Budget Custom Home builder

Hi All,

Can anybody suggest a custom home builder in budget price?
Thanks

Paraga,
It would be helpful to have a little more information, as custom builders won't be able to build Australia wide, so where do you want to build and what's 'budget' to you? We will all have different definitions of this.

Oops !! My mistake !!

I'm based in Melbourne. Looking at the base price for a double storey house without any upgrades.

Thanks

'Budget prices' and 'Custom' don't usually go together.

Project builders can build budget houses (as long as you don't have much in the way of upgrades) because of their purchasing power, their design costs are spread over many houses, and the fact they understand their costs for building their designs.

With custom builders there is only one house to cover design costs, lower purchasing power, and higher risk which means builders margins are higher.

You may get a custom house for the same price as a budget home . . . . but it will be smaller.


You may be better looking for a project design that's close to what you want and then discussing some alterations

Thank you for the insight.

Appreciate it!

With a custom design, you're up for a whole heap of costs too before you even get an indicative price range and whether you can afford the finished product.

Think minimum investment of $5k to have site surveys, soil tests, and then basic (and we're talking concept - like hand drawn with minimal measurements) before you even get to costs. Plus you then have engineering costs - as no builder worth their salt will quote without engineering.

This all depends on whether you're going custom with an architect / designer, or whether you're going custom with a builder who'll organise the plans and engineering "in-house" (keeping in mind it won't be in house, and you'll be paying a margin on top of the actual price for plans & engineering + surveys etc).

We went down the above route, put in about $20k, and walked away. Went with a project builder where we have got a very similar floorplan, a better finish and fitout, and saved about 20%. Have we compromised? Absolutely. Can we live with it? Yep.

You also have to be very, very careful about what you consider an "upgrade". Many builders don't include floor coverings etc in the base price and you need to budget these in. You also won't get most items such as blinds etc.

Thanks for the insight.

Can you recommend any good "budget" builder in Melbourne?

You need to provide a price guide. No-one can help you without understanding that... Budget means very different things to different people.

Thanks for your reply.

By "budget" I meant, I'm at the lower end of the range for building a small double story(25 square) house.

Cheers !

Hi Paraga

We are looking to build a single storey 28 sq home in Melbourne. We are knocking down so have some additional costs to factor in.

We have looked at everyone from true Volume builders like Metricon/Porter Davis to independents. We like the idea of a "fixed design and price" and we need hand holding with colour selections etc,hence the appeal of the volume builders.

Only trouble is the volume build designs don't fit on our corner block

We have narrowed it down to Boutique and GJ Gardener homes - I guess you would call them "small volume builders" who allow for customization of their designs.

Our research with several builders has shown if you want a nice looking façade that will immediately add between $15k and $20k to the base price. What the base price includes varies greatly between builders in terms of quality. Boutique are particularly good.

Your base price will need to be higher for double storey.

Our budget is as follows (and seems to be sufficient for the designs we are interested in.)
Site prep
Demolition up to $30k
Site costs up to $50k

House Build
Base price up to $300k
Façade up to $20k
Upgrades up to $30k (eg. higher ceilings, downlights, better quality floors etc)

House Finishing
Internal (blinds etc) up to $30k
External Driveway and landscaping up to $40k. (read to allow 10% of overall budget for this)

Hope this helps.

Hi, may I ask which builder you finally used and the difference in cost as you said you didn’t go for custom builder?

Hi, have you finished building with Boutique?

We recently changed builders from Boutique to Hotondo as Boutique’s customisation was virtually non existent.
Hotondo let us change both external and internal wall sizes. We created a virtually brand new design.
We found the costs were similar per m2, maybe Hotondo was just a tad more expensive and took a bit longer to build.
I think talk to both and see what they can do for you.
Also if you’re after specifically a budget option then Boutique’s sister company Home Buyers Centre might be more up your alley

Thanks for that, will check out both home buyers centre and Hotondo!

Before anybody signs with PD, look at this post.

https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=96517&p=1854759#p1854759