Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Oct 22, 2016 9:13 pm After having enough of both dads nag us saying 'why are you paying someone else's mortgage (while renting) when you could be paying your own' , hubby and I took the plunge and bought some vacant land to build on. We'd been looking for a while in the inner-north west melbourne area and had no luck at all and then one gorgeous sunny autumn day we came across a small estate a short walk from a little pocket of the Maribyrnong river, and decided we had to buy. The real estate guy spun a good story, but we could see right away that we'd have a struggle but we loved the suburb too much to pass up on it. At 276 sqm it would have to go into town planning It was certainly not cheap At least 4m of slope over the building area, sloping up from the street and also right to left AND it was a funny trapezium-esque shape, 14m frontage and 18m at the back We've had all sorts of trouble trying to find a good custom builder who didn't quote us ridiculous prices for build. We've not even had plans drawn up properly, and have yet to go through town planning , and already our dream home feels like it's slipping further away - mind you, being super busy at work we are honestly not very fussed and want such a basic layout - but the split level and all the res codes are proving too much for our designer /builder at the moment and we are so frustrated. Not to mention the builder has now increased quote to $400k for a 24-25 square split level house - 4 bed, 3 bathroom, 2 garage. And that seems really pricey! even with all our block issues! Now that we've put down $2500 to get the plans drawn though, thought we'd at least get some drawings back, then we can take them to other builders if we're not confident these guys can do the job. It's been so hard to stay motivated and excited And I've still to vent my biggest worry.... So like I said, we took everything the real estate agent said with a pinch of salt, EXCEPT one bit of info that I'm kicking myself now for believing. I asked him about the other 14 vacant lots in the area and asked if any were going into construction soon, to be honest at the time I was worried about noise and pollution, having lived next door to construction the previous couple of years. He said 'oh yeah yeah, owners on both sides of your block are building next month, and the one behind is in town planning....blah blah' . I don't know why on earth, of all the bulls**t he spewed, I chose to believe THAT! 'cos 5 months since purchase, there hasn't been ANY sign of construction, I checked out the planning register on the council website, and 2 lots got town planning approval fairly recently, but none of the others have even applied. (most of the 15 lots are under 300sqm). I get this funny feeling the owners of the lots are just holding as investment and not looking to build. All 15 lots have been vacant for at least 3 years And now I'm terrified at the prospect of moving my young family into a house with vacant land all around it, overgrown with weeds and home to God knows what creatures....no neighbours and even though it's supposed to be a pretty safe suburb, a lone house within a 500m radius? That's temptation for the cowardliest of thieves right? I have no idea what to do. Honestly more than the hassle of building, it's the lone house thing that scares me..If we sell the land right away we'll be making a loss, and with a baby on the way, I don't know how much longer we can pay rent + mortgage so we'll need to build and move in soon. Am I completely overthinking this? Any advice? Building in Avondale Heights Re: Sloping irregular block <300m2 in a so far vacant estate 2Oct 23, 2016 7:29 am Firstly I wouldn't stress too much about the other block getting built on. They won't stay vacant forever. If you can get your builder to fix site costs etc in your quote it might help you budget more. Split level will cost more because it's more labour intensive. But you can get a stunning house with the right design. I don't think $400k is overpriced. When building with custom Builders they usually pay their tradies a bit better than the big guys so you should get a better job. Re: Sloping irregular block <300m2 in a so far vacant estate 3Jun 05, 2018 2:03 pm @mdanky I see that your post is quite old. Just wondering who did you end up using to build your house? and what was the cost if i may ask please? I have recently purchased a 300 sqm block that is a part of large subdivision in Avondale Heights (Melb NW) and has a 5-6m slope. I feel like it IS an uphill battle, finding the right builder to build on a slope is proving difficult. Re: Sloping irregular block <300m2 in a so far vacant estate 4Jun 05, 2018 2:34 pm MelbourneChick85 @mdanky I see that your post is quite old. Just wondering who did you end up using to build your house? and what was the cost if i may ask please? I have recently purchased a 300 sqm block that is a part of large subdivision in Avondale Heights (Melb NW) and has a 5-6m slope. I feel like it IS an uphill battle, finding the right builder to build on a slope is proving difficult. Hi, doubtful you’ll get a reply, that person has 1 post to their name and couldn’t be bothered even answering the one reply they did get the day after originally posting. As far as finding the right builder, it’s so much more work and cost for them on a sloping site that they usually cover themselves by quoting way over what it probably should be. I don’t really know what you can do other than getting a builder with experience on sloping sites/split level homes and checking their work and references. The good trustworthy builders will give you this information freely. Good luck. Re: Sloping irregular block <300m2 in a so far vacant estate 5Jun 05, 2018 3:28 pm gillybean MelbourneChick85 @mdanky I see that your post is quite old. Just wondering who did you end up using to build your house? and what was the cost if i may ask please? I have recently purchased a 300 sqm block that is a part of large subdivision in Avondale Heights (Melb NW) and has a 5-6m slope. I feel like it IS an uphill battle, finding the right builder to build on a slope is proving difficult. Hi, doubtful you’ll get a reply, that person has 1 post to their name and couldn’t be bothered even answering the one reply they did get the day after originally posting. As far as finding the right builder, it’s so much more work and cost for them on a sloping site that they usually cover themselves by quoting way over what it probably should be. I don’t really know what you can do other than getting a builder with experience on sloping sites/split level homes and checking their work and references. The good trustworthy builders will give you this information freely. Good luck. Thank you so much for your reply! Yes you are right - I am getting quptes for 18k-20k per square which is ridiculous! I am leaning towards to GJ Garnder as they are the only ones who have come at the lowest per sq so far at 16.5k per square Re: Sloping irregular block <300m2 in a so far vacant estate 6Jun 05, 2018 9:10 pm I’m just going through a few custom builders in Sydney, they are charging around $2200-$2500sqm, (20-23k per square) so more than your quotes. Depends on what level of finish you want... Give Jonathan a call. Tell him you know me. He is in my opinion the best surveyor I have ever worked with. His number is 0425 285 622 All the best Simeon 3 12372 i did click it, still couldnt make it out rofl. in any case, doesnt look like too extreme a slope, you may be in luck. Just shoot out some emails to volume builders in… 3 18545 The OP has gone The latch and striker are definitely not aligned but there was no point trying to help the OP understand that. Hence the reason they are no longer with us. 12 5564 |