Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 24, 2008 2:22 pm Hi all
I am new to this site so hello and thanks to everyone for all your past posts as they have been very entertaining and educational! I live in North Brisbane with my partner and work for a developer but don’t know hardly anything about the building process! We have been trying to find a established house on the North side of Brisbane to purchase for a few months now and can’t come to terms with paying $450k for a run down dump on a small block that needs another $200k spent on it. We also have special needs for our concreting business including side access etc. I have some questions that I would like to hear opinions on! Any advice is really appreciated!! I have an investment property but this will be my first build and first house with my partner of 5 years. Does anyone have any idea how long this process can take? I know that’s a hard question but generally how long would you allow? OR, how long did it take, or has it taken for your house to be built? 6 months.. 8 months.. 2 years? (yes we have a friend who used an Australian wide builder who took 2 years.. Met***** Has anyone used Plantation Homes in Queensland? The display homes are stunning, would love to hear from you… Where did you live when you were building? I suppose its different if your onto your 3rd or 10th house as you would have your finances well funded, but as this is our first house together we are wondering if it is financially possible for us to rent our current house (at $460 a week) + the costs of repayments on the land and building? In general how do builders work with regards to payments? Do you pay by instalments as you go? I understand that different builders operate differently but your past experience is greatly appreciated. And lastly.. Can you leave certain things out of a building contract to do yourself? For example, we have a concreting business and my partner builds house slabs for a living, he is also a qualified plumber and my brother is a qualified electrician and painter! We could save some serious $$ here.. I know about owner building but we seriously dont have the time to do that ourself as we run a business and I also work full time Thanks everyone. We are off to look at displays and a new land estate this weekend. Kylie Re: New to it all- General Advice please!! 2Jul 24, 2008 2:39 pm PrincessB Hi all I am new to this site so hello and thanks to everyone for all your past posts as they have been very entertaining and educational! welcome! I live in North Brisbane with my partner and work for a developer but don’t know hardly anything about the building process! We have been trying to find a established house on the North side of Brisbane to purchase for a few months now and can’t come to terms with paying $450k for a run down dump on a small block that needs another $200k spent on it. We also have special needs for our concreting business including side access etc. Ours is for sale and is renovated! Under $450k too I have some questions that I would like to hear opinions on! Any advice is really appreciated!! I have an investment property but this will be my first build and first house with my partner of 5 years. Does anyone have any idea how long this process can take? I know that’s a hard question but generally how long would you allow? OR, how long did it take, or has it taken for your house to be built? 6 months.. 8 months.. 2 years? (yes we have a friend who used an Australian wide builder who took 2 years.. Met***** lowset house allow min of 12 months from time you sign intial deposit to when you get your keys 2 story min I would think would be 14 - 18 months Has anyone used Plantation Homes in Queensland? The display homes are stunning, would love to hear from you… my wife built when they were Henley a few years ago, she was happy with them but no idea what P are like now Where did you live when you were building? I suppose its different if your onto your 3rd or 10th house as you would have your finances well funded, but as this is our first house together we are wondering if it is financially possible for us to rent our current house (at $460 a week) + the costs of repayments on the land and building? We were going to live in our current house then sell close to handover time but after doing the numbers on this and factoring in cost of mortgage for house, land and progress repayments we are WAY in front to sell and rent for the period. So unless you have bucket loads of cash or equity this seems to be what most people do, they sell then go rent while new house is being built. Talk to your bank and go over all the options. We are dealing with NAB at Northlakes and they are brilliant, ask for Cassandra. In general how do builders work with regards to payments? Do you pay by instalments as you go? I understand that different builders operate differently but your past experience is greatly appreciated. initial deposit for soil test, site contour survey and to get you to PC stage. About $1500 to go to FC it is another $1000 approx then when you sign on the line it is 2.5% deposit I think, might be 5%. Then progress payments as they build, 1 at slab, 1 at framing, 1 at "lockup, then the handover payment. And lastly.. Can you leave certain things out of a building contract to do yourself? For example, we have a concreting business and my partner builds house slabs for a living, he is also a qualified plumber and my brother is a qualified electrician and painter! We could save some serious $$ here.. I know about owner building but we seriously dont have the time to do that ourself as we run a business and I also work full time I would doubt it but ask the question. For examble you definitely can do non wet area tiles yourself. Electrical you could get them to do the bare minimum that they have to do under legisitaltion and the building code then upgrade it yourself post handover. I very much doubt they will let you do your own plumbing or internal painting apart from feature walls. I'd love to supply all the electrical bits such as switches, downlights and GPOs as I can get them at trade prices but think I will be lucky. Builders make a huge margin on all these items, electrical, plumbing, painting etc etc. Plumber charges say $5000, builder then adds on a min of 20 - 30 % margin on top and that is what you get hit with. so odds of them letting you do it are about zero Thanks everyone. We are off to look at displays and a new land estate this weekend. Kylie best of luck, we will be needing a sparky for some upgrade work later so PM me the details if you like cheers Peter Re: New to it all- General Advice please!! 3Jul 24, 2008 2:46 pm Thanks Peter. Thats a good start to getting me on the right track.
Where abouts is your house? It would be so much easier if we could purchase established but we have fussy requirements such as large home office at the front of the house (for business/tax reasons) and side access for the work truck plus a 3 car garage.. really need to get rid of one of those cars soon to! We also require larger block so we will be moving out of the city from our rental (Gordon Park 4 km from city) to Narangba or Mango Hills where we can get a 750 - 900m2 block (hopefully) they are selling fast. Re: New to it all- General Advice please!! 4Jul 24, 2008 2:50 pm Tell me about it... you would hate to know how much my partner charges all the large builders in Brisbane to lay the slabs.. on adverage they add on about $15 - $20k depending on the size. Thats just the mark up on the slab, let alone the rest of it Re: New to it all- General Advice please!! 5Jul 24, 2008 3:17 pm PrincessB Thanks Peter. Thats a good start to getting me on the right track. Where abouts is your house? It would be so much easier if we could purchase established but we have fussy requirements such as large home office at the front of the house (for business/tax reasons) and side access for the work truck plus a 3 car garage.. really need to get rid of one of those cars soon to! We also require larger block so we will be moving out of the city from our rental (Gordon Park 4 km from city) to Narangba or Mango Hills where we can get a 750 - 900m2 block (hopefully) they are selling fast. we are in Kallangur but our proprty will not have the access or garage space you need There are a couple of good sized blocks in mango hill around the 1000m2 size for around $360k, one is at $460k !! there are also 2 in nothlakes, 860 and 980m2 I think there are through bowmans real estate. The 980 is abeauty and wish we had bought it. ours is 1221m2 in mango hill thee is nothing in narangba at that size from memory unless it has pooped up recently, most are smallish blocks now and narangba has dreadful covernants, especially with regards to sheds. both mango hill and northlakes hav enew releases coming but no idea of size or cost. For a big block you are going to have one person to camp on it and the other to camp on the sales office door wating for go time. Kid you not, they go that fast. We are aon a list at Cashmere for some lovely blocks to be releases in 12 months time but as we are number 16 on a release of say 20 odd lots at most the chances of getting a good one are slim indeed. best of luck. cheers Peter Re: New to it all- General Advice please!! 6Jul 24, 2008 3:19 pm PrincessB Tell me about it... you would hate to know how much my partner charges all the large builders in Brisbane to lay the slabs.. on adverage they add on about $15 - $20k depending on the size. Thats just the mark up on the slab, let alone the rest of it I can well imagine. we just got an estimate from builder to put double layer of boral soundstop gyprock into the home theatre room, that wanted over $4k. Mind you it is only 2 walls and ceiling as the others are glass. I have used this product myself and bought it as well when my B.I.L and I did our current HT room. He is a plasterer by trade. A question. Im in Queensland and building a new home. We managed to reach practical completion 6 weeks ago but we haven't heard any date for handover yet. Who should we… 0 5733 You should check your detail drawings, it may show downpipe within brick pier. 14 14023 Versaloc is a mortarless besser block system that still needs a properly engineered footing. If you just do a 400x200 footing it will fail in time. At 17m long you need it… 1 15435 |