Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 27, 2013 10:44 pm Hi all, I have a very basic, extremely naiive novice question. Living in Tasmania, we are looking to build a place, on what I thought was a pretty decent budget. We were thinking something reasonably modest I.e 20 squares and thinking $250k for the build, hopefully all in. After speaking to Hotondo homes, it doesnt appear they can offer much for that sort of money, out of their hundreds of designs, we'd be privvy to about 5 designs at the complete basic spec - basic models with no frills finishing. So we thought get in touch with an architect, he was great and very informative but estimated $2600 per square metre, wich gets us less than 10 squares!? Im really confused as to build any family home must require people to all be millionaires...Seeing as you have to buy the land first, people must find themselves spending more on land and build than the thing is worth in the end. Feeling a bit naff about it all now as we're really starting to think that it cant be done, and we were about to buy the land this week!! From peoples experience, what were your costs per m2? What kinds of places did you build, did the value you suggest include all fees, architects etc? If you have any ideas/ advice, please let us know. Can it be done? Even if your figures are in other states, please still share! Thanks in advance, Hockayak Re: (TAS) Cost to build - m2 3Aug 28, 2013 9:02 am have you tried looking for other builders. i had a quick look on the net but depending where you are in tassie here is craftsman homes http://www.craftsmanhomes.com.au/index. ... ?view=grid i would research more and look at several more builders. if we went with the hotondo home pricing our home would have cost over 900 thousand which is more then double what we paid. Re: (TAS) Cost to build - m2 4Aug 28, 2013 10:00 am Hi hockayak, There are a couple of threads about building costs but I can tell you our experience. We built in Melbourne which I think is a little cheaper than Tasmania. We had a budget of $250,000 and were told by the first small volume builder we approached that that was a reasonable sum. We ended up going to a building designer for a custom design to avoid being overshadowed by the double story a metre from our north boundary and this is where things started to get very expensive. The designer did a concept design for an 18 square mainly weatherboard house which she said would cost about $250,000 to build. We engaged her to do the technical drawings and then she started saying the budget wasn't big enough so we started cutting things and accepting her advice to do the painting, varnishing and tiling ourselves. When we finally went to tender we were thinking that with such a simple design and doing things ourselves we would be able to meet our budget. Wrong! Nobody would tender and the two tenders we got (though we never saw one) were both way over - $330,000 and $372,000. On top of that we had to find a budget for buying fittings and fixtures ourselves (we had a $30,000 budget which ended up being about $45,000) and for paying the building designer to do contract administration. We rejected both of the tenders, which annoyed the building designer who seemed to think they were reasonable. She then said she would work with one of the builders to get the costs down by seeing what they could cut. They got the costs down to $295,000. We decided to go ahead with this for a number of reasons which I won't bore you with. So for a custom designed weatherboard house of 18 square metres (with wooden double glazed windows and good insulation) we paid about $366,000. Do we regret it? Yes! Mainly because we have had problems since with the quality of the work both in the design and the execution. Did we need to pay this much? Hard to say - building seems to be like having a baby - people can tell you their own experiences but nobody can tell you how it will be for you. And after you finish building there are a lot of other expenses. And you are right, in many cases, people do end up spending more on the house than it is worth on the market. My advice would be to do a lot of research - this forum is a great place to start - talk to many builders and many designers/architects and don't be in a hurry. Ignorance is your enemy. Final comment - I'm from Hobart and there is no ugly place to live there - if I were you I would be buying established somewhere on a hill with a great view! Re: (TAS) Cost to build - m2 5Aug 28, 2013 1:32 pm We're not in Tas, but looked at our local Hotondo franchise, and for a similar sized house to what we have ended up with we would have been looking at an additional 50k and thats with just basic finishes (no downlights etc) We've shopped around and saved a lot of money. I think if you are on a limited budget you might have to start looking at volume builders, instead of franchised small builders. Re: (TAS) Cost to build - m2 6Aug 28, 2013 7:26 pm Our quote from Hotondo for a single storey custom build is under $1190/sqm - that's excluding driveway, heating, cooling, vinyl floors and some tapware (which we are doing after handover) but it does include Caesarstone in the kitchen and nearly $6K of kitchen appliances (so not basic but not high end either). We're in Geelong on a very flat block but it's P class soil. ETA: Each franchisee is a separate builder so even the prices between the three Hotondo franchises in Geelong for the same house would be different. I know when we were doing selections, they don't necessarily use the same brands for fittings or the same suppliers or even have the same bricks in their standard ranges. ~ Anne I used to be indecisive but now I'm not quite sure. Eeek - We're embarking on a knockdown rebuild! Click here for our build thread Our blog: kdrhome.wordpress.com Re: (TAS) Cost to build - m2 7Aug 28, 2013 8:04 pm Thanks for all of the feedback so far guys, it seems that research, hunting for deals and tenders is the name of the game to keep costs down. Do you guys think we should avoid an architect that quotes the high figure per metre squared, we got the impression that whilst really inspirational, generous with his time etc might be angling at more expensive products etc. Re: (TAS) Cost to build - m2 8Aug 28, 2013 8:42 pm We are in the early stages of building in Tas our house is approx 16 squares and all our quotes came in between 180-200 thousand our house is custom plan single story 3 bed 2bath and we are going with a small local builder, we initially looked into a few franchise builders but weren't impressed with their inclusions and prices. The last home I lived in didn't have a pool and when i went to sell it the agents were not happy, even telling me to put one in to sell the place. The agents weren't happy… 2 2647 Thank you so much everyone. This all makes a lot of sense. I guess when you talk to a builder who butters up everything to look very polished, you get to start believing… 8 2234 Alternatively, you can sign a contract with pre-defined known amount you pay to the builder for management and warranties and then you just pay the invoices their provide… 2 5249 |