Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Apr 16, 2016 12:58 pm I am only at the stage of looking online at house designs. We have a $500 000 budget which will be divided into $250 000 for the land, and then $250 000 for the house. I am just trying to work out what priced house designs I should be looking at? If my max is $250 000 for the house, should I make the limit I look at around $200 000 eg. allowing $50 000 for upgrades and driveway/fencing etc, or is that not enough of a buffer? Would love to hear how much every one else had their a\house design advertised at vs what they actually ended up paying for a 'finished' house? Thanks! Re: Cost of house design as advertised vs final price? 3Apr 16, 2016 1:39 pm Okay so site costs are around $25 000 for a flat block? And none of that is included when you look at the house design prices? That is good to know, because that would take a fair amount of the $50 000 buffer we planned! Re: Cost of house design as advertised vs final price? 4Apr 16, 2016 2:16 pm Joynz You need to allow for site costs - e.g. slab At least 25,000 - maybe more depending on site. Lol, this isn't exactly good advice as it is very very dependent on which state you are in and the location of your block. Where abouts are you looking to build? If you have a flat block and a sandy soil type site works may only cost you 3-8k. This leaves you quite a bit in your buffer for upgrades/modifications to plans. Find a base design you like, pester them to include as much as they can and go from there. Aircon and stone benches are good to push for as freebies Re: Cost of house design as advertised vs final price? 5Apr 16, 2016 2:33 pm Fair enough. I agree, cost depends on location. I passed on the advice re. indicative cost that I was recently given by a number of volume builders in Melbourne for my flat block, sandy, non reactive soil but KDR so more expensive because of existing fill etc than in a new development. Where are you based Dreamer49? Re: Cost of house design as advertised vs final price? 6Apr 16, 2016 2:56 pm We'll end up spending at least $100k over the advertised house price, probably a fair bit more. We could have gone closer to the advertised price with fewer upgrades but I don't know if $50k would have been doable. Are you trying to squeeze things like blinds, light fittings and landscaping into that $50k as well? I wouldn't say it can't be done but I think it would be very tight. http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=82770&p=1531839#p1531839 Re: Cost of house design as advertised vs final price? 7Apr 16, 2016 3:40 pm I will be building on the Sunshine Coast in QLD. And wow red15 - that is a scary figure and would definitely limit our house design options a bit. Not fussed on landscaping being done, but do need a fence included int he buffer as we have children and a dog! Re: Cost of house design as advertised vs final price? 8Apr 16, 2016 4:00 pm Our base price is about 200k and our estimate for finished house with site costs is 250k. We havent included air con or a driveway as its a rural block so we can have a gravel driveway. We havent gone crazy with upgrades but have included some things that are important to us. We have a budget so have to stick to it. Re: Cost of house design as advertised vs final price? 9Apr 16, 2016 4:18 pm Dreamer49 I will be building on the Sunshine Coast in QLD. And wow red15 - that is a scary figure and would definitely limit our house design options a bit. Not fussed on landscaping being done, but do need a fence included int he buffer as we have children and a dog! Not sure what it's like where you are but most council areas around here require at least some minimal landscaping. You could definitely do it on the cheap, though. I'm sure we'll be scrimping by the time we get to landscaping as the well is fast running dry. You'll want some fat in the budget for unexpected costs, too. We're already up for a few thousand we hadn't anticipated and we're not at slab stage yet (but we demolished an existing house and a lot of the extra cost was from that). Re: Cost of house design as advertised vs final price? 10Apr 16, 2016 4:39 pm Sites costs could be anywhere from a couple of thousand to 50k plus. The base price includes a specific grade of slab (generally M in Melbourne, not sure about other regions) and an allowance for service run ins. Extra site costs can include slab upgrade, cut and fill and piering, rock removal, extra run in on larger blocks....a heap of variables that differ from site to site. Upgrades are entirely client dependant but can include structural changes, ceiling height increase, eaves, cabinetry upgrades (drawers instead of cupboards, overheads, oven tower), stone benchtops instead of laminate, flooring upgrade (larger tiles, porcelain, etc above the allowance). It takes some leg work, but cross referencing the standard inclusions between different builders and working out who has what you're looking for is extremely helpful. Sometimes they have packages, 50k worth of upgrades for 10k for example, but it's only worth it if it's stuff you want. The best way is to divide your list into three sections - need, want, wish. When you start eliminating must haves to fit in budget you know it's not the right build for you. There's been a lot of discussions, but from what I've seen from those that share their figures, 40% - 60% on top of base price seems to be around the normal. Re: Cost of house design as advertised vs final price? 11Apr 16, 2016 4:51 pm Thank you so much, this has really given me a good idea on what to expect and what to look for in house design (price wise). I was thinking we were safe with the 50k buffer, but it's definitely looking like 100k is a much safer option! I don't want to cut too much down fro our 'dream home', so finding some cheaper land might be the way to go (or sacrificing the larger block we wanted). Hmm, lots to think about, so thank you! Re: Cost of house design as advertised vs final price? 12Apr 16, 2016 5:29 pm I would be allowing for 100k min above standard house price all depends on how far you want to go with upgrades. Example of our place: 169,000 base price, 75,000 of upgrades/site costs = 234,000. This final price does not include things to be done after handover, for us this is ducted aircon, blinds, solar, all landscaping which will add another 30-50,000 as we can afford it. Re: Cost of house design as advertised vs final price? 13Apr 16, 2016 6:44 pm Just going through the process on our side and yes, budget $100k for site/compliance/upgrades etc... Cost of house design as advertised vs final price? 14Apr 16, 2016 7:28 pm Yep we spent 100k over base price/slab on 'upgrades' even though we got a deal where we effectively got $30k of free upgrades ($130k over the base price). On top of that we had to add... -Stormwater (husband is doing -- quoted $2.5k) -Driveway/perimeter paving (husband doing - quoted $14k) -Flooring $18k -Fencing (husband doing $?) -Landscaping (we are doing $??) We are in Adelaide. Re: Cost of house design as advertised vs final price? 15Apr 16, 2016 7:42 pm Hi, We got a turnkey home which was also a fixed price contract with included site costs. We made a few modifications to the turnkey home which come out to be an extra $5,000. We bought our land separate & found a builder in our estate that does turnkey & our total price for our 26sq home was $250,000. We are in NSW. Re: Cost of house design as advertised vs final price? 16Apr 16, 2016 8:24 pm Our upgrades were about 18k over base price. Site costs were covered in the fixed price. Trick is finding a builder that includes 90% of what you want in the base or in a nominal upgrade pack Creator of superduperonium, expert at expert things, nobel laureate, can hold my breath for 10 minutes. Re: Cost of house design as advertised vs final price? 17Apr 16, 2016 10:16 pm We spent a little over 100k over base price. This was due to kitchen upgrades, out of standard bricks, downlights throughout, double glazing etc. We nearly went to contract signing with 2 other builders before this one and I think from this experience, definitely add at least 25% as a buffer. If you come out ahead that is a bonus! Re: Cost of house design as advertised vs final price? 18Apr 18, 2016 3:15 pm See if you can get a verbal idea from a builder, what the fixed site costs typically are around the area you are looking at. Presuming the builder has built in the area recently. We asked people who'd built in same area and the "fixed site cost" ended up being similar. To do this though, builders try to build in a cost of things going wrong. You could also ask them for what sort of slab and what grade slab is typically correct for the area. Then you will be able to more intelligently ask the questions. Re: Cost of house design as advertised vs final price? 19Apr 18, 2016 4:20 pm Lots of good advice above Dreamer, just would like to add my 2 cents.... Land price and build price shouldn't be 50/50 of your budget in my opinion..if you spend 250k on a land then a 250k house on that might not fit well (drive around in the area you are planning to buy the land and look at the houses already built... you will get a feel).... Site costs - nowadays depends on the builder rather than the land..lol!!!... It appears the Local/independent builders' site cost is lot cheaper than volume builders There are things that you can do in a few months after you moved in...e.g. you can concrete your alfresco later...you don't need to necessarily allocate budget at the start but you just need to be aware of this cost and plan accordingly after the build... As Icanthackit suggested above, stone bench tops and cooktop upgrades are free upgrades if you ask nicely Beware of cheap quotes! and try to find a builder who does fixed price contract. Word of advice (I got from my mates)...You can't have your first build as your dream home unless you have a few million stashed under your mattress P.s. I haven't exactly answered your question...It depends on lot of factors... Wish you the very best!!! Cheers, Re: Cost of house design as advertised vs final price? 20Apr 18, 2016 9:32 pm It all depends on where you are building and what you are building. My base price was 160k for a custom 150m2 (16 square house). Had to add an extra $6.5k after the soil tests due to increase site costs. I upgraded about 10k worth of extras (frameless showers, exhaust fan to laundry, brick infill over windows and doors, double glazing, etc). I also included 4k for a front fence (required by my estate). Total build cost $180k, only 20k higher than planned for.. This doesn't include the 1k council levy required to build in my estate. I'm estimating 2-3k for boundary fencing and maybe another 5-10k for window dressings and basic landscaping. Driveway is included in the build price. Just remember you can have anything you want, you just can't have everything you want Be selective and you'll be able to achieve your goals. First thing you need to do is get an estimate of site costs for your area, some of the big builders usually have already done initial site costs for blocks in an estate, so you can ask them while getting a quote. (See if you can get fixed site costs!) Hi Kristy Around $1.7-1.8m or around $4,600/sqm. if you PM me your email I will send you a break up in a spreadsheet so you can get an understanding of the costs for… 1 9952 i would suggest nothing is unreasonable for PCI. we did all sorts, including checking the hot water, checking all the GPO's had power, testing that the showers were… 9 98679 Hi, I am approaching end of the build. My final invoice will be given to me soon to pay. Some context before I ask my question. 1. My builder wont do the landscaping or… 0 3863 |