Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jun 04, 2008 2:27 am We are going to go see our preferred builder this afternoon, but before we go I was wondering if some WA people out there, (or anyone else too), could tell me the order that things were done. At the moment we are putting down a deposit for soil tests...which according to the phone-call will take about 8 weeks.
At what point, are prices of the house locked in? When we put pen to paper for the tests, or 8 weeks or so down the track, when the soil tests are done and we need to see them again? Is it different for every builder/states or do they all generally follow the same steps? We are trying to get in before another price rise, which will see the house go over our budget (and no other house comes anywhere close to budget we have ). It has already gone up approx $10k over the last 6 months. We are not only on a tight budget, but to a degree time restriction as well. Re: Steps to building... 2Jun 04, 2008 8:43 am Hi monkeyupatree
So far the order for us has been. 1. visit the builder and talk about what we wanted. Paid a deposit for soil testing and were given a general idea of price. 2. emailed house plan drawing to look at while soil test was done.( This one is on my blog it does not have anything other than the house plan. No site drawings or detailed sizings etc) 3. visited to talk about house plan with confirmed external info for 1st set of formal plans to be drawn up. They wanted to know roofing material and wall material and if any changes needed to be done to the externals. ie number of windows, position of windows etc though these can still be changed later as it's just so they can draw up plans. Were given an estimated price for the build. Allowances are made for possible site works cost in this as well as allowances for additional items. But until the soil test and final site engineers report these amounts can still change. 4. Site engineers have made their final visit and worked out site costs and we have first set of formal plans. These the standard amount of power points, light fittings etc plus a few additional ones we'd already mentioned before the first draft plans were drawn up. Next week we go in to have "prestart". This is where we do any final changes like adding more power points, light fittings, upgrades, additional tiling etc ( extra costs), find out the good or bad news about the site works costs, So as long as there are no unexpected surprises with the site works and we do not alter or change anything else the price we were given at step 3 will stay. 5. After prestart the builders draw up the final plans. After this stage if anything gets changed it costs additional $ as a "variation" as well as for the cost of the actual item. Re: Steps to building... 3Jun 04, 2008 1:04 pm Hi,
Our price was not locked in til the slab was down, we were charged price increases of thousands and while we could just afford the house it has knocked us out of some things we wanted to have. We paid our deposit in Dec 06, titles were held up til july 07, had a 60 day price hold period while plans were in council, builders held this up for a month not supplying information to council, so it went over time and then they charged us an $8,000 price increase. Once approved by council was pretty quick to get to slab and then price was locked. You'll need to ask your builder about when they lock the price, some companies don't and can raise prices whenever they want. Worth getting something in writing. Hope it all works out for you. Re: Steps to building... 4Jun 04, 2008 5:40 pm Well we have been and come back from the meeting and put down our deposit for the soil tests. So far fairly happy with everything. The company was nice enough to even give us a "locked in price" so that we miss the next price rise. This is as long as the only thing holding us up, is in fact only the soil tests. As titles are out, and our finance has been organised for the past 10 months I can safely say that, we should have no problems! That is a big relief, as we would not have been able to afford the house after the rise, making us go with another company/plan that we didnt like.
We even got the pre-start pack (even though we weren't meant to yet), because I asked a question about the doors etc. A couple of downsides though are some of the things I dont like, I cant change, some can be done after hand-over, like taps/ door handles, but some cant. Re: Steps to building... 5Jun 04, 2008 7:26 pm We had to have titles and proof of the full amount of $ to pay for the build before any of the formal pricing was done but we did have a guide price. we were given that when we went in to discuss the prospect of building with teh builders and since it was within expected budget we paid our deposit then. I would imagine it would have been totally different if we had still been waiting for titles to be created(?) /released. Ours just had ot be put in our name. Re: Steps to building... 6Jun 04, 2008 11:23 pm Hi there,
So pleased everything has worked out for you We were really held up with titles, so got hit hard but thats the way it goes. have fun with your pre-start plans, it's an exciting time for you Full steam ahead! Re: Steps to building... 7Jun 04, 2008 11:33 pm Congrats Monkeyupatree. Now the fun begins. If you are having anything other than laminates for benches etc try and make sure you see a large sample. We nearly got caught out because there were major differences between a small sample and a large pieces of our benchtops.
We also made a point of driving around to check out external colour combinations in newly built houses that would have current available colours so we would know what we liked/disliked and agree/compromise on this early. As soon as we had our prestart pack we went and looked at tiling even though we didn't need to. We figured time might get away from us later and wanted to be ableto visit the places a number of times. Start thinking about number of/ type of power points, external lights, external tap location/s , tv points etc as soon as you can. Re: Steps to building... 8Jun 05, 2008 1:27 am kexkez Congrats Monkeyupatree. Now the fun begins. If you are having anything other than laminates for benches etc try and make sure you see a large sample. We nearly got caught out because there were major differences between a small sample and a large pieces of our benchtops. We also made a point of driving around to check out external colour combinations in newly built houses that would have current available colours so we would know what we liked/disliked and agree/compromise on this early. As soon as we had our prestart pack we went and looked at tiling even though we didn't need to. We figured time might get away from us later and wanted to be ableto visit the places a number of times. Start thinking about number of/ type of power points, external lights, external tap location/s , tv points etc as soon as you can. You know how I mentioned that there are some things that cant be changed after handover.... benches laminates and tiles are it. They have 8 different colour boards with tiles and laminates and you have to choose one of them. So if I like the tiles from CB 1, I cant mix it with laminates from CB 6. From the quick look we got, it looks like all the cabinets/tops in bath/ensuite kitchen are going to be the same colour. (Blah!!) And the tiles through out are going to be either mid brown & white or grey & white (approx 200mmx200mm tile). I already had my selections for laminates and am really disappointed that I cant chose what I want. Bricks are another one too, the brick selection from Midland (and this is only my opinion) is pretty crap, but we only get a selection of 3 cream and 3 red. Seeing as practically all the houses are being done with cream I am going to chose the red that is the least ugliest of the reds. The mortar is cream..I wanted white, but cream is standard and they dont change that either. I am always checking out houses as we drive around and the only red houses I see are ones with hideous orange/red roofs with green trim, we are getting black, I think . I had already printed out plans from an original, and have marked out on one p/points and on the other lights (as well as down lights if we chose them) Then we went to a display house (that is similar to our design) and noted on another plan where they had all there lights/manhole/points etc. So I think I already have everything covered, but will definately go over it again as the signing gets closer. I have had a lot of time while waiting for the titles to come through.... does it show!! Following these simple steps will help you mitigate unwanted costs, have your expectations met and give… 0 4551 go upvc window frames ensure insulation under colorbond. not just sarking, lighter color roof also not sure if you have seen this viewtopic.php?t=5823 last couple of pages… 4 110592 |