Building my first house

Hi Guys,

This forum is great. I cant tell you how excited I am to build my own house. I am 26 years old and I have just purchased a land in Wantirna South.
It is a very small piece of land which is 10.5m X 28m in length. I am thinking of building a double storey house. The base cost advertised by all the builders are so deceiving. For Eg. Porter Davis house Granada starts at $209k but when the person quoted me she said, it was $309 after all the site cost and allowance etc. Can you please suggest me a good double storey design and a good builder. I am open to suggestions as I do not have a preferred builder or design a this stage.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you

this is like asking somone to tell you "what is a good car". This depends on your needs. I think your best bet will be looking at ALL the builders designes and working out which one syou like, what will fit on your land and then short listing them and going to have a look at the displays.

Word of advice though, you may dislike a floor plan, but when you walk through teh display house it feels very different, so You might aswell look at everything and then make a choice based on that.

as to builders, there much the same. some have been screwed by a builder whos done a perfect job for another person. Just do your research, ask questions and dont be a monster.

Yes - I'd be visiting all the display houses I could find - collect the plans and brochures.

Think of your block - size, aspect, views etc. Look at all plans - don't dismiss any - you may be able to flip them quite easily - thus gaining the outlook you want.

AND - any questions - do a search on here - so lot is covered.

If you have a plan but don't like something - you may be able to modify - use a different builder - if you change a certain % of the plan.

Fairhaven have some good double story designs

Welcome to Wantirna South! Its a great area. Have u brought in Harcrest? Have u asked anyone how much their site costs are in your area? Site costs can affect the cost of build quite considerably. My friend built in the ranges Croydon 2 years ago and her site cost was $40k... there goes a lot of upgrades lol. Also if u brought in a new estate then there are usually estate guidelines to follow which might add more onto your cost as well... what about energy efficient does the plan comply with 6 star? If not they have to upgrade things to ensure it does and that can mean more money as well... not sure about builders though. Also consider your house sitting. Most people prefer the afternoon sun coming in to the living room (so back of house should ideally be facing north). Anyways lots of research and visit lots of builders. Try berwick waters they just recently opened their display centres and their like 10 different builders on display or more! Or even selendra rise also good thats where we saw henley and fell in love!!!! Good luck

Thanks Pearz and Saint Mike,
I am starting to look at a few designs. Have looked at PD, BURBANK, SIMONDS designs, They all start at around $240 and go up to $300k. What is the room for negotiation guys? Say a builder quotes me all up inclusive all additions and allowance and site costs around $300k... Can I tell him that I have only $285 and get them to honor everything to $285? I am in Sales as well. and we are open to negotiations.. But just want to know how much of a buffer or what is reasonable amount to be negotiated.
and once again thank you so much for these answers. This is a wealth of information that is soo useful to new and inexperienced kids like me who are dreaming about building their new homes.

the only real way to negotiate on most of the pricess with builders on inclusions is to know what the retail price is - EG you know the retail price of your 900m cooker is 2000, and the builde ris charging 2500. You can ask why they are charging above retail given they are already making margin when thet bought heaps of them for the homes theyre building. But given the number of items in a house that could be treated this way, you'll drive yourself crazy.

Builders rarely negotiate on thei rmargins, so just because in one industry sales prices are negotiable, doesnt mean they will be in another.

Know your retail value, do your sums in your head, and just ask for a better price. It never hurts to ask. The best place to try and save cash on is your heating/cooling - you'll save 3-6k doing it after hand over, floors also.

BUT -I cant see putting a house on your size block (294sqm) for 300k as likley unless youre looking at optioning up everything with gold.

If i could give you a timless piece of advice - dont overcapitalise on your construction. Chose the important stuff, make some compromises, and dont go overboard. It wont be the last house you build.

Welcome! I'm not from Vic, but am now looking to build again in QLD and am also looking for a great value double story. My partner and I are investigating Plantation Homes (Henley in VIC) and the below plan may suit your block and requirements? The base price is $227,900.00, and the base inclusions are of quite a good standard. The standard facade (broadway) is also very nice and may only require render to front and 1 or 2 additional materials to meet covenant. So if you add provisions for site costs up to a H or H2 slab minimum, timber/carpet and tiles, air con, driveway, fencing and landscaping, any state energy and covenant requirements and don't go crazy on the upgrades you may well come away with a quote under $285k. My suggestion would be perhaps don't ask for a price "as per display" as this can include many things that are not of value to you or your lifestyle and will potentially lead to over capitalising. Also try not to get caught up in the extras that everyone else might have! Choose the upgrades that will add value to you, and your lifestyle, without over spending for your area and your budget.

http://www.henley.com.au/find-a-home/co ... urn-series

Good luck!!

Im almost certain there would be cheaper Double Storey homes. You may just have to settle for base inclusions and not all the fancy stuff. Our single storey has all the bells and whistles and is costing us about 250, So i cant see how a smaller framed double storey would cost 300k!

But unfortunately with bigger companies there is not much room for wiggle, they have large overheads and although maybe able to save you a few thousand here and there, wiping of 10's of thousands probably isn't achievable

The idea of looking at the RRP of prices is good, but remember they are never going to just charge you Recommended Retail for everything - if that was the case you'd have a block covered in materials and no one to put it all together! Remember for every small item there is costs that most people wouldnt think about (you being in sales you'd understand)

Theres install, delivery, labour, profit margins etc etc. So a $100 item turns into a $350 item pretty fast!

Do your best at deciding what you NEED and what you WANT and do your research and you will be fine!

We are going to be building at Harcrest in Wantirna South too, our lot size is 10m x 28.5m.

There are only handful of double story houses that can be built due to the narrow width. We decided to go with the Metro 32 with Metricon, as it covered all of our needs (4 bed, big kitchen, walk in pantry, spacious living area). There were a few cheaper options, but by the time we added the upgrades/extensions we wanted, they were working out similar to the Metro 32 house.
We also looked at PD for Granada and Burbank for Jameson.

Hope this helps.

Hey just wondering what you ended up choosing ?
We were in the same boat, I've always wanted a double story & with how small the land lots are these days it meant we could have a nice size backyard compared to other builds we've seen where they have no space at all. We found most builders way to expensive for budget or the house plans didn't suit what we would be happy with & only 3 bedrooms which I didn't want. We ended up finding the fairhaven Bridgewater range & got a 4 bedroom DS for I think it was 236 all up.