Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 10, 2014 4:51 pm I appraoched Co11ier Homes to quote for the construction of my rear block (3rd house rear in a surveyed strata) in Morley. The cost of the 200m2 house is 185k including painting/carpet, fittings, etc.
I paid the $2500 for Co11ierr's feasibility study, but the site cost estimate that came back was $50k to include sand fill and retaining walls for half of the boundary fence. The front of my rear plot to the back of the land increase in level by 1.1 m (back is higher by 1.1 m). The builder suggested: - a 18-20m length retaining wall up to 0.9-1.2 m high at the back (cut down by 0.9-1.2m at the back) - rebuilding a 13m length retaining wall to raise the level of my site by 0.25m in the front (existing retaining wall ~0.5m high; proposed replacement retaining wall 0.75m high). Is 50k reasonable for the house construction of 185k (total cost 235k). 235k (excl land) seems a bit to expensive for a 200m2 house (land size is 320m2). Community, please help me Re: Cost of site work (earthworks, retaining wall, levelling 2Jul 10, 2014 5:01 pm Surely the builder would have had some idea before taking your money for a feasability study. It might be worth your while to cut your losses and go elsewhere. Did you eyeball the block before paying for this study? Seems like you would have been able to tell that it wouldnt be cheap Creator of superduperonium, expert at expert things, nobel laureate, can hold my breath for 10 minutes. Re: Cost of site work (earthworks, retaining wall, levelling 3Jul 10, 2014 5:09 pm i did have a site reconnaisance beforehand, took pics and gave the builder approx levels across the site (include my hand sketched contour plan). A normal site i am guessing is 10-15k, and i am guessing that doubling it to 30k would be my max estimate, but certainly not 50k!!
i was half hoping that the builder could come up with some innovative ideas like having split levels in the house instead of levelling the whole site. Any more advise, public or professional out there?? Re: Cost of site work (earthworks, retaining wall, levelling 4Jul 10, 2014 5:30 pm You did explain when you showed them the pictures what the block was like, even though you had your own handdrawn contour map, and they still couldn't give you even vague ballpark estimates, such as " if it is bad/needs lots of earthmoving it could be $50K " ? Part of it is the retaining wall 1000mm and higher which requires engineering plans/reports, that's causing the most grief I guess. Two separate 500mm retaining walls wouldn't need engineering. Split level homes if they don't normally do them will cost you more. If you can, run away from them and write off the $2500 to a bad experience. My sloping 1 acres block cost me around $20K, and that included 90+m driveway and two services trenches. Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . Re: Cost of site work (earthworks, retaining wall, levelling 5Jul 10, 2014 5:38 pm Hi Jonk, I guess the thing you need to remember is whether its a 200m2 house worth $185K or a 200m2 house worth $585K the minimum standard for earth works is the same. As for the cost that may be something you need to shop around. Re: Cost of site work (earthworks, retaining wall, levelling 6Jul 10, 2014 5:45 pm 50k seems not that outrageous. Retaining walls and filling are both not cheap activities and made more expensive with limited access. Bpratt that can't be in wa surely? I have a similar block and the driveway alone costs more than your entire siteworks Re: Cost of site work (earthworks, retaining wall, levelling 7Jul 10, 2014 5:48 pm [quote="Jays"] Bpratt that can't be in wa surely? I have a similar block and the driveway alone costs more than your entire siteworks /quote] Jimboomba, Queensland. It's only a roadbase driveway though. It'll do for quite a while, at least until we've been in there for a while, and then we'll decide what sort of driveway we really want. Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . Re: Cost of site work (earthworks, retaining wall, levelling 8Jul 10, 2014 6:07 pm Having built on a battle-axe block as well I think you just can't escape the extra site costs. Ours were around that as well but we also had to pay an extra $6000 to raise the height of the slab after going through council as well as the cost of removing and replacing all the boundary fencing. I think if we knew how much extra our site costs would be we wouldn't have bought the rear block! https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=64434 Building our own custom design based on the Elwood by Dale Alcock Land settled - November Plans submitted to council - January Prestart - March Slab - 18 September Brickies - 23 October Re: Cost of site work (earthworks, retaining wall, levelling 9Jul 10, 2014 6:16 pm I don't exactly understand the work that you have described as included for the price of $50k, but based on my limited knowledge and your sloping block of 1.1m, the price appears to be in the right ball park. By the time you consider standard site works of 15k, add in retaining walls (possibly up to 20k?) and fill (10k?). Does the 50K include any driveway and services to the back of the block? These normally add up pretty quickly as well. With all that in mind, the builder should have been able to give you this ball park cost without any need for a 'feasibility study'. Did you have any actual work on the block done for this cost? i.e. soil or contour surveys? If so, you should be able to request a copy of these surveys from your builder and you should be able to shop around with other builders for approximate costings on site works. If you also get this cost itemised, you can potentially check the prices with independent contractors yourself. Bear in mind, that some builders will provide a lot of estimates in site costs and keep them in Preliminary Sums before executing your contract. For this reason, it's really important that you closely compare any site works estimates on a line by line basis to ensure you understand what's included in the quotation. Re: Cost of site work (earthworks, retaining wall, levelling 10Jul 12, 2014 11:21 am Sell your land and just go and buy a house and land package and you should save a lot of money $50,000 is a stupid amount of money all that works would be a quarter of that if you got your own contractors to do the job .... Tell your builder to do screwpoles instead Re: Cost of site work (earthworks, retaining wall, levelling 11Jul 12, 2014 11:30 am honestly bring in the professionals and get them to quote you up .. remember the builder charge a minimum of 30% which of $50,000 is $15,000 they pocket MINIMUM Re: Cost of site work (earthworks, retaining wall, levelling 12Jul 12, 2014 1:22 pm Johnno1224 .... Tell your builder to do screwpoles instead Unless your the engineer and are designing the slab that would be te same as telling your dentist how to do a filling. Re: Cost of site work (earthworks, retaining wall, levelling 13Jul 13, 2014 12:24 am Not too sure where you are.. so can't comment too much on the price. However from the size of your block 320m2 with over 1 meter slope, you don't really have much choice apart from what your builder is suggesting as split level is out of the question already and 2 separate retaining wall are out as well as you need space for 2 walls. The cost would mostly in the engineering part for your retaining wall. Also, keep in mind that you have 2 retaining walls, one in front and one at back, so costs add up quickly. Re: Cost of site work (earthworks, retaining wall, levelling 14Jul 13, 2014 1:13 am Hi there, We have a standard 700m2 block with a small slope and our initial cost of site costs came back at 31k as they had to remove approx 200mil of sand due to the sand apparently being contaminated with old tree roots etc. Our builder came up with a solution to raise the pad and add a retaining wall along one side of the pad. Our final site costs dropped to 21k. I have heard battle-axe blocks do cost alot more to build on. Ask around with a few more companies or earthworkers. Re: Cost of site work (earthworks, retaining wall, levelling 15Jul 13, 2014 1:17 am If you have already made up your mind to build on the block, maybe you could find out which company the builder uses for surveying, engg report and soil test etc. Talk to them directly and get an estimation. Then you negotiate with the builder. If site work is so high, I would probably be building a two storey house to maximize Re: Cost of site work (earthworks, retaining wall, levelling 16Jul 13, 2014 1:05 pm Over the area of our house site of about 550 sq m we had a fall of about 2.5 metres diagonally over the site. About 150 cm3 of topsoil was removed to solid ground, we then had to bring in 1400 cm3 of fill. This was completed in 4 days by the company we contracted to do the job. Our cost for this were well south of $10K. If you need a level site my advice would be to get an outside contractor and get the site prepped to the standard that is required without involving a building company. Settlement 1/2/12 New Shed 23/3/12 Slab poured 27/3/12 Frame complete 4/5/12 Roof complete 1/6/12 LOCKUP 29/6/12 Our new build blog http://kareenhillsownerbuild.blogspot.com/ Re: Cost of site work (earthworks, retaining wall, levelling 17Jul 13, 2014 4:54 pm We're getting rorted in Perth. Going direct through a friend in the earthmoving game, we're quoted more than $15 (pre GST) per cubic metre. Removal was above $20 per cube. So in Perth, the equivalent job would be $25k. Add GST and you're already close to 30k. Re: Cost of site work (earthworks, retaining wall, levelling 18Jul 13, 2014 11:16 pm Don't know where you are located ie metro or rural. Look for a rural operator. Most will be cheaper than than a metro based operator. Try and source someone that needs fill prior to excavation. Will save you heaps. With friends I have experienced - unfortunately poorly- business is business. We live in a rural area and many an excavator or dozer to be had. The amount of soil you wish relocated really is not that great. Is the quality of soil any good? How much can you keep for landscaping? Can you do cut and fill to lessen amounts required? What type of retaining wall is he quoting on? If you use their service will the $2500 you have paid be taken off the total amount to be paid? Would seem fair if this was the case if you use them. Reluctant to admit but cash does do wonders to the price!! Settlement 1/2/12 New Shed 23/3/12 Slab poured 27/3/12 Frame complete 4/5/12 Roof complete 1/6/12 LOCKUP 29/6/12 Our new build blog http://kareenhillsownerbuild.blogspot.com/ Re: Cost of site work (earthworks, retaining wall, levelling 19Jul 14, 2014 4:09 pm My dilemma is that if i should approach another builder (VenturaID). But that would set me back another 2.5k, without the knowledge if they would be any cheaper??? And yes if i build with the same builder, they will "refund" the 2.5k as part of the reduced construction cost. My gut feel of 50k site works is that it is too much. My breakdown of cost: 1 Parapet wall boundary set out $790.00 2 Site survey of vacant land $495.00 3 Earthworks incld removal of topsoil and vegetation, and supply fill to achieve FFL incld compaction cert by engineer $13,695.00 (volume not shown) 4 Concrete post and rail retaining wall incld repeg surgey and building licence $9,997.00 5 brick build-up to garage $1,869.00 6 Stormwater disposal to multiple soakwells located within car reversing bay. $6,210.00 7 Underground Power Run-in single phase $2,301.00 8 Temporary power to building site during construction $495.00 9 Prelay of conduit for future telecommunication from a location close to the elecrical meter box to end of existing driveway. Cabling by others $190.00 10 Manual material handling due to limited access $1,200.00 11 manaul site clean due to limited access $1,500.00 12 concrete pump hire $1,188.00 13 presite attendence by plumber $890.00 14 traffic management $7,000.00 (builider claims that this is shire compulsory to avoid fines) 15 Removal of exisitng fencing for new retaining walls (extra $$?) 16 Local authority stowmwater fee $2,000.00 17 Sewer run from sewer connection pt (additional 5 m, on top of 10 m already part of house cost) $215.00 18 water service pipe (additional 5 m, on top of 10 m already part of house cost) $115.00 Any help of advice, however small, would be much appreciated. Many thanks for your responses so far. Re: Cost of site work (earthworks, retaining wall, levelling 20Jul 14, 2014 4:49 pm You shouldn't have to pay an additional 2.5k for another builders quote. We had three-four detailed site works costings provided by different builders on the back of our completed contour survey and soil survey. For other suggestions, I'd recommend calling your council to find out if the traffic management is really necessary. Try asking your builder if you can do the retaining, earthworks and drainage yourself (potentially find a builder that will let you). Has an allowance been made to pave your driveway? Do you know what your local authority storm water fee is for? This appears excessive given you're managing your own stormwater through soak wells. Hi guys, I want to do some floor levelling before laying the planks and am considering doing it with self-levelling or yellow tongue PB board. I am wondering which one… 0 6542 Thank you again Simeon.. I will call my certifier for that. Have a good day 4 5195 We were lucky in that our old house was so small (86 square metres) compared to the new house, they were able to take enough readings around the old backyard house before… 8 37150 |