Building Metricon Fortitude32 - Bannockburn: FLOORING

i have sat down with a few builders and got prices on various things and some upgrades, mainly Carlisle, Burbank, 8Homes and of course Metricon

i will list a few things i know about metricon's costs and you can pretty much bet that the other builders are roughly this same + or - 10%

first things first, take the base price of a home, add $10,000 if you want a facade, and add at least another $20,000 for site costs and the like (bushfire, termite protection, wind, flood etc)
almost without a doubt nowaday site costs are well over the standard inclusion.

we had M class soil and reasonably good block, site costs above and beyond inclusions were:
upgraded M-Class slab - $2,654
Provide Cut & Fill in lieu of Standard Scrape - $3,944 (due to more fall than included)
additional drainage as per engineers design - $880
Temporary Fencing - $1,552 (our block is 20m x 40m and currently no fencing)
Termite Protection - $1,758
Additional Stormwater distance - $220
Additional Electrical distance - $270
and also (recently amended) we originally had bushfire BAL 12.5 which racked up costs of around $6,000 (luckily enough my area was downgraded to BAL low a couple of days before signing.
so thats $11,328 (not including Bushfire) 17,328 (including bushfire)

so as you can see its easy to rack up costs even before you really pick your layout, these costs will vary with house size, block slope, soil class etc. when we bought our block it was subject to soil tests, and i swear by it now, P-class slabs can be in excess of $50,000

your site costs may not be above and beyond this standard inclusion, but i think it is important to automatically add that to your base price. if your anything like me, you like to know the cost of something before you commit to it, it seems builders expect you just to pick everything you want and get a loan for that amount, its hard to budget when you dont know the costs.

our facade, i believe was around $13,000 this was with already included render from a 'Premium Specifications' Package which we selected, i think it was around $18,000 to get the Premium Spec which gave you things like tiled shower bases, stone benchtops, higher ceilings, brick infills, kitchen overheads etc.
and we got a nasty surprise when we got to the colour appointment and found out the wood feature on our facade was to be painted unlike the display (stained) if we wanted to stain it, it was going to cost a further $1,300.
in other words, be sure to know everything you are getting for your money.

we altered the roof pitch from 22.5 to 25 degrees - $353
removing the Walk-in Linen and Powder Room and creating the Storage (this will be our study) Credited us $2240 (if you call it a study, it is considered a living area, therefore needs natural light and we would have been forced to install a sunlight, Storage it is)
raising the ceilings above the included 2550 to 2700 - $4,480
we managed to get colourbond in lieu of tiles for free due to a promotion in our area
Cat 2 Bricks - $453
Cat 3 Bricks a further - $900
Off White Mortar (we decided not to get this) - around $900
Natural grey concrete driveway - $3,150
Raise Ceiling Height in entry 2550 to 3000 - $1018
Square Set Cornice in Entry - $182
increase sliding doors to 24x27 - $1339 (we had 2 sets of sliding doors, this cost is per set)
Benchtop Stone Waterfalls (bench to floor ends) - $1227 each end
gloss kitchen cupboards - $780
inset double sink - $300
no handle overhang on overhead cupboards - $144
pantry fitout - $803
pantry stone - $646
gloss pantry cupboards - $333
pantry bulkhead - $214
relocating the fridge and adjusting shelving didnt incur any additional costs
windows are fairly cheap, we added a 21-12 window - $493
and a 07-30 horizontal window - $551
920mm cavity slider in lieu of dual hinged - $127
metricon allowed us to increase the window sizes to 21 high and 27 wide (max) for free (of course double glazing incurred more costs)
24-15 French doors in lieu of standard window to ensuite - $1042
Tiled Shower niche - $320each (size doesn't matter i believe as the same amount of work is involved big or small)
additional shower head - $478
tiled kick rail on vanity - $57
the next toilet up cost - $400 (4 to chose from, i think the 4th one was like $1,000)
we rearranged bathroom which incurred costs of $1,300, due to increasing amount of tiles, different shower screen etc
taps etc, upgrading to the next level can set you back as little as $200 per item (we didnt bother)
extend laundry benchtop - $224
laundry overheads - $375
sliding door in lieu of hinged - $75
flooring costs were confusing, we had a floor promo, cat 1 carpet and tiles throughout for $5,000, we upgraded and stuffed around and it totalled $7,000 as a promo with cat 2 laminate and carpet throughout, but i believe, cat 1 tiles and laminate flooring can alone cost $7,000+ and cat 1 carpet $3500+
fibre optics pack (nbn wiring) - $1690 (confusing, message me if ya need help on this)
powerpoints are between $60-80
downlights around around $110
2-way switching is $55
j-boxes are $60
exhaust fans - $140
we had to upgrade to 5-start heater to suit LPG - $1533
evap cooling originally $5,500, but i wanted the thermostat coupled with the heater so i upgraded to a bigger bonaire unit totalling $6,967
extra outlets are $220
upgrade door height - $80ish i think
had to double glaze most windows due to poor solar orientation and window sizes, ceiling heights etc - $2,335
double glaze both of the large stacker doors $2,800

to have the grand alfresco it was going to cost around $9,000
and in the beginning we were looking at crediting the rumpus room which would have saved us $5,500
dishwasher was around $880
microwave was around $450
eves right around was looking to be around $4500
and there was an option to extend the family, WIR, Ensuite and Master out by .5m which was around the $5,000 mark

nitty gritty things like door handles and stuff can vary depending on taste, from $10 to hundreds

we spent about $7,000 in the colour appointment (really controlling ourselves)
and $2,000 including evap upgrade in electrical appointment (i'm a sparky so couldnt justify the ridiculous prices)

hope this helps people, i for 1 would have been happy to know all the ahead of picking floor plans and stuff, as once you pick something you rather get attached and feel as though you have to follow it through no matter the cost, so we sacrificed alot of things and lashed out on a lot of things, either way it was fun, and stressful

if any one needs anything, feel free to ask me, i researched alot throught the contract process from soil classification to double glazing and energy rating effects.

cheers

andy

thanks TomCat.

I love how you modified your kitchen/laundry a and store area!

All the best with your build, please keep us updated.

thanks lincoln29. it just made more sense to us, not needing the toilet or WIL, and we'll make use of the "Store" as a study and the "Study" will be the Parents Lounge/Theatre as the kids have the retreat, and we save a bit of money.

cheers

Looks great I look forward to following your build as I am also building with metricon! Great floor plan too

thanks guys! keenly following both of yours.

you're nearly there lila rose!

oh that must be so frustrating for you, our first run with metricon, felt like it took forever and everything came back wrong, and we weren't treated very well.
i hope this time you get a better run, do you have to start the whole process again? how does your process go?
we did pre-sale, wait (what felt like) ages for prelim contract, sign that off, wait ages, do studio M and electrical, then wait ages for final contract, a few things weren't 100%, but were noted for amendment, then applied for unconditional approval, got that, then jump through a few hoops, found missing boundary pegs, then they started, but we will probably be getting a call this week to have our tile appointment (which i thought was wierd, any spendings above and beyond inclusions are variations, out of our pocket at final payment).

wow, how confusing, it's so different, we did studio M/electrical, i think the same afternoon i made a few changes over the phone and we had paperwork sent through via email to sign, i signed it, got it back in the next day and that was it for selections, then i think 2 weeks later we did final contract review and sign.

well we went out today to have a looksy and look what we found

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the concreters said the frame should be going up on saturday and trusses on monday, its flying along

thanks lincoln, it will really translate then, it is still hard to picture room sizes etc, its kinda looking small