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: What are the hidden costs of building? 3May 19, 2013 8:48 pm Where are you building? I built with Eden brae in nsw. My site costs were part of the essentials package price, and then we paid an additional $5000 due to our slab being high salinity and requiring deeper piers. Standard is M class slab in Nsw... So you would need to know what your soil is classified as. Built a Hawthorne 31 with EB nessjeffdreamhouse.blogspot.com.au Building an investment now with New Living homes... We are at nearly finished... Just landscaping and driveway to go! Re: What are the hidden costs of building? 4May 19, 2013 8:59 pm We're in Melbourne and don't have land at this point in time, we're just trying to work out how much we could spend on land and yet still have enough to build. Those extra costs don't sound like much to me at all. Thanks for the replies. Re: What are the hidden costs of building? 5May 19, 2013 9:13 pm Our tender has about $37k in fixed site costs (rented stuff like toilets & concrete pumps, cutting kerbs, stormwater connections, power connections & tiger-tails blah blah), about $11k in "statutory requirements" (approvals, stormwater/hydraulic designs, siltation measures &blah), and about $2500 in BASIX requirements. Then there's another ~$13k in stormwater/rainwater collection stuff we need (which I believe is actually quite low for our council). We'd probably need about $15k to pay for the cheapest driveway we could get away with. So I guess that's closer to $80k than $20k, on top of the base house price ... and that's assuming you could live with all the standard stuff like a single double-power-point in the loungeroom where your TV/stereo/media-player/DVD-player/etc all plug in, accepting the base level of insulation, accepting standard windows/frames, assuming you don't need to pay extra for flooring (often it's not included except for the tiles in the wet-areas), that any aircon/heating/cooling is included (usualy about $10k-$15k to buy), and that you don't need much landscaping to get your build approved (ours is going to be close to $50k due to a lot of very low retaining walls). Something else just occurred to me but the TV distracted me & I've forgotten whatever-it-was ... Oh - and we have no window-coverings yet either. Re: What are the hidden costs of building? 6May 19, 2013 10:10 pm this what cost us with building on our own block, house and land block should be surveyed already. 1. soil test around $400.00. 2. land pegged (surveyed) if required. $220 per peg - need as least four on a normal block. 3. Site costs should be estimated before contract signing but can be anything from 0$+ on top of base contract price. Ours was an extra $17,000 but we expected this due to a large easment running down the side of our block. 4. During the building phase you may have to pay for the water & power bills, we only had to pay the water bills. 5. We used a Conveyancer instead of a lawyer and you will save good bit of money there. 6. Bank loan costs will also include title searches, valuations around $400 + application fees. All other costs should be in the contract price other than bits & pieces things like curtians, mail box, clothes line etc. Note that each builder will include different things as standard in their contract. Get a copy of the contract, take it home, READ IT and highlight points to asked before signing it. Don't get pressured into signing without understanding it. Re: What are the hidden costs of building? 7May 19, 2013 10:30 pm If you are buying land don't forget to factor in stamp duty, being our first land purchase we didn't realise until we got the conveyancer's draft settlement figures. Ended up being around $10k. We know now! Re: What are the hidden costs of building? 8May 19, 2013 10:35 pm Our KDR had higher site costs due to access issues - difficult for deliveries and cranes due to trees at the front and low power lines out the front. Also being in a court was difficult for large trucks. We also had to pay to get our power put underground which cost a lot more than I expected. They also slugged us for extra site cleaning costs required in an established area. Access for the brickies was limited due to the nature of the site so they cost more for extra handling of bricks. We had to replace all the fences as the old ones had pretty much had it. We had to then put up lattice extensions on the new fences for compliance with overlooking requirements. Then of course you have your moving costs, skips for removal of all your old crap, we've had to pay to live in a rental for the duration of the build... Then there is the cost of your time checking the build endlessly, chasing up your builder, and the high cost to your mental health! lol Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: What are the hidden costs of building? 9May 20, 2013 1:17 pm There are no "Hidden" costs Only costs that were not considered and/or budgeted for. Granted, I quite sure we have all been guilty of forgetting something along the way. Timeline Aug 08-Land Mar 09-Demo/Titles Sept 10-Handover No1 Sept 11-Handover No2 April 12-Sold No2 Aug 14-Land/Demo Jan 15-Slabs viewtopic.php?f=31&t=25736 Re: What are the hidden costs of building? 10May 20, 2013 3:28 pm You might like to check out the thread below for costs and upgrades with building with Porter Davis in Melbourne - we found this thread really handy when working out our prices for our wish list. There are always extras, what you see in the display is so upgraded from the standard it's really easy to miss items and assume that they are included. http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=54817 Our site costs are just over $16K - it really depends on your land, how flat it is, if there are big trees nearby and other factors. We allowed $20K for it in our initial quotes and were pleased it came in under that. It would have been $10K but due to big trees at the rear of our block we need tree screws so that added an extra $6K to the slab cost. It's all the little things that add up, upgrading taps, adding doors to the ensuite, upgrading bricks to a colour you like (if you don't like what's in their standard range). I think the best thing to do is decide on the house you like and then go over all the costs with the sales consultant. They can walk you through the display and let you know what is standard and what isn't and then make up a quote for you even if you don't have any land yet - that's what we did. Then you can see what you've got left for land. It might also be an idea to visit their showroom so you get an idea if their brick colours are what you like or if you'd need to upgrade them b/c that can add a few thousand. Your sales consultant will be able to advise you on that anyway. Check out threads for the builder you like too, many people put their costs on there so that can give you an indication too. Best of luck! I am not sure whether Perth has its own way of doing things in regards to this. Most of Perth has class A (sandy soil), except for some areas near rivers or hills. 2 13106 Looking to tile the facade pillars rather than rendering. Builder is quoting 2500$ laying cost for upto 10msq. The 2 pillars come to be 16msq. So laying costs are 5000$… 0 7554 10 15761 |