Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jun 15, 2016 9:37 am As a first home owner (FHO) we receive a bonus of no stamp duty if we build a new home and also a $10,000 grant. Therefore when we build a new home we miss the opportunity of renovating an existing home. Traditionally first home owners buy something cheap and then renovate it to increase value on the property. To get finance as a FHO you need to have a builder which adds the builders margin. In the last few years it would seem there has been a shift away from traditional home design. There seems to be a massive focus around open plan living and connecting the outdoors and indoors. Question Is it possible to build a new home, to get the right layout, to get the finance approved, but still save money by working on home yourself? Things like painting, flooring, design elements, pendent lights. For example. The house may have 2.5 bathrooms. Initially the couple only needs 1 bathroom. Are the builders able to leave the other 2 bathrooms unfinished but still have the space there. The only part that I am worried about is the financing side of equation. The strategy essentially gives FHO the bones of a house and allows FHO to organically finish build in there own time, save money and make the right decisions? What problems do you see with this strategy? Re: The First Home Owners - The unique position 2Jun 15, 2016 12:58 pm I think you'll struggle to get advantage in removing standard items from the build, partly just because the builders tend not to give you much of a rebate for leaving it out. Leaving bathrooms unfinished could be problematic, due to the need to sign off things like waterproofing for the occupation certificate. You may be able to add the shower screen later though. A lot of things are commonly left until after handover, and may be able to be delayed. That includes, floor coverings, window coverings, lighting (beyond batten-fix), built-in robes, robe fit-out, some kitchen cupboards, pantry shelving, driveway, landscaping. You may be able to negotiate to do painting and architraves yourself, or otherwise take the standard painting option, and add the extra 3rd coat to the walls yourself. Re: The First Home Owners - The unique position 3Jun 15, 2016 1:10 pm Your biggest problem will be no one will finance it. The bank or whoever will only provide finance on the condition that you will have a completed home that can be sold as such should something go wrong. Take us for example, we are building with Clarendon. We are doing flooring, driveway, window coverings and landscaping ourselves. To approve the loan the bank required quotes to cover all these things and that is part of the loan conditions that they must be completed. As far as the builder goes, I'd say your only chance to do something like what you've suggested is using a small independent builder. Re: The First Home Owners - The unique position 4Jun 15, 2016 1:13 pm Thanks for the advice so far keep it coming. Really helpful info coming through! So it looks like we finally have some movement on site! Definitely later than expected, but I'll take any progress at this point. I'll drop by over the weekend to get… 5 27693 We already paid for somfy motors for the blinds. The quote above was purely for “pre-wiring” so the blinds company can install the motors and blinds. That’s why we… 5 16263 11 41615 |