Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Sep 28, 2016 12:56 am Hi All, I would like to share our story of building a new home. We bought an old house in June 2016 in Moorabbin, and will be knocking it down and building a new one, with Hallbury Homes. This is our first ever build, so no experience at all!!! We settle next week (110 day settlement). We decided to go with a volume builder, as their average cost per square is about 10-11k, and custom designed house, with a regular builder would be 14k+, so big difference on a 35-40sq home, also no need for architects etc with volume builder. Our first stop was display villages in Berwick waters, and cranbourne. Because of irregular block shape, I wanted a specific house design, that none of major volume builders have. After 3 weeks we narrowed our search to Porter Davis (forsyth), Metricon (glendale), and Hallbury Homes. We wanted to build the new house closer to one border (1.2m, instead of 1.8m for double story home), Porter davis was not willing to do it (due to scaffolds etc....). It came down to Metricon, and Hallbury Homes. Initial quotes were both similar. But we chose to go with Hallbury homes. We met with David, from Hallbury Homes, at their display house in Berwick waters. From our first meeting we could tell he knew what he was talking about, we explained what we were after, and they didnt have anything to suit, but he said he will play around with one of their existing plans, which is something that Metricon was not very flexible about. When we met David again 2 weeks later, he essentially custom designed us a house, to our specifications, and layout ......(an no extra cost......) So our decision came down to: go with a bigger builder (metricon) that builds a lot of homes, build time 6 months, lots of their homes going up around south east, OR go with a smaller builder, longer build time 8-9 months, custom designed house... My wife saw too many negative reviews about Metricon, so she wanted to go with Hallbury, I didn't mind either way, both houses looked good on paper. So, 4 weeks after our purchase we had chosen a builder, and had rough plans for our new house. We also had a rough estimate of our cost. Base house price was 320k, and we had around 100k in extras (will detail later). We paid 3k deposit, and our plans were sent for proper drawings etc. Also soil test was ordered. 3 weeks later we had our first set of plans, and surveyors report (class p soil), David estimated around 18k for site costs. In the mean time we chose a demolisher (Bruce, from SBM demolitiios) he was recommended by a friend, and out of 3 quotes we got he was cheapest $10500 (cash) (inc asbestos removal), surprisingly all quotes were between 11-14k, I was expecting worse. Since then I do have some regrets about choosing him. He is impossible to get in touch with, can go for days/weeks without answering e-mails, or calls, I know he has applied for permits etc, but some communication would help (especially for first timers!) The new house is also vacant, so the owners have allowed us to abolish gas, and electricity. Over the past 6-8 weeks we have gone back to see David a couple of times, for various changes to plans, kitchen, laundry, fittings, facades, etc, etc. We got our first proper costing about 4 weeks ago, and it came in at around 455k. This price does not include flooring, or appliances. My opinion of Hallbury so far. Overall, fairly positive experience, considering in 2-3 months we have gone from nothing, to plans, and most of costs completed. Some days it feels like they are dragging their feet, but I guess we are not their only customers, and its unfair to expect them to get things done same day............ Breakdown of cost (this will not be complete, and is approx, as I am in bed, and cant be bothered going downstairs to get the cost proposal!) Base price $320k, 38sq home, (laguna 38) our plans look nothing like original! (will try and add them) Site costs $15k Extra surveying after demolition $1500 New connections to water, gas, electricity etc $1200 Balcony $10k Extra 2.4m to garage $10k 2,7m ceiling ground floor $3.5 2.56m 1st floor $2.5k Upgraded windows to thicker frames, double glazed all around, approx $10k Upgrade kitchen to vinyl wrap, with 40mm stone, approx $10k Driveway $8k Electrical allowance $10k Floor to ceiling tiling, all bathrooms and wc $7.5k Extra insulation, soundproofing walls, ceiling, between floors $6k One wall brick both down/upstairs $3k Rendered foam other sides 1st floor $7k Structural beams extra (depends on house design) $3k Upgrade to 2.3m doors ($100 each), and big front door $3k Laundry chute $1500 Ducted vacuum $1800 Stairs (bit better than standard...) $5k Extra features such as bulkheads, and built out feature walls $3k Some other little bits/pieces I may have missed, but as you can see, it doesnt take much to add to cost!!!! We had our color appointment 2 weeks ago. We managed to select most items from standard inclusions, so I think there should only be about $5-7k in extra. This includes upgrades to toilets (basic are not worth even looking at...), upgrades to basins, doors, kitchen stone, some tiles. On top of the cost above, we will have to pay for the following: Flooring wll be aroun 18-20k, there is close to 300m2, and we are considering bamboo flooring both down, and upstairs, cheapest I have seen is around $60/m already laid,so at least $18k Appliances should be around $5k (1k cooktop, 2.5k oven, 1k dishwasher, and $500 rangehood), Yes you can spend considerably more, but we have already looked, and on sale you can definitely get some good stuff at decent prices. Fences all around will be approx $4k, cost on average is $75-80/m for 1.95m fences, we have around 86m of fences, some fence cost will be shared with neighbours (some fences are in bad shape), one fence we will pay for in full, as there is a small brick fence, which does not suit us, but there is nothing wrong with it. Landscaping - I am budgeting $10k Front fence budgeting $10k Well, its waaaaayyy past my bedtime! so I think this is enough for the 1st post! Cheers, Felix Re: Building with Hallbury Homes in Moorabbin 2Nov 02, 2016 10:50 am Hi Felix, please keep us uptodate on your progress ! Have you thought about a blog?? I would love to see photos of your build. We are also thinking of using Hallbury but have been put off by the price and still have questions about the quality and customer care. Re: Building with Hallbury Homes in Moorabbin 3Nov 02, 2016 12:24 pm Before demo Hey special_k, blog is a possibility, but I might use this forum instead for now. Can't comment on quality from Hallbury as yet, customer care is pretty good, though they can be a bit slow, so we have been staying on top of it ourselves, and calling them regularly for updates, or if we wanted something done. Price wise, when we were going through the selection process, and got rough quotes from Metricon, Porter Davis, and Hallbury, all three were within $10000 of each other, so I think final price will be similar... Contract signed 3 weeks ago, demolition started last week! Waiting for Hallbury to get back to us with start date. Council has given us an approval for consent/report for side and front setbacks, but not without a fight.... Still working out the adding image process... Will try and add the plans of the house. During demo Re: Building with Hallbury Homes in Moorabbin 4Nov 21, 2016 10:09 pm The block is clean, electrical pit is in, and new fenced are being erected this week. Still waiting for our builder to get the building permit. Due to some flood overlay, they need to get something from the council, before getting building permit. At this rate, I highly doubt a start date this year. Most likely end of Jan or even Feb... Re: Building with Hallbury Homes in Moorabbin 11Feb 14, 2017 7:24 am The slab was poured 2 weeks ago, and ground floor frame is up! Some days the progress is super fast, and some days nothing. I guess its to be expected?? Right now waiting about a week for steel to come so they can start the 1st floor. New site supervisor. Previous one had too many jobs, and they gave the job to Cliff......who is also one of the directors of the company. I tried speaking to him about doing a fortnightly meet at the site to go through progress,a nd ask questions, that did not go too well with him.... May be it was the way I said it, or he is too busy to run around and meeting customers.... don't know, but will try again soon. Re: Building with Hallbury Homes in Moorabbin 14Mar 03, 2017 7:59 pm Hi Exxie, The build is going well!!! I will put up pics over the weekend. We were away last week, and not much happened for the week before we left. While we were away steel got delivered, windows, and bricklaying started on garage. Well, this week........the frame for second floor went up, roof trusses, and garaged has been all bricked! Hallbury does not use Hebel. We are doing brick ground floor, foam/render upstairs, and hardies cement cladding for back wall (to save cost). cheers, Felix Re: Building with Hallbury Homes in Moorabbin 16Mar 03, 2017 8:43 pm Hello, we have just paid first installment to build with Busby Homes in Chelsea, just wondered how long it took to get council approval for setbacks? We are applying to build forward by 2 metres. What did you mean when you said not without a fight? Good luck with your build! Re: Building with Hallbury Homes in Moorabbin 17Mar 03, 2017 8:57 pm Hey, Application process takes 2-5 weeks. When you apply, you have to get the neighbors, on each side, to sign a form whether they support or reject your application. If you are lucky,they will support it, otherwise you have another problem to deal with...... Once you submit the application, with all the signed papers, you are looking at about 2-3 weeks for a response. They can come back with an approval, OR they could reject it, OR only allow to move forward 1 m, etc For us, the next door just went through a sale, and the owners, decided not to act on our request, instead, the council had to sent out the papers to them, and wait 21 days for reply (if they dont reply, its a YES by default), then review it for another 2 weeks. One of our applications was rejected (for absolutely stupid reasons...), and luckily we insisted on having it reviewed by a senior, and he agreed with us. Otherwise, we would have had to go to VCAT, which is a 3-4 months process, and puts everything on hold.... Good Luck! Building with Hallbury Homes in Moorabbin 18Mar 03, 2017 9:01 pm Thank you so much, very helpful. Our neighbours are supportive so that's a good start. All new to building process and only one other person I know so far on this forum building with Busby! Sorry to high jack your post! Re: Building with Hallbury Homes in Moorabbin 19Mar 24, 2017 11:21 am Things have been slow past few week, in fact nothing got done whole of last week, and this week gutters went in, and plymbing got done. Roof tiles got delivered, hopefully they will go on next week, and start protecting the frame from elements. .. also waiting to meet site super for a walk through, toom weeks to organise that! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Ask for references and speak to them. If they are defensive or try to avoid the request, walk. 1 74219 I would never build with Fowler homes. 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