Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 14, 2014 3:53 pm Slowly working along with my future home. Hopefully land purchase in the next week. Cant wait till the stress and fun begins. Have been researching upgrade costs with regards to standard inclusions. Haven't found any real information in regards to one whole topic here so thought i would start one. I thought it may be a goo resource to help out some of the first home builder like me and what we should expect. Im sure there are many people out there that have information that may help people out with there budgeting for a build. My partner and I are aiming for a base price of 130k (2 bedroom brick veneer sounds cheap but thats the figures we are getting back) and allowing 50k for our extras. So what did you change? What did it cost you? What was standard? General External Windows from aluminium to timber? Double Glazing? Kitchen Bench tops? Cupboards Cabinet doors? Rangehood? Bathroom Bedroom Electrical Changing from single to double power point? Extra Power Points? Extra Lights? Exterior lights? Re: Upgrade Costs - What did you change and what did it cost 2Jan 14, 2014 4:02 pm I'd say anything up to 50% on top of base price. Re: Upgrade Costs - What did you change and what did it cost 3Jan 14, 2014 4:35 pm We want to upgrade to full house acrylic render - $11000 (Don't think that is going to happen now!) We upgraded our tiles from standard - the cost $10 more than the builders allowance and are 300 x 300 instead of 200 x 200 - the cost of that is going to be $7000 for the 3 bathrooms and laundry room. Very annoying!! They really try to rip you for every cent when you upgrade things! We wanted to upgrade from a 900mm under beanch oven to two 600mm under bench ovens and they wanted to charge us $2500 more! Again it got scratched off the list. When I build again it will be owner builder so that I can actually put in the things I want and not be ripped off just because I made a change. My build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68002 Re: Upgrade Costs - What did you change and what did it cost 4Jan 14, 2014 7:46 pm Who are you building with? Just consider not over-capitalising in your build with any extreme upgrades for if there is a short fall on valuation. I see so many posts about this. I can add that with my builder, double power points were $55 each, upgrade from 600ml oven/stovetop and range hood to 900ml was $950. Build Permit-17/12/13 Earthworks-13/1/14 Slab-30/1/14 Frame-10/2/14 Lock Up-7/3/14 Fixing Stage Complete-20/3/14 New Home Presentation-6/5/14 Moved in 17/5/14! Blog: http://dandesbuild.blogspot.com.au Re: Upgrade Costs - What did you change and what did it cost 6Jan 14, 2014 9:03 pm Upgraded our sink from the full bowl with 1/4 to the abey nu queen (2x fullsize bowls) undermount for $738! 2x Shower niches for $590 Second Build, this time with Carlisle 2016, can't wait! Beckham: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=67280 Canterbury: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=81175 Re: Upgrade Costs - What did you change and what did it cost 7Jan 15, 2014 6:48 am Thanks everyone. A few things in there that are rather interesting. We are building in launceston for a big lifestyle change and trying to keep our borrowing under 280k with total budget of 350k I'm off tomorrow to tas look at another 2 lots and one of them we will more then likely make an offer on. 3.6 acre and its all relativly flat so we should be lucky if we get good soil Results.It's a bit of a 3 year plan to build, enjoy and pay as much off on our Sydney wages before making the move. Would have lived to render our build but at that price I think I'll pass. Im finding the electrical stuff frustrating since I've worked aim that industry 8 years and skipped my trade to do a paraprofessional course (kicking myself ever since). But $55 per PowerPoint! Whoa. I guess tey all have to make a living and if they came and asked us to cut prices in the things we do we would probably have the same opinion. One thing that I think is going to cost us is the kitchen. There standard is laminex just flat cupboards but we are aiming for a vintage country style. I have actually considered removing one section of the U shape so we have an L shape kitchen and I can build an island bench in the centre (love wood work). Got all the ideas in the world but untill we secure our block it has to wait. Re: Upgrade Costs - What did you change and what did it cost 8Jan 15, 2014 6:58 am Forg Saint Mike I'd say anything up to 50% on top of base price. We've over doubled base price ... Depends on base price I guess ... ... but you must have added a few extras ... Air/con, solar - E and HW, gardens, etc etc ? Re: Upgrade Costs - What did you change and what did it cost 9Jan 15, 2014 7:33 am Saint Mike Depends on base price I guess ... ... but you must have added a few extras ... Air/con, solar - E and HW, gardens, etc etc ? Our variations pages are as long as the rest of the contract ... The most pricey stuff would be the following ... this is all the stuff over $5k: (*) an extra detached brick+tile 2-car garage mit 3-phase power & a slab to cope with a 2-post car hoist (*) double-glazed aluminium windows & doors with thermally-broken frames, including one extra wide-spanning stacker & retractable flyscreen (*) upgraded aircon (the standard stuff most project builders use isn't designed to do more than maybe half a house at a time) (*) a "custom façade" - we've had upstairs balcony & awning/pillars added on the northern wall for summer shade / winter sun (*) a Hebel flooring system for the second story, and floor tiles throughout upstairs & downstairs (*) full floor-ceiling tiling for bathrooms (*) bigger rear alfresco (*) underground 11.5kL stormwater + grey-water tank (*) electricals: a decent number of power-points, enough junctions/circuits for fans & alfresco space-heaters, one network link between downstairs & upstairs, under-floor heating for bathrooms, downlights downstairs (*) kitchen & bathroom & cabinetry; a bunch of Electrolux appliances (the Choice recommendations in the "not stupid hand-crafted-by-gnomes-in-Italy" categories), a few of the really high hard-to-reach cupboard-doors are electrically opening/closing, a pull-out pantry (our redesign ditched the space-inefficient walk-in), 40mm Caesarstone benchtops, each bathroom has a built-in tallboy as well as the vanity (for storage reasons) They're the big-ticket items; but there're heaps of smaller items too, stuff like shelves & soap-dishes for showers and clothes hooks for bathrooms & extra hose-cocks and frameless shower-screens and the heat-pump hot water (no town gas) and fancy strip-drains and some internal sliding doors with glass and extra wall & roof insulation & sound insulation in the upstairs loungeroom walls & lowered bathroom floors (so no step-up in tiling) yadda yadda yadda. And they all add up! Re: Upgrade Costs - What did you change and what did it cost 10Jan 15, 2014 7:44 am Forg, I really like the first extra Could you tell me what the actual price of it was? I was looking at a colorbond shed 2 bay being constructed separately for around $10,000. Maybe its worth having the 2 car garage added to the main house. It really surprises me that the aus building code doesn't have double glazing as standard these days given the massive benefit. Its certainly something that will be done for me. Re: Upgrade Costs - What did you change and what did it cost 11Jan 15, 2014 9:08 am Some of the best bang for buck upgrades we went with are; Raised ceiling height - $9,000ish. At first I thought this was a rip, but once I learned that the entire home was raised and that it required extra bricks, frames, plaster etc, it began to make sense. Prior to that I just thought they ate into the roof cavity. Shower Nook - $190 Incredible value really. Other builders charge double that. Extend garage 1m. Garage space is the cheapest to create. I think it was in the realm of $750 per m square extra. Monster entry door, 1300 * 2340. For something that you use every day, I thought this was good value for money. Kitchen Drawers - $250 per set. A must have IMO. Some upgrades we went with that I felt are more style over substance, but still agreed to were; Upgrade stone bench thickness from 20mm to 40mm - $1600ish Chrome edge shower frame (default was white) - $250, but still a must-have IMO, it's 2014 after-all. That's about it though! everything else I felt pleased with. Things that I WISH I gave more consideration to; Facade (pure aesthetics but it DOES matter, some aren't that expensive) Quotes for full height wet area tiling Kitchen window (it was in, then out - scared of western facing sun, as it turns out, neighbors went 2 story - full shading) Water tank positioning - Should have buried it at any cost!!! Insulation - should have at least got quotes to include interior walls. Re: Upgrade Costs - What did you change and what did it cost 12Jan 15, 2014 10:42 am Agree "size" is a very important factor in the house - be it the garage, the bedrooms or lounge - and especially the outside areas. A metre or two now will save a lifetime of saying - "if only we'd ... ". And cost a little more. Re: Upgrade Costs - What did you change and what did it cost 13Jan 15, 2014 11:00 am So what did you change? What did it cost you? What was standard? General External Brick construction - no plywood at all, not even fillers above the windows. Cost an extra $7K due to steel beams. Dropped garage - cost $22k!!! for slightly less slope on the driveway, thank you Council for thinking of ways to waste my money. Windows from aluminium to timber? Double Glazing? Changed our timber stacker door to aluminum, didn't like the fact that it didn't match the aluminum windows - received a credit! Changed our bi-fold doors to stacker. Didn't double glaze the windows, one thing I really wish I had done. Kitchen Upgraded to a polyurethane kitchen - extra $4K Bathroom Ceiling height tiling in all 4 bathrooms, plus tiling to top of cistern in all 4 toilets, added a sink in separate toilets approx $4K Bedroom Doors on the WIR, and built in's instead of sliding doors - extra $80 each. Re: Upgrade Costs - What did you change and what did it cost 14Jan 15, 2014 11:21 am Burnsfirsttime We want to upgrade to full house acrylic render - $11000 (Don't think that is going to happen now!) We upgraded our tiles from standard - the cost $10 more than the builders allowance and are 300 x 300 instead of 200 x 200 - the cost of that is going to be $7000 for the 3 bathrooms and laundry room. Very annoying!! They really try to rip you for every cent when you upgrade things! We wanted to upgrade from a 900mm under beanch oven to two 600mm under bench ovens and they wanted to charge us $2500 more! Again it got scratched off the list. When I build again it will be owner builder so that I can actually put in the things I want and not be ripped off just because I made a change. OMG... How big you are building house? Bunch of villas? Who is your builder!!! Upgrading tiles to bathroom 7k? Re: Upgrade Costs - What did you change and what did it cost 15Jan 15, 2014 12:01 pm All the upgrade and slice of the pie prices these building company makes out of you pushed me in to owner build. 31500 litre Taylex water tank was going to be charged to me by one building company $10700 including the pump. I have just paid $4750 delivered and put in the hole for exactly the same tank. It would have cost an extra $2000 for them to dig the hole and put the gravel in the bottom of it. Tank goes in next week. Anyway, back to your question. I would see if you or your own sparky could be let on to the site to put in cabling to extra power points that you get your sparky to hook up after handover time. You can generally run power cable all through your house as long as you don't connect it up. Been through a lot of display homes, and you often find just one power point in a room, which in these days of tablets and smartphones, simply isn't enough. Double GPO's is a no brainer, who puts in a single outlet, as there's no saving. Kitchen and bedroom tables might pay to get one of those new double GPO's with USB charging built in. Whilst talking electrically, and if you have the garage under the roof, consider having a inside circuit breaker board in the garage. Leave the meter box for the meters, which means you'd only need the smaller size meter box outside. Double glaze your north and west windows, or at least use the Low-E glass. Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . Re: Upgrade Costs - What did you change and what did it cost 16Jan 15, 2014 12:13 pm Most volume builders do not include eaves as standard, except maybe at the front as part of the facade. Ours cost about $3500 but it was well worth it, keeps the midday summer sun off the windows, also stops the house looking wierd. Too many houses have no eaves and just look cheap. Re: Upgrade Costs - What did you change and what did it cost 17Jan 15, 2014 2:39 pm Excellent information being shared here guys. Just a note on the powerpoint thing here. I work with a bunch of sparkies and we were chatting away about it. Came up with the thought of if your smart the way you lay out the powerpoints you can add extras on the other side of the wall with no real trouble. So if your smart with your positioning you can save yourself some money later on. Re: Upgrade Costs - What did you change and what did it cost 18Jan 15, 2014 2:50 pm Best thing we did was raise our ceiling to 2740mm at a cost of $2,709. Very good value from Fairhaven Homes. Re: Upgrade Costs - What did you change and what did it cost 19Jan 15, 2014 9:06 pm Just signed our contract a couple days after the building company took over 3 months to get the final costings back to us...our base house was 168, 900...current costings are 271,000...which still doesn't include (what I assume are going to be large costings) for floor coverings/window coverings/driveway/fencing/path around perimeter of house/shed Our major costings were: 1 ducted air con...costing 13300 2 ceiling fans...2700 3 extra foundation for bad soil rating...17000 4 underground drainage...which you think would be included in price...3500 5 adding extra bedroom/extending porch...6000 6 higher ceilings to 2550mm...3800 (wanted 2700mm but would have been around 8000) 7 brickwork above windows/garage instead of FC cladding...1200 8 extra bathroom...8700 9 grey toned glass to all windows...1000 10 internal cavity sliding doors...400 each 11 extra cupboard along rear garage wall...1500 (going to be so worth this cost) 12 broom cupboard...500 13 built in pantry...2700 14 glass splashbacks in kitchen...1500 15 2 x wide pot draws...280 (so worth it) 16 extra kitchen cupboards...1700 17 extra cupboards in laundry...2100 18 2 stoves instead of 1 included...additional 1100 19 shower niches...500 x 2 20 13 extra powerpoints 780 21 extra lights/switches/fan & heater lights in bathrooms...2500 22 external sensor lights...600 23 extra 2kw solar panal...3900 24 safety screens on all windows/doors...3200 Luckily...although not so sure I was lucky having 100 grand extra costs (with the other major costings still to come)..I had read the valuable thread about what not to miss before signing the contract...so many of these items we would not have even thought of...so we are very thankful to have come across it before signing the contract...so needless to say...we are definitely going to be spending quite abit more than we had originally budgeted...but hopefully we will be happy with the finished product...fingers crossed...oh...and that we win the lottery to help with the extra expenses! Re: Upgrade Costs - What did you change and what did it cost 20Jan 16, 2014 7:12 am ugbug Most volume builders do not include eaves as standard, except maybe at the front as part of the facade. Maybe it depends where you are? All the companies we considered did. In Sydney there's been a moving project-home village called Homeworld, because they're showing-off their latest they sell-up and build another one every ... well it seems like maybe every 5-7 years. Anyway, we went to look at the previous one maybe 4 years ago just before it shut down, and there were plenty of homes there without eaves - but the current one has few houses without eaves unless they're trying to "get fancy" with an unusual design which doesn't really suit eaves. batey_1020 Could you tell me what the actual price of it was? I was looking at a colorbond shed 2 bay being constructed separately for around $10,000. Maybe its worth having the 2 car garage added to the main house. We originally wanted to have a big single garage; but the rules we're building to meant our house would have to have been reduced by the size of the garage, due to land:floorspace ratio issues. But the separate 2nd garage sort-of got around that. Cost? You could get it done more cheaply afterwards, we just want it all done at once & less stuffing-around in mud for 2 years after the builders have finished. It's got 3.8m internal height & the slab's engineered for a 2-post hoist & it's got a ceiling & has 3-phase so it's costing us ~$45k ... we had estimates between ~$25k & ~$35k from salespeople for other builders (but they weren't taking the extra height into account). Quote: It really surprises me that the aus building code doesn't have double glazing as standard these days given the massive benefit. Actually, double-glazing isn't that much more expensive, and it doesn't seem to give you that much benefit over the top of decent single-glazed with the right treatments/coatings/whatever. We're getting thermally-separated frames though, apparently if the frame inside is the same piece of metal as the frame outside it's the frames which "leak" the most temperature with aluminium. My wife prefers the look of aluminium to wood & neither of us like the maintenance/repairs involved with wood; but wood does a better job of insulation than aluminium if you don't specifically go for thermally-separate aluminium frames. Hi, you've probably already resolved this, however, Commbank will probably pay the funds to you after you send evidence the work is done regardless the change in the quotes. 1 35326 5 10476 2 2964 |