Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Oct 06, 2014 8:45 pm Hi We are first home buyers and we are in the process of choosing builders.. I am so scared of the "hidden costs' involved I have heard they be a ridiculous amount which we can't afford. We are choosing between Eden Brae and Wisdom Homes.. Any advice and/or stories good and bad would be appreciated.. Thank you Re: First Time Home Owners and We need some advice 2Oct 06, 2014 9:30 pm From experience on when I've had to charge a client an additional cost.. It wasn't a "hidden" cost like most like to call them, but generally a completely unforeseen circumstance (like randomly finding a 40yr septic tank in the ground that no one knew about) OR had been identified to the client as a possibility, written into the contract and then it unfortunately came up. Ie. Additional developer requirements requested by the developer (even though their guidelines didn't state them as mandatory - has happened!!) Be clear with your builder about what the variables could be and there shouldn't be any reason for "hidden costs" to arise. Re: First Time Home Owners and We need some advice 3Oct 08, 2014 10:04 pm Hi keltay, About your choice of builders, look in search below and you can find out probably from the earlier threads how they went as to extras, cheers, Leonardo_23 Re: First Time Home Owners and We need some advice 4Oct 08, 2014 10:08 pm We are also first home buyers and were in your position only a months ago. My partner and I are only in our 20s and had to focus on what was financially better for us. We decided to build with eden brae because of there 18 month fixed price contract, we loved the drysdale floorplan and included packages. We set a $5k budget for interior upgrades and managed to only spend $900 over budget which included caesarstone benchtops to both kitchen & bathroom, a few kitchen modifications and some other common upgrades. We saved money getting a rebate on carpet then getting this done privately and getting the included basic electrical plan then upgrading to downlights privately. Do your research, find what you need, what you want and what you can afford. Re: First Time Home Owners and We need some advice 5Oct 09, 2014 1:06 pm Hi keltay, I'm building with Eden Brae, and I chose them because they seemed to have the best contract that protected me from those "hidden costs" you refer to, in addition to the "unforeseen extras" like unforeseen site costs. My contract accounts for unforeseen site problems, with a capped or no further cost to me clause. Also, they included Basix, piering, slab upgrade to specified site requirements, along with a fixed price which was competitive to other builders when taking into account all these "hidden costs" that they didn't include in their quoted complete house price. There are other costs to take into account, however I recommend referring to the builders contract (ask to see a draft copy) to ensure you can budget for all the things they include, are variable or they exclude, so you can ensure you can afford it. At this stage, I then review any package upgrades on offer compared to the price of the package, then I check to see if I can get these items done cheaper after handover (when completed) except for things that are structural (like higher ceilings & bigger bathroom for eg). Regarding Eden Brae, I liked their building approach - they have installed a camera at my site, & have specified that they will remove all spoilage at their cost and according to EPA requirements. Regarding building practices and construction methods, I would suggest to go and view other construction projects of the other builders you are interested in, and see if you are happy with the way they manage their sites & construct their buildings (from outside the fence, of course), which can be a real eye opener regarding best practice/industry standard/Workcover regulation/EPA adherence. I liked the way EBH conduct themselves on site, & the way they construct their homes, which was another reason for choosing them. I have been told by an independent building inspector (while I was obtaining an inspection on a completely unrelated existing property I purchased as an investment) that EBH have the best construction & finish he has consistently seen out of all the mainstream builders, when I asked him what he thought of some of the ones I had looked at (including EBH). The other thing is to make sure you have a good proactive conveyancer that keeps you in the loop, and keep in contact with you finance provider to ensure they are on the same page as you when it comes to funding & timings when funds are needed. Good luck - doing your due diligence and common sense investigations at the start can save you thousands in those "hidden costs", and potentially years of heartache in fixing problems/starting over after selling up Re: First Time Home Owners and We need some advice 6Mar 09, 2015 8:37 am Just an update regarding my last post referring to how a builder conducts themselves on site: on the thread 'who else is building with Eden Brae', on p564 an owner building with Eden Brae has had power stolen from their site by Metricon, who are constructing next door. Apparently Metricon advised them that they do not provide power to their sites, & that theft of power from surrounding sites is common practice (my interpretation of their excuse as to why they are using the power from the EBH site). More detail is on the thread if needed. Sent using Tapatalk Thank you so much for the effort. We will use it to talk with builder. We also had idea of building duplex instead and seeking suggest ions. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=106744 11 13777 A quick update, we didn't have site start before Easter. Summit can't seem to give me a day when they are scheduled to begin, so I'm left with a vague "within 10-20… 4 26725 Hi VK, I am now retired however I have stood beside over 300 owner builders in the past 18 years that have successfully built their own homes. First of all a building… 10 22561 |