Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jun 05, 2014 2:14 pm Hi all We are thinking of building a new house and we are not sure what the process is in general. Ideally we would love to get a few quotes with the desired floor plans from different builders before making decision. But to get that quote, do we have to leave deposits and potentially loose the money? I mean, say Henley asked to leave $1500 deposit to get the full quote, if things dont work out like we dont like their modified floor plans etc, or if the head office reject the variations, do you generally get the money back? So we are pretty much have to leave deposits everywhere (different builders) to get the variations drawn and the quote? If each builder asks $1500, that is gonna cost a lot of money. How did you do it? Please please helpp... Re: Building New House - Please help.. 2Jun 05, 2014 2:55 pm G'day,
I'm fairly new to this forum but I will try my best to help. You are somewhat correct. To get the exact quote you need to pay an initial deposit and go through the tender/contract process. If you are not happy with the final price you're given, you will not get refunded the deposit. My advice is to check out as many plans/builders as you can, make an excel document with the standard inclusions and pricing you are given for upgrades and then compare. Do this before you pay any deposit as it is non-refundable. Do lots of research and go through the quote item by item whilst doing a walk through the display home (if available). Every room you walk through ask what is standard and what is additional. If it is additional and you want it then ask for a rough quotation. Best of luck, take your time with the whole process and do all your negotiations on pricing before you pay the initial deposit. Re: Building New House - Please help.. 3Jun 05, 2014 3:10 pm Agree with above ^ As first home builders and having just gone through the process ourselves, it can be a very daunting and confusing process to go through when it comes to getting proces, tenders, contracts etc from builders. My advise would be to go and have a look at as many builders as you can & get price lists, design brochures etc. Narrow it down to 4 or 5 that you like and that on face value fit within your price range and then go and get quotes from each of them. This is what we did, and 2 of the 5 we narrowed it down to knocked themselves out of contention by being downright rude and awful to deal with! The process of getting the quotes, talking to the sales people etc can also be a good indication of what they are like to deal with as a whole. One builder took 2 months of twoing and frowing and stuffing around just to get us a tender! Not a good indication of what the build would be like. From there compare the different inclusions etc, then use the different quotes you received to negotiate - i.e. if one offers floor covering but the other one doesnt, tell the one who doesnt that you will consider them if they chuck in floor coverings / know $6000 off the price etc etc. As joea said, be aware of what is standard and what isnt and ask questions - upgarding to things outside of what is standard can quickly jack your price up! I would add about $30 - 40000 on top of and quotations the builders give you - inclusive of any upgrades you might want when you do your colour / electrical selections and any additional costs that sneak in there. Our experience was that once we paid our deposit, there were additional things that werent factored into the initial quote that ended up in there after they did the soil tests, surveryed the land themseleves etc. Dont pay any deposits for anything until you are 99.9% sure that you want to build with someone - if your not that sure, wait, keep negotiating and be patient Re: Building New House - Please help.. 4Jun 05, 2014 3:11 pm I think it depends on where you are and which builders you speak to. I am based in Perth, we spoke to 5 different builders - only one of them was unwilling to make variations to their plan without having a deposit first. The other 4 builders worked very hard to get our deposit, they altered plans, layouts specifications etc until I was entirely happy with the end product. We then got them to offer us discounts, and we chose with builder to go with depending on several factors (price, layout, suitablity for land, online reviews etc) The builders were aware that I was talking to other builders as well and that they were giving me their prices at the same time. Ask around... you never know. My build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68002 Re: Building New House - Please help.. 5Jun 05, 2014 3:37 pm Most builders will give you a std price for the house which is the basic default, some will also give you the premium prices which will include alot of upgrades. If you look through display homes, they normally all come with a cost as part of the brochures. The only things you may not be able to get with out going through the formal process is for any structure changes such as making rooms bigger, changing to a walk in shower etc.. I would suggest going through as many display villages as possible as it will give you an indication on what your money might be able to buy or what you are able to do. Re: Building New House - Please help.. 6Jun 05, 2014 3:45 pm We got two tenders and were actually glad we did - it could be said that we wasted money on one of them but each tender was used to highlight what was missing in the other and the builders were much more eager to respond favourably once they knew we actually had a competitors tenders in hand. It also showed how site costs can vary between builders. I think most would agree that your best bang for buck comes from choosing the builder that has as many of your "must have" items on their standard inclusions list and by taking a design that requires minimal changes (if any). Once you find a builder or two that fit that criteria and you think you can work with, get a tender. Best of luck http://camdenbuild.blogspot.com.au/ by invite only please pm me Re: Building New House - Please help.. 7Jun 05, 2014 3:50 pm We spoke to a number of builders, asking about their existing floor plans and what costs were involved. A basic quote like this should cost you nothing. In fact we did not have to make any payment until we signed a document of understanding (this was the stage when the builder got plans drawn up, as opposed to just scribbles in their office). A good builder should allow you at least a basic quote or two, without any payment from yourself. If they are asking for money from the get-go I'd give them a wide berth. Re: Building New House - Please help.. 8Jun 10, 2014 8:24 am Thanks all for the advice. We decided not to give any deposit over the weekend and sat down with a Metricon consultant. He brought up something very interesting about our house being east facing, which means that we will need to have a 2.6m distance from the adjoining neighbour on the left (we are building a double story), which cause us a big issue cos it means not much space on our north facing side. Arrgh... So back to square one now... Which direction is your block facing? Re: Building New House - Please help.. 9Jun 10, 2014 9:11 am ikesan Thanks all for the advice. We decided not to give any deposit over the weekend and sat down with a Metricon consultant. He brought up something very interesting about our house being east facing, which means that we will need to have a 2.6m distance from the adjoining neighbour on the left (we are building a double story), which cause us a big issue cos it means not much space on our north facing side. Arrgh... So back to square one now... Which direction is your block facing? ikesan, That is a very wise move on your behalf. I wasn't aware of these requirements. We are only building a single storey home and the front of our house faces West. Sorry I'm not sure if I understand correctly, couldn't you just 'flip' the house plan? Good luck with it all. Re: Building New House - Please help.. 10Jun 10, 2014 3:41 pm Hi there, Feel free to contact me to obtain some initial free advice on this topic. I highly recommend that you do not sign a Building Contract until you have received advice from a solicitor who deals with building matters. Once you sign the contract it is very difficult to terminate and if you don't know your rights you may have the problem of waiting months beyond what you expected to get your home built and also may end up paying more than the fixed price advised via variations. One way to avoid disputes and ensure the smooth running of construction of your home is to understand what your obligations are and what in fact you are signing. I am happy to email to you a free report on some issues surrounding building contracts. The biggest complaint we get from our clients are about delays. You need to watch out for provisional sums and liquidated damages need to reflect your actual loss (rental etc) or at the least you need to negotiate this clause with the builder. Re: Building New House - Please help.. 11Jun 15, 2014 2:53 pm HI Boutique lawyers, perhaps you could post the free report here for all to see. Hi, I have a block that I am planning on building on soon to both side boundaries, which both have other houses constructed that were also built boundary to… 0 502 All 3 items listed are defects and are of concern. Please seek qualified independent inspector and/or legal advice for your state. 1 8365 Yes well there solution is to blame everyone else while I a 65yr old woman with major medical problems have to just continue to boil water and wash myself in a bucket… 2 16127 |