Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 12, 2016 10:49 am Hi, When you are planning to build a house and start visiting the display homes you get confused with the upgraded features that display homes have. In real world what are the features/upgrades that you think are not worth to spend money on. what home feature does not have any impact on home value? As for example - do we really need a wide entry door in main entrance rather than standard door? -Glossy cupboards? etc etc Please share your thoughts Re: Building new Home_Unnecessary cost to avoid 2Feb 12, 2016 11:05 am Hi ss12, I guess it all revolves around your priorities and its you who has to analyse whats important for you in your house. You should also be doing detailed analysis among the builders on your radar. Some builders have slightly higher base price for house but the standard inclusions will cover most of the things you want. Big entry door : My thoughts : I guess the entry door makes a statement about your house so a wider door is definitely worth. And for upgrading from a standard door to a 1200 mm wide door u will be looking at around $1500 approx. Glossy cupboards : Totally worth it .. some builders will give that as standard inclusion. There are some silk finish ones which are as good as the gloss ones .. its too hard to distinguish b/w them. Ask you builder if they have the silk finish laminates in standard inclusions. We have gone with the silk finish ones for our house and they are cool. Re: Building new Home_Unnecessary cost to avoid 3Feb 12, 2016 11:10 am Prats09 Hi ss12, I guess it all revolves around your priorities and its you who has to analyse whats important for you in your house. You should also be doing detailed analysis among the builders on your radar. Some builders have slightly higher base price for house but the standard inclusions will cover most of the things you want. Big entry door : My thoughts : I guess the entry door makes a statement about your house so a wider door is definitely worth. And for upgrading from a standard door to a 1200 mm wide door u will be looking at around $1500 approx. Glossy cupboards : Totally worth it .. some builders will give that as standard inclusion. There are some silk finish ones which are as good as the gloss ones .. its too hard to distinguish b/w them. Ask you builder if they have the silk finish laminates in standard inclusions. We have gone with the silk finish ones for our house and they are cool. Hi Prats09 I did not know about the silk finish. A new thing I came to know. Thanks Re: Building new Home_Unnecessary cost to avoid 5Feb 12, 2016 7:43 pm Prioritise the structural changes because these are generally more expensive or impossible to do post handover. Wide doors, high ceilings, bigger rooms, taller internal doors and so fourth. Cupboard doors, kitchen benches etc can be more easily changed later. Re: Building new Home_Unnecessary cost to avoid 6Feb 12, 2016 8:31 pm Definitely agree with Huggy_B, prioritise the things that are harder/impossible to change later. Cosmetic stuff is not so important because you can do it later. Also, it depends on what you want from this house and what is important to you. For example, the glossy cupboards look amazing, but if you have small children they will end up covered in fingerprints and not look so pretty. Perhaps you like entertaining so want a butlers pantry to hide the mess. Perhaps you see the kitchen as the heart of the home and would like to work at the bench whilst family/friends are around, in which case maybe a butlers pantry isn't so important... For me, it was things like high ceilings, good insulation, double glazing/low emission glass windows and eaves; all difficult/impossible/expensive to change later, to hopefully reduce my impact and keep my bills down. And a free standing dream bath, because I need a little luxury too Re: Building new Home_Unnecessary cost to avoid 8Feb 14, 2016 2:25 pm Yay! Great minds think alike deejay Re: Building new Home_Unnecessary cost to avoid 9Feb 15, 2016 7:29 am Indeed! I also engaged a thermal assessor...she's been amazing and well worth the $500 to have our plans assessed and star rated. Her advice and feedback has meant we are nudging 8 stars for our home building in a cold climate seemed mental not to ensure our home would be comfy! Passive solar design costs bugger all but makes a massive difference to running costs and comfort. Our two big $$ extras were double glazing and 9 ft ceilings but both to us were worth it. The extra insulation isn't a huge cost and can be tailored to suit your climate so was a no brainer....The bath...oh my a soaking sanctuary (with a niche to hold my wine glass) Re: Building new Home_Unnecessary cost to avoid 10Feb 15, 2016 2:36 pm No to glossy cupboards. If the sun shines through your kitchen it is depressing. The upgrades that actually make a difference to your lifestyle are important. For us, double glazing, sound prooofing bedrooms, high ceilings, proper storage (ie pantry) and the right flooring. The ones we got but i could easily have done without are floor to ceiling tiles in all bathrooms, walk in large shower and freestanding bath. I am only in my bathroom for about 15 mins each morning so i dont think it warrants too much attention. I would definately upgrade to the best kitchen options though. Best appliances you can afford is a good investment. The last home I lived in didn't have a pool and when i went to sell it the agents were not happy, even telling me to put one in to sell the place. The agents weren't happy… 2 4249 custom probably not. Volume, most defiantly, but spec would vary. If youre doing a knock down, there additional costs associated with that that will eat into your budget… 1 10277 multiple occ properties are always billed by trades at a premium, rarely per sqm for the lot. You either have trades you know whoe will do by sqm or youre going to get… 1 2237 |