Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Oct 23, 2015 6:30 am Process of building dream/new home This is my first post! - I have so many questions about the build process, and have watched a friend go through it. I have 2 young kids so don't want to disrupt their lives too much but I understand the general timeline would look like. I want to do this in Northern Beaches/ Sydney. I would be buying a knockdown close to beach as there's not really flat vacant land around. Love to hear from anyone who has experience with this in a well establish area with a difficult council... Is this the way things are done, or have I got it wrong? Stage 1: planning / create ideal floorplan / decide finishes etc (Now!) Stage 2: sell current home in undesirable street. Move to rental. Look for ideal block / location. Get financials ready for purchase and build. Stage 3: purchase block, demolish existing house, apply council with designs (possibly also rent out the new purchase for up to 12 months as council process might take a long time?) Stage 3: Build - can you submit plans that have a 'garage conversion' (ie 1bdrm flat where the garage would have been) or do most councils have rules on parking off street - can you have a floorplan that is a duplex but could also be inlaw accom - ie, not clearly a duplex, so it could hopefully be approved in a non dual occupancy street - if a house design is 13m wide and the block is 15m wide is that ok of are there strict rules about width - pros/ cons of choosing local builder over Metricon/Eden Brae big box developer - How on EARTH does anyone choose / settle on a floorplan from say Metricon? They all seem so similar. Is it price / size? TIA! Re: Process of building dream/new home 2Oct 23, 2015 8:28 pm Hi Hades, & welcome.
I'm on the Northern Beaches (Narrabeen Peninsula), for part of the year. Prices here are certainly pretty crazy. A relative hoped to buy a KDR here a couple of years ago. Guide price was 900k, it went for $1.43M! Must be worth at least $1.7M now, just for a KDR. So to stick to a budget I guess you may have to use a volume builder, but remember not to under capitalise on the property. Also please take the character of the street into account when choosing a house design. One of the nicest streets here is Lisle Street, a quite character filled street, with many old cottages, many renovated. Just around the corner is a new build from Metricon. It looks huge, overbearing, & takes up much of the block (looks more than would be permissible, but I guess not). It's horrible! So depending on the area you are building, please build something appropriate, especially if you're on one of the many beautiful streets in the area. If you can afford it, you should get a much better result with a well designed custom build. I'd expect a custom design will cost more, but with lots of planning & smart choices it may not be much more (though I'm not much of an expert). A local builder with a couple of contemporary builds that I really like is Gray Built. I'm not sure of the costs, but they offer a premium product, so will be at that end of the price scale. One of the houses is on Lagoon St (don't know the number), wood, some concrete, skillion roof, not to everyone's tastes, but I like it. The other is 14 Emerald St, wood, granny flat over the garage, the main house is actually a 2 storey conversion, from an old one storey house. All a bit hard to see, as it's a battle axe block. The owners of Gray Built actually seem to own this property. If you want a well designed house I think you'd be going about it the wrong way as you've described. You want to design the house for the block. Taking into account things such as views, privacy, & most importantly orientation. It's very important to orientate the house correctly. Living areas to the north, to bathe & warm the house in sunlight in winter. While shading the house & capturing NE ocean breezes to cool the house in summer. Go with the average cookie-cutter design, without taking the orientation of the block into account, & you could end up with south facing living areas which will be dark, & cold in winter, or lots of west facing glazing, which will get extremely hot in summer. Get the design right, taking the blocks orientation into account, & you'll have a house that requires no heating or cooling (I'm living in one now). You'll have a house that's comfortable, bright, & you'll reduce your bills. I'd recommend you try to learn a bit about house design, & the best place to start is this government website, http://www.yourhome.gov.au Re: Process of building dream/new home 3Oct 23, 2015 8:56 pm Check out the zoning of any block you're interested in, to find out what's allowed & what's not. You'll also find rules governing the maximum permissible building envelope, which will include setbacks, maximum heights, floor levels (particularly if you're looking in areas that flood), etc. also check there's no easements, that you won't be able to build on. The blocks I've looked at have had 0.9m side setbacks. So a 13m wide design could be built on a 15m block. Granny flats which are complient (no larger than 60 sqm, along with a few other restrictions) don't require a DA. They can be detatched, attached to a garage, or attached to the house (more rules for these I believe). But you're going to need a DA for the house anyway. Re: Process of building dream/new home 4Oct 23, 2015 9:41 pm KRB blocks are pretty rare here, so it may take quite some time to find one you're happy with. Selling your house before finding a KRB could have been a bit risky when the property market was going gang busters. But now that growth seems to be slowing it may be the safer option. The other option is to find the right block, buy it, then sell your property. You'd probably need an (expensive) bridging loan in this case. If you did this, before buying a block, I'd have yours ready to sell, everything in tip-top shape & presented to sell. Know which REA you're going with, photos already taken, everything ready to roll. But this is the riskier option, especially as the chance of the property market falling have been increasing. The building process does certainly take a long time. Although I wouldn't recommend just choosing any design, & plonking it on any block, I would recommend being as ready to build as possible, when you purchase your block. So (as you're doing), I'd be getting finance ready, determining who will do the demolision work, which architect/designer/builder you'd like to go with. Learning about design, looking for appropriate designs for different block orientations, learning about the DA approvals process, & the time it all takes. As this can be a long process you may decide to live in the property (or rent it out), until you're ready to demolish it. I apologise for any confusion, but your understanding is correct. We approached our situation differently based on advice from… 11 53226 Thanks very much! And would the landscaper/contractor generally involve the engineer or is that something the client would do? Thanks for your help 2 10036 The most definitive answer to your question James is this taken from the James Hardie Axon Cladding Installation Guide - i just happen to have it… 5 3690 |