Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Sep 11, 2013 11:42 am Hi all, My hubby and will finally be starting into looking to build our dream home! We have an investment property with an old house which we plan to knockdown and rebuild. Having never done anything like this before, I was hoping to get some advice on where do I start and what things I need to consider. I have spoken to our council and they have advised that we can build on 60% of the land - but I am not sure if that has taken into account, the setbacks, and space on the sides etc. Does anyone have a checklist or anything which can give me a step to step idea on how to go about finding out the initial information that is required? Thanks. DreamHome Re: Where do I start - Knock down and rebuild 2Sep 11, 2013 12:58 pm Whereabouts are you planning on building and with which council? Most planning requirements can be found on your councils planning department's website. Different councils will have different requirements. Some may not require a planning permit and you simply have to comply with rescode. Some may have neighborhood character considerations. There may be overlays applicable to your site including vegetation protection. Easements need to be considered and will be on your title. Set back in an established area is the average between the two neighboring houses. If you wish to have a different set back you can apply for a dispensation from the council. Biggest question is how do you intend to go about this? Owner builder, custom builder, volume builder, architect? If you have someone designing your house for you, they can typically walk you through and manage all planning considerations. Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: Where do I start - Knock down and rebuild 3Sep 11, 2013 1:39 pm Bluesuede Whereabouts are you planning on building and with which council? Most planning requirements can be found on your councils planning department's website. Different councils will have different requirements. Some may not require a planning permit and you simply have to comply with rescode. Some may have neighborhood character considerations. There may be overlays applicable to your site including vegetation protection. Easements need to be considered and will be on your title. Set back in an established area is the average between the two neighboring houses. If you wish to have a different set back you can apply for a dispensation from the council. Biggest question is how do you intend to go about this? Owner builder, custom builder, volume builder, architect? If you have someone designing your house for you, they can typically walk you through and manage all planning considerations. Thanks Bluesuede for your valuable comments. At the outset, I would just like to apologise for any "dumb" and/or "stupid" questions... this is all very new to me so I am not aware of all the terminology/jargon used... We are building in Dandenong North. What does rescode mean? What's the difference between owner builder and volume builder? At this stage, we are not sure what we are going to do in terms of building. We are considering project homes or getting it custom build. We have specific requirements which the project homes generally don't have e.g. we need 2 master bedrooms... etc. So what are the first steps that I need to take.. should I speak to council and see what the restrictions are and then start looking at display homes.. what specific questions do I need to be asking the council...etc.? Also, anyone have any idea re: which option would be cheaper.. to go with a project home or a custom builder? Again sorry for any silly questions... Re: Where do I start - Knock down and rebuild 4Sep 11, 2013 2:05 pm DreamHome23 Thanks Bluesuede for your valuable comments. At the outset, I would just like to apologise for any "dumb" and/or "stupid" questions... this is all very new to me so I am not aware of all the terminology/jargon used... We are building in Dandenong North. What does rescode mean? What's the difference between owner builder and volume builder? At this stage, we are not sure what we are going to do in terms of building. We are considering project homes or getting it custom build. We have specific requirements which the project homes generally don't have e.g. we need 2 master bedrooms... etc. So what are the first steps that I need to take.. should I speak to council and see what the restrictions are and then start looking at display homes.. what specific questions do I need to be asking the council...etc.? Also, anyone have any idea re: which option would be cheaper.. to go with a project home or a custom builder? Again sorry for any silly questions... First step would be to contact Greater Dandenong Council planning department and check on whether a planning permit will be required to construct a new house after demolishing the old one. Rescode is the residential code for planning that councils generally adhere to as a minimum and spells out things like set back and overlooking and overshadowing etc. An owner builder is the owner of the property acting as builder and organising and coordinating all trades themselves. It can be a good way to save yourselves builders profit margins but is not for the faint hearted A volume builder (project builder) is one of the big builders that pump out standard house designs (think Henley, Porter Davis, Burbank, etc). If you are looking at one of these and going to displays bear in mind that they will typically have a multitude of variations on a theme and options available for each design. Each option of course comes at a cost. But you aren't limited to one "standard plan". A custom builder of course can build you something to your exact requirements. Which is more expensive? How long is a piece of string. If you can find a plan with a project/volume builder that pretty much suits you and their standard inclusions mostly meet your needs then they'll be cheaper. Custom builders don't have the buying power that comes in dealing in volume. But if you start upgrading this and that with a volume/project builder the costs can add up and you might be looking at a similar price. You won't really know until you do your homework and do the math. Custom is typically more expensive. But you can have exactly what you want. There are no silly questions Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: Where do I start - Knock down and rebuild 5Sep 11, 2013 2:19 pm DreamHome23 Thanks Bluesuede for your valuable comments. At the outset, I would just like to apologise for any "dumb" and/or "stupid" questions... this is all very new to me so I am not aware of all the terminology/jargon used... We are building in Dandenong North. What does rescode mean? What's the difference between owner builder and volume builder? At this stage, we are not sure what we are going to do in terms of building. We are considering project homes or getting it custom build. We have specific requirements which the project homes generally don't have e.g. we need 2 master bedrooms... etc. So what are the first steps that I need to take.. should I speak to council and see what the restrictions are and then start looking at display homes.. what specific questions do I need to be asking the council...etc.? Also, anyone have any idea re: which option would be cheaper.. to go with a project home or a custom builder? Again sorry for any silly questions... IN MY OPINION If you had said you wanted to maximize your investment, I would have suggested that you get an architect to design the maximum amount of townhouses as per your councils DA guidelines, throw said plans around to several builders that accept custom designs, and go from there. But seeing as you've stated that you are building your dream home, then I'd suggest the following; READ your councils Development Control Plan. These are the rules that enforce their Local Environment Plan. This is where your figure of '60%' comes from as it's likely to be the maximum allowable building footprint. The areas of your land that you can build within are known as your 'Building envelope' and common offsets for this are; 4.5m from front to living, 5.5m from front to garage and 0.9m side setback. The most important word that further reduces your building envelope is EASEMENT. An Easement is a restricted piece of land designed to ensure ease of access for utilities, ie; storm-water and sewerage drains, electricity cables, etc. Other things that may reduce your envelope are things like APZ (asset protection zone - bushfire areas) Once you have an idea on what envelope you have, you know what size of home you can build. If your envelope is smaller than the size of home you want, you may want to consider going double story. Just realize that double story homes have another set of rules for side and rear setbacks, typically they're increased for privacy / shade reasons. There are other attributes of your land that will severely effect the cost to build, most notably; slope, soil quality, Bushfire areas. The first two are directly related to the strength and quantity of supports required to meet engineering standards. Bushfire costs are about protecting your home from fire. The most important thing to consider when building a home is your solar aspect. Generally, 80% of your windows should be north facing due to natural cooling / heating in summer. East and west windows will overheat your home in summer. Not enough north windows will make your home a cold house in winter, etc. There are guides all over the internet for this kind of thing but the general idea is living rooms north facing, bedrooms south east, garage west. Once you know your building type (single or double), total size, and solar aspect, start looking at display homes for a home that suits your block. The block chooses the house, not the other way around. AS A GENERAL RULE OF THUMB; I don't recommend owner-builder as it requires you to know what you're doing. Maybe next time. Volume builder; you pick from pre-set designs. They allow minor changes and cost roughly $1,100 per m² to finish a home. Custom builder; you get plans drawn by an architect so the design is up to you. They allow full changes and cost around $1,300 per m². Add 10% for a double story home. Add 10% to your price for every 1m fall in 10m you have, in any direction. ie; 1 in 10 (10 degrees) add 10%. Add half your BAL rating in thousands of dollars, ie; BAL29 - add $15,000. So if your dream home is a double story 250m² home with a custom builder on a 5% sloping block with a BAL rating of 19; $385,375 The same size as a single story with a Volume Bulder and no slope / BAL; $275,000 Re: Where do I start - Knock down and rebuild 6Sep 17, 2013 2:23 pm Be aware as you start to gather quotes, and educate yourself about the upcoming (exciting) journey, that Volume builders may appear cheaper with the initial quote but they often turn out to be the same price or sometimes even more expensive than a good small-medium custom builder. This is in part because Volume Builders' initial quotes do not take site costs into account, and this is a pretty big item to leave out of the equation. Are Volume builders really cheaper? On average, for a flat easy-to-build-on block, take the list price and add 20% for site costs. If you have a block with up to one metre of slope... Well, let's put it bluntly. Volume builders are NOT the best choice for a sloping or hilly block in Melbourne. Acquaint yourself thoroughly with your land contract, and start educating yourself about terms like easement and angle of repose and what are they. Start making a list of questions such as: -How much initial deposit is required? -Does this deposit form part of the price of the house? -At what point do I find out final site costs? -Does the initial estimate include: -Council building application and town planning fees -Site costs for earthworks, tree removal, retaining walls, foundations -drafting -insurance, connection of services -How long does it take to get a final contract price? -How long after contract signing can we expect construction to start? -What is the average building construction time? By asking these questions you will educate yourself about the process, and also establish whether you are working with the right builder for your situation. (always ask to talk to previous clients, this is a litmus test of how your experience will be) Re: Where do I start - Knock down and rebuild 7Sep 17, 2013 6:07 pm If I understand your first post you are replacing an investment property with one that you either intend to live in or rerent out. So, unrelated to the building process - You really need to speak to your accountant about capital gains tax ramifications. We recently considered doing the same as you and our accountant took ages to make sure we understood the taxation issues and the records we needed to keep. We've had the offer of a short term tenant whilst waiting for CDC/DA home approval and demolition for our knock down rebuild. 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