Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Sep 23, 2014 6:13 pm Hi All, I own an old (1950's) house on 530 m2 in Mosman park and am looking to demolish and build. My bank says they can lend $600 k for a new house. There is 15 m of north-facing frontage, a rear right of way and the land slopes down to the front by 1.5 m. I'd like to build a sustainable double storey with rear garage but don't know where to start. Should I speak to a builder, architect or surveyor? Id appreciate any help. Regards, Martin (zawam) Re: Mosman Park new build 2Sep 24, 2014 8:09 pm Start with a builder... Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: Mosman Park new build 3Sep 24, 2014 10:33 pm It really depends what is more valuable to you - quality or quantity. A builder will give you more bang for buck in terms of a lower square metre build rate (therefore a larger house for the money) but an architect will design you quality spaces and hopefully give you a home that you didnt even realise you wanted. They will typically go out to a few builders for pricing - so you can meet a couple and go with who you like. If you go to a builder and the relationship turns sour during the design phase, you are really contracted to stay with them as they own your design. with an architect, this wont happen as you work with the architect during design/docco and then pick a builder for construction. Obviously custom builders will be more expensive per square metre - plus you might find an architect design is higher spec as well...so you would most likely be looking at lower square meterage overall for the same budget - but a design which is custom made for you by a professional designer (most volume builder sales people are just that - sales people - they don't have design qualifications) Another thing to consider is that builders will typically take planning guidelines as gospel and stick to the recommendations to get through council without any pain. architects should have a better understanding of what can be bent or broken, and although it may involve more time negotiating with the council, you will likely get a better end result if the restrictions arent taken at face value Personally - in that area - I'd go the architect pathway. particularly if you want sustainable - builders aren't that interested (in my experience), they might say 'sure' to sign you up, but i doubt they would follow through. Surveyors wont be able to help you - they don't draw up houses. Leave the volume builders to the new estates I reckon. In a desirable area with a tricky council - architect for the win. Small footprint in Eliza Ponds, Spearwood WA Re: Mosman Park new build 4Sep 25, 2014 6:00 am There we are, not you have an answer - Thank you Tristanium Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: Mosman Park new build 5Sep 25, 2014 3:36 pm Lots of good advice from Tristanium. As mentioned, most volume builders aren't interested in sustainable builds (although even orientating a project home correctly can greatly reduce it's energy use). So choosing a custom build is likely to give you a better result. Generally architects will have a better understanding of energy efficient designs, & how to make the best use of smaller spaces (which is important in a sustainable design). Though of course not all architects or custom builders are well versed in sustainable building either. So I'd recommend researching the topic yourself first (if you haven't already done this). Then you'll be able to judge potential design ideas better, whether they come from an architect, building designer, draftsman or builder. The Aussie government's Your Home website is the local go to site for sustainable design, http://www.yourhome.gov.au Some things to consider are, - choosing sustainable materials for your build. Particularly materials with low embodied energy (the energy used in manufacture & transport to site), such as sustainably sourced timber, which has much lower embodied energy than concrete or brick. Choosing materials that can be recycled or reused at the end of your houses life. - choosing materials & build methods that result in a "tight" well insulated house. - tread lightly on the ground, by minimising excavation (for sloping blocks consider split level, or stumps, instead of a large cut & fill with large retaining walls). - designing a house that minimises energy use. By orientating your house correctly & using passive solar design (to store heat from winter sunlight in interior themal mass, minimising winter heating loads) & cross ventilation (minimising summer cooling loads). Designing a roof line for solar panels (not the Aussie hip roof, with tonnes of little triangles). - choosing efficient appliances, such as heat pumps or solar thermal for domestic hot water, efficient RC AC for heating (particularly ductless mini-splits). Using fans, not AC for cooling when possible. - minimising house size, to minimise materials used in construction, & energy used for heating & cooling. The right architect will be able to design something that takes this all into account, along with locate climatic conditions, privacy issues, noise issues, designing for views, maximising storage etc. Maybe even something beautiful, with the WOW factor. An architecturally designed house will likely cost more, but the results are likely to be better, & in your affluent area you won't have to worry about over capitalisation. ps. Using the rear, southern, right of way for your garage, is a good choice, locating living areas facing north. Good passive solar design Re: Mosman Park new build 6Sep 25, 2014 5:01 pm Thank you Tristanium and ddarroch for your detailed answers that Ill try to incorporate into my concept design. I've created basic plans in excel that I will give to an internet architect/drafter ($20/hr) to generate some concept plans in archicad. I might even post an ad at the Architecture department at UWA for a student to draft these. Then Ill take these to builders / architects for quotes / ideas. Even if I go builder Ill still engage an architect to review the plans to maximize efficiency / sustainability for long term. Most of my design is based on yourhome.gov and I think I can achieve 8 stars energy efficiency. Due to the slope the garage will be 1 meter higher than the rest of the house so I hope that doesn't add too much cost for cut/fill. I've minimized windows on the ease and west walls and most of the north face has windows. There are operable wall and ceiling windows to ventilate the house and let breeze through. Unfortunately there is a large council tree to the north that shades winter sun but due to the safety issues of wires Ill try to have the council replace it with a small peppermint tree. Thanks again and regards, Martin Re: Mosman Park new build 7Sep 25, 2014 5:16 pm I hope you're not expecting anything special for $20/hr Re: Mosman Park new build 8Sep 25, 2014 5:48 pm There are plenty of qualified architects/designers online from developing countries with good reviews that are happy to work for $20/hr (some ask $10/hr). I just want my concept transferred into a digital format and am not expecting high quality and detail at this early stage. Re: Mosman Park new build 9Sep 25, 2014 11:13 pm Sorry, I thought you were after an architect to provide you with a design? If you have your own plan then I wouldn't bother getting it drawn up, just take it to a builder or three. If you do want someone to actually create something, then $20/hr ain't going to cut it. Thank you so much everyone. This all makes a lot of sense. I guess when you talk to a builder who butters up everything to look very polished, you get to start believing… 7 17507 |