Browse Forums Building A New House 1 May 22, 2014 5:40 pm Hi all, I'm in the process of buying a fixed cost house and land package from PD. We chose a house plan and then select the extended kitchen, rumpus and alfresco option, which extends our house by another 50m2. We were told that the site cost is fixed for the standard floor plan only, and we need to pay to upgrade the site cost for the selected option for about $500. After doing the soil test (which I've been never been given the soil test report!!!), the slab MAY BE H class and the SC said the added site cost would be $3000 plus the relocation of sewer tie coming under the alfresco, which is another $2,000 plus, so in total more than $5,000 (10 times difference from what I was initially told!!!) I'd love to know that whether this $5,000 is excessive? Is there anyway I can negotiate with them or can I do the alfresco without the slab and get the credit back? Appreciate any comments from all of you. Re: Porter Davis - Cost of upgrade from M class to H class s 2May 23, 2014 7:43 am Is that upgrade from a "M" to a "H2" or "H1" ? What area are you building in ? Probably the extra cost are reasonable for the different type of slabs there is more concrete and reo in the "H" type slabs but I have a problem with the builders under quoting when they know it will cost more but they are trying to sound as good if not better than their competitors.I assume you have paid for the soil report and then you should get a copy of that report. Re: Porter Davis - Cost of upgrade from M class to H class s 3May 23, 2014 10:24 am It was an upgrade from M class to H class but I'm not sure whether it is H1 or H2 since I haven't got the report yet. While I understand that they may be underquote, but the 10 time difference is somewhat unacceptable. What can I do in this case? accept the rip off? Re: Porter Davis - Cost of upgrade from M class to H class s 4May 23, 2014 10:49 am What part of the process are you currently at? Still with SC? Tender? or Contracts? Has your land titled yet? or are they going off the preliminary soil test? Have they gotten the compaction report from the developer? Re: Porter Davis - Cost of upgrade from M class to H class s 5May 23, 2014 11:42 am Hi, please check out our blog for an extensive list of prices - but our slab upgrade cost a fair amount with PD for a 29 square house, our site costs were pretty expensive - there isn't really much to negotiate with IMO on these, they won't build a slab that they can't guarantee, yes it felt like we were being ripped off too, but I think in the long run we will be a lot happier with the house due to the strength of the foundations. For instance, the people across the road from us ... there slab was not ungraded to the extent ours was, they built with Dennis Family Homes and apparently there flooring has lifted, heaps and heaps of cracks in the walls, nails pushing out etc. Prices are here: http://buildinginballarat.wordpress.com ... -upgrades/ Excavation – Cut and Fill, Rock removal etc - $2,921 Slab Upgrades – H2, extra Steel Reinforcement and Concrete Piers $11,956 Services – Connection fee, additional run of Water, Trench and Ag drains $1,604 Our block is nothing special either.... basically flat Re: Porter Davis - Cost of upgrade from M class to H class s 6May 23, 2014 12:40 pm while i didnt buidl with PD, i find this site cost stuff amazing. The diferences are spastic. I built with with another builder with a fixed site cost of 8.2k. I had knowing in the back of my mind that "fixed" doesnt always mean fixed. Standard included slab was "M" BTW. When the soil tests came back H2 i was concerned our costs would increase. here is an excerpt of teh emails i wen back and forth with my builder (direct copy/paste) - Me - Hi, Are the soil/engineer reports available yet? Thanks Builder - We have received the soil report (attached) . This is also in your contracts that you should receive tomorrow I have posted them out express post today . The engineering I cant apply for until I receive your working drawings . Your file has been placed into drafting to have these prepared.. Regards M- Thanks for that. Are you able to give a ball park figure of what our slab upgrade will cost given the inclusion is M only? Ta B- You have fixed site costs so there will be no additional costs for your site regards M- Thanks, Technically correct. Let me rephrase – how much will be left for rock removal after the upgrade of the slab? Cheers, B- We don’t charge any extra for rock removal. I do not get given the break down of fixed site costs. Sometimes with fixed site costs we are out of pocket other times we break even and other times we meet our margins. Regards In the end, upgraded to H2 slab and a heap of rocks removed - 8.2k as quoted per fixed site costs. I dont get why other builders have floating provisional sums. theyre making a packet as it is anyway. Creator of superduperonium, expert at expert things, nobel laureate, can hold my breath for 10 minutes. Re: Porter Davis - Cost of upgrade from M class to H class s 7May 24, 2014 7:11 am onto a good builder there Ponzu.The majority aren't as reasonable there should be a better system or regulation.They know some areas aren't going to be the standard "m" site and yet that's what they quote so they don't look more expensive than the next builder who is under quoting as well. Re: Porter Davis - Cost of upgrade from M class to H class s 8May 24, 2014 11:22 pm We aren't building with PD but just received our tender & were pretty annoyed, our soil came back as H1 & site costs were 6k BUT they have standard fixed site costs for knock down rebuilds of 22k so our site costs are actually 28k. We argued with the builder that if you advertise the cost of our design as 280 but that you always charge 22k then your advertised base should be 302 for knock down rebuilds (they have a set price which is less for greenfield sites). We had allowed around 10k site costs on what we had been advised - which wasn't too far off the6k but coming in at 28 is really knocking our budget. Re: Porter Davis - Cost of upgrade from M class to H class s 9May 26, 2014 8:35 am That's interesting a H1 indicates that it is a highly reactive clay site but if there was a house removed over your building envelope then usually it is a class P site.It's not going to reduce your cost but I would be looking at the soil report etc. Three options 1 Ask the liquidator 2 Find another PD customer and ask the source of their report 3 Pay for new report 3 12179 The Soil classification has little to do with piers. The purpose of the classing of the soil is to identify the clay content and the "average expected range of movement… 2 9814 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 12978 |