Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Building at Bardia - New Breeze 601Mar 26, 2018 9:44 am Hi Cooky, Are you using a project home builder? I'm interested to save the $6k-$15k off my project build if I can with Wisdom. [/quote] Hi Glo, No, I'm not. I'm using a local builder; the same builder I used for my house extension 2 years ago. He does new builds also and I can personally vouch for his workmanship. He is also far better priced than any of the big builders such as Masterton and the like. He can draw up the plans and lodge for me but he will also charge for that. I'm finding a difference of about $100k in the build price between him and the big builders. The other plus side is he can do it quickly whereas the others generally take a bit longer. If i can get in 6 months earlier, thats a huge bonus! My architect will draw up our plans and provide me with everything i need to lodge the form and he charges only $1500 for any number of variations etc before the final plans are set. The rest is just for me to fill in the DA application form and make the payment. It was not a complicated process at all. My husband and i thought we'd go with a big builder this time but they seem to eat your money before the build even starts. I'm okay to do some work myself if it means saving loads of $$ Re: Building at Bardia - New Breeze 602Mar 26, 2018 9:58 am I have been able to gather some further info after speaking to more builders, reading all the legislation and council's DCP, and speaking to C'town council. For my land of 375sqm, I have the following options: 1. Follow old CDC rules which allow 270sqm max incl. garage, first floor and second floor but excluding voids and space above stairwell. You can find the definition of "floor area" in the legislation. This can be used for applications made up until 13 July 2019. 2. Follow new CDC rules which permits 243.75sqm including first floor and ground floor, area of one car space and access to it, but excludes the other car space, external walls and voids. The formula can be found in the complying development legislation. The definition used relates to "gross floor area". 3. Follow the council rules which, though they are on paper the same as the old CDC rules, are more flexible. I have called the town planning department at Campbelltown Council and they have indeed advised that they are flexible. They could not specify their degree of flexibility as it is determined on a case-by-case basis. Therefore there is an element of risk that plans which exceed CDC rules may not be approved. But I got the feeling that anything within 10% of the allowable area being the excess might get through. But I have no real basis for saying this apart from a "feeling". I have further found that not all builders are aware of the above information, especially point 2. Most have rejected my desired floor plans based on point 1 alone, whereas those plans may have been able to satisfy point 2 as it is more favourable under certain circumstances. Some builders never considered point 3 at all, as it was either point 1 or nothing for them. Also I have found a few builders who mis-apply the definition of "floor area" used in point 1 i.e. they include outdoor area and porch, which are specifically excluded. They go off the total area of the house, which often includes these components that an can be excluded. I hope this clarifies for anyone else that might be seeking this information. Re: Building at Bardia - New Breeze 603Mar 26, 2018 10:18 am Hi Cooky, Warwick farm is Liverpool Council. Its totally different. If you are gonna draft and lodge your own plan. Dont use project builder. Better call builder directly and it will save you a lot more. Sample project builder : Masterton, Wisdom, Clarendon, etc. (Hint. Homeworld display builders are all project builder) Building Wentworth 33 CDC lodged to Council : 22 June 2018 Site excavation 31 July 2018 Slab 08 Aug 2018 Frame 22 Aug 2018 Roof 10 Sep 2018 Brick 24 Sep 2018 Re: Building at Bardia - New Breeze 604Mar 26, 2018 10:36 am I have a query regarding how early a builder should be chosen: My land won't register till around early-mid next year. Should I be looking at builders now? A lot of them say that putting a small deposit and maybe another extension fee will enable me to keep the current prices and promotions. They say doing this hedges against future price rises which may be well in excess of my initial outlay. Is this accurate? Should I just wait till closer to registration (say around Aug/Sep this year) to commence the process of signing on with a builder? My logic for finding someone early, such as now, would be to indeed secure current pricing and promotions, thereby avoiding price rises. This will also allow plenty of time to carefully select upgrades, make appropriate changes, and time to peruse the contract with a fine comb and check it against the previously agreed changes. Is this a wise course of action or is it better to wait? Also, how much should I trust the product review website in respect of the builders' ratings? They seem genuine but a lot of the project builders have horrible ratings, with the exception of a handful (but they happen to builders whose designs I am not fond of). How do I go about choosing a trustworthy builder? Sorry for so many questions but as this is my first time building, I am trying to gather as much information as I can. Obviously asking builders a lot of these questions will result in biased answers. Therefore, I thought to open up to fellow consumers who also don't want to be rorted of their hard-earned. Thanks. Re: Building at Bardia - New Breeze 605Mar 26, 2018 10:59 am wentworth33 Hi Cooky, Warwick farm is Liverpool Council. Its totally different. If you are gonna draft and lodge your own plan. Dont use project builder. Better call builder directly and it will save you a lot more. Sample project builder : Masterton, Wisdom, Clarendon, etc. (Hint. Homeworld display builders are all project builder) Hi Wentworth, Yes, I know that Warwick Farm sits under Liverpool Council. It is just where Masterton has their display village. Most of their clients are based around the south west which includes builds under Campbelltown Council, so I can only presume that they will know the rules around the build restrictions on Bardia too etc. I'm not using a project builder. We only spoke with them to see costs and compare - we have our own local builder and an architect that we've used before. I can't justify some of the costs by Masterton and some of the others, particularly when it comes to variations in the designs. Using our own builder, with a fixed price contract and having him project manage seems like the most cost and time effective option. Thanks for all your replies! Re: Building at Bardia - New Breeze 606Mar 26, 2018 12:33 pm Icthys99 I have a query regarding how early a builder should be chosen: My land won't register till around early-mid next year. Should I be looking at builders now? A lot of them say that putting a small deposit and maybe another extension fee will enable me to keep the current prices and promotions. They say doing this hedges against future price rises which may be well in excess of my initial outlay. Is this accurate? Should I just wait till closer to registration (say around Aug/Sep this year) to commence the process of signing on with a builder? My logic for finding someone early, such as now, would be to indeed secure current pricing and promotions, thereby avoiding price rises. This will also allow plenty of time to carefully select upgrades, make appropriate changes, and time to peruse the contract with a fine comb and check it against the previously agreed changes. Is this a wise course of action or is it better to wait? Also, how much should I trust the product review website in respect of the builders' ratings? They seem genuine but a lot of the project builders have horrible ratings, with the exception of a handful (but they happen to builders whose designs I am not fond of). How do I go about choosing a trustworthy builder? Sorry for so many questions but as this is my first time building, I am trying to gather as much information as I can. Obviously asking builders a lot of these questions will result in biased answers. Therefore, I thought to open up to fellow consumers who also don't want to be rorted of their hard-earned. Thanks. All builders will insist you to put the deposit asap because they are salesman I would suggest lock your builder first and then check how many price hikes they do per year and how much price they increase in a year. Based on your findings you can put deposit just before the price hike. If your land rego is next year then I suggest put deposit during xmas time. If you going with project builder it will take around 3 months to finalize plans and once your land is reg you can file for CDC approval asap. All project builders more or less provide same service. I used to contact people directly through facebook to get feedback on the build etc. Re: Building at Bardia - New Breeze 607Mar 26, 2018 1:49 pm Icthys99 I have a query regarding how early a builder should be chosen: My land won't register till around early-mid next year. Should I be looking at builders now? A lot of them say that putting a small deposit and maybe another extension fee will enable me to keep the current prices and promotions. They say doing this hedges against future price rises which may be well in excess of my initial outlay. Is this accurate? Should I just wait till closer to registration (say around Aug/Sep this year) to commence the process of signing on with a builder? My logic for finding someone early, such as now, would be to indeed secure current pricing and promotions, thereby avoiding price rises. This will also allow plenty of time to carefully select upgrades, make appropriate changes, and time to peruse the contract with a fine comb and check it against the previously agreed changes. Is this a wise course of action or is it better to wait? Also, how much should I trust the product review website in respect of the builders' ratings? They seem genuine but a lot of the project builders have horrible ratings, with the exception of a handful (but they happen to builders whose designs I am not fond of). How do I go about choosing a trustworthy builder? Sorry for so many questions but as this is my first time building, I am trying to gather as much information as I can. Obviously asking builders a lot of these questions will result in biased answers. Therefore, I thought to open up to fellow consumers who also don't want to be rorted of their hard-earned. Thanks. Hi Icthys99, Its also my first time building, and I am happy to provide input from my point of view based on my experience. Lets answer your questions from the most easy one first. 1. Product review : Its good as an input, but you cant use it as a base. Reason : - You cant make everyone happy - we are not buying a product that have consistent result. hence, its not entirely correct to use product review website. - We have someone else build a house and its different people who build it, again, its not valid as its not the same people who build the rest of the houses. 2. Registration : Expect delay between 3-6 months. My suggestion, expect 6 months. 3. When to lock the builder : - Check the price validation. is it 6 months, 8 months or 1 year. - Check the extension price for 6 months or 1 year. - Check the promo. Promo in Xmas and end of year time is a lot better than others. (PS: This is gambling, sometimes the promo is not as your expectation) - Calculate the registration date. PS: following calculation is a sample only and not to be use as true information. You will need to calculate and make decision based on your situation and understanding. Example : Mid 2019, therefore, its 15 months from now. delay expectation 6 months, therefore, your land registration is likely in Nov-Dec 2019. Hence, locking the builder is best in Nov-Dec 2018 (Assuming that you have a minimum of 1.5 years price hold from Nov-Dec 2018 ). At this time, you can hold the price till at least Apr 2020. (Just to avoid further delay due to Christmas 2019 and allowing the builder to assess your land etc.) Hope this helps. Building Wentworth 33 CDC lodged to Council : 22 June 2018 Site excavation 31 July 2018 Slab 08 Aug 2018 Frame 22 Aug 2018 Roof 10 Sep 2018 Brick 24 Sep 2018 Re: Building at Bardia - New Breeze 608Mar 26, 2018 1:55 pm Hi Wentworth 33 Thanks a lot for your detailed reply, I will definitely take into account the information you have provided. When you say to expect 6 months delay on the registration, was this something you encountered too? I was advised by a builder that since the initial land deposit paid during contract exchange is held in trust, that the developer does not have access to those funds. Therefore it is in their best interests to get the land registered as quickly as possible to trigger settlement and therefore earn their income. It is on this basis that he has advised the initial estimate of early-mid next year for registration as being accurate. This logic sounds reasonable to me, is there any reason why I should discount it? Thanks! Re: Building at Bardia - New Breeze 609Mar 26, 2018 2:02 pm Icthys99 Hi Wentworth 33 Thanks a lot for your detailed reply, I will definitely take into account the information you have provided. When you say to expect 6 months delay on the registration, was this something you encountered too? I was advised by a builder that since the initial land deposit paid during contract exchange is held in trust, that the developer does not have access to those funds. Therefore it is in their best interests to get the land registered as quickly as possible to trigger settlement and therefore earn their income. It is on this basis that he has advised the initial estimate of early-mid next year for registration as being accurate. This logic sounds reasonable to me, is there any reason why I should discount it? Thanks! My land delayed 6 months from the day I put deposit. Thats why i asked you to expect delay. But, you may be different. In regards of registration, no one wants delay. Even developer wants it fast, but no one can control it. The way I see it, developer process the land stage by stage accordingly. Therefore, if the first one delayed, i dont think they can catch up with the same number of resource they have. Building Wentworth 33 CDC lodged to Council : 22 June 2018 Site excavation 31 July 2018 Slab 08 Aug 2018 Frame 22 Aug 2018 Roof 10 Sep 2018 Brick 24 Sep 2018 Re: Building at Bardia - New Breeze 611Mar 27, 2018 12:46 pm Hi Folks, Assuming many are at same stage for April rego. and I am trying to get ducks in order, I have 2 questions to ask. You may be in same boat or from past experience you may have some recommendations... 1. My builder Rawson asked me for a landscaping plan before they go to council. I understand this to be done after registration but it make sense to get the company finalised. Did anyone have any recommendations on which company/group/landscaper can provide that and how much did they quote you for it? 2. I have flexibility to get my bush fire report outside of my builder. Rawson told me it would be couple of hundred of dollars without exact amount until yet. An outside vendor quoted $330 for CDC and $660 for DA. I am going through council,so 660 is my benchmark at the moment. Does anyone has any other vendor that I can touch base with and if you know how much they cost? Ask me your questions and I will be able to answer some of them as well. BTW, I have got second email from Dahua stating my lot will go in for mid April for rego, along with few other onwners in the list. Who else has got it? Regards Bas Re: Building at Bardia - New Breeze 612Mar 27, 2018 1:34 pm Hi Bas Unfortunately, I can't answer your questions as my land's rego is so far away and I am at step 0 of the whole process. But you did offer to answer questions, so can you advise why you are going through council? Is it because your home size exceeds the prima facie floor area limits? Re: Building at Bardia - New Breeze 613Mar 27, 2018 2:12 pm absep19 Hi Folks, Assuming many are at same stage for April rego. and I am trying to get ducks in order, I have 2 questions to ask. You may be in same boat or from past experience you may have some recommendations... 1. My builder Rawson asked me for a landscaping plan before they go to council. I understand this to be done after registration but it make sense to get the company finalised. Did anyone have any recommendations on which company/group/landscaper can provide that and how much did they quote you for it? 2. I have flexibility to get my bush fire report outside of my builder. Rawson told me it would be couple of hundred of dollars without exact amount until yet. An outside vendor quoted $330 for CDC and $660 for DA. I am going through council,so 660 is my benchmark at the moment. Does anyone has any other vendor that I can touch base with and if you know how much they cost? Ask me your questions and I will be able to answer some of them as well. BTW, I have got second email from Dahua stating my lot will go in for mid April for rego, along with few other onwners in the list. Who else has got it? Regards Bas Hi Bas, Based on my journey so far... 1) For sake of the CDC/DA approval, my builder submitted a standard landscaping plan adapted to my lot. 2) My builder obtained the the bush fire (BAL assessment) report and it is from an agency called "Harris Environmental Consulting". My lot is 4049 and got BAL of 12.5. I have a turnkey package from builder hence specific charges for this report are not known. Cheers Re: Building at Bardia - New Breeze 614Mar 27, 2018 2:17 pm Icthys99 Hi Bas Unfortunately, I can't answer your questions as my land's rego is so far away and I am at step 0 of the whole process. But you did offer to answer questions, so can you advise why you are going through council? Is it because your home size exceeds the prima facie floor area limits? Hi Icthys99, I evaluated CDC option. but with the setbacks, I cannot build the size of house and plan I wanted. So I chose Council and this might still be possible. Only downside is the council time to approve, but given that I am going to live there, I want to maximise and ready to wait few more weeks. CDC is pretty straight forward, but with council you have few option to play around things. I wasn't able to get PPOS as directed it endmondson DCP under CDC and so I had to compromise on the length of house to achieve that. With DCP, my front setback is only 3m, and it worked out. Once you have design in mind, speak with you builder where you will have to compromise minimum. However if everything works out design wise for you, I will recommend CDC. You will have ball rolling much faster. Re: Building at Bardia - New Breeze 615Mar 27, 2018 2:22 pm IamSAM absep19 Hi Folks, Assuming many are at same stage for April rego. and I am trying to get ducks in order, I have 2 questions to ask. You may be in same boat or from past experience you may have some recommendations... 1. My builder Rawson asked me for a landscaping plan before they go to council. I understand this to be done after registration but it make sense to get the company finalised. Did anyone have any recommendations on which company/group/landscaper can provide that and how much did they quote you for it? 2. I have flexibility to get my bush fire report outside of my builder. Rawson told me it would be couple of hundred of dollars without exact amount until yet. An outside vendor quoted $330 for CDC and $660 for DA. I am going through council,so 660 is my benchmark at the moment. Does anyone has any other vendor that I can touch base with and if you know how much they cost? Ask me your questions and I will be able to answer some of them as well. BTW, I have got second email from Dahua stating my lot will go in for mid April for rego, along with few other onwners in the list. Who else has got it? Regards Bas Hi Bas, Based on my journey so far... 1) For sake of the CDC/DA approval, my builder submitted a standard landscaping plan adapted to my lot. 2) My builder obtained the the bush fire (BAL assessment) report and it is from an agency called "Harris Environmental Consulting". My lot is 4049 and got BAL of 12.5. I have a turnkey package from builder hence specific charges for this report are not known. Cheers Hi Sam, By turn key package you mean house and land package? If so, generally the landscaping is included. If not, what do you mean by standard landscaping plan. I can check with Rawson if they have anything of such they can use here. Re: Building at Bardia - New Breeze 616Mar 27, 2018 2:24 pm absep19 IamSAM absep19 Hi Folks, Assuming many are at same stage for April rego. and I am trying to get ducks in order, I have 2 questions to ask. You may be in same boat or from past experience you may have some recommendations... 1. My builder Rawson asked me for a landscaping plan before they go to council. I understand this to be done after registration but it make sense to get the company finalised. Did anyone have any recommendations on which company/group/landscaper can provide that and how much did they quote you for it? 2. I have flexibility to get my bush fire report outside of my builder. Rawson told me it would be couple of hundred of dollars without exact amount until yet. An outside vendor quoted $330 for CDC and $660 for DA. I am going through council,so 660 is my benchmark at the moment. Does anyone has any other vendor that I can touch base with and if you know how much they cost? Ask me your questions and I will be able to answer some of them as well. BTW, I have got second email from Dahua stating my lot will go in for mid April for rego, along with few other onwners in the list. Who else has got it? Regards Bas Hi Bas, Based on my journey so far... 1) For sake of the CDC/DA approval, my builder submitted a standard landscaping plan adapted to my lot. 2) My builder obtained the the bush fire (BAL assessment) report and it is from an agency called "Harris Environmental Consulting". My lot is 4049 and got BAL of 12.5. I have a turnkey package from builder hence specific charges for this report are not known. Cheers Hi Sam, By turn key package you mean house and land package? If so, generally the landscaping is included. If not, what do you mean by standard landscaping plan. I can check with Rawson if they have anything of such they can use here. BTW, if you have sewer pegouts in your lot, can you tell how deep it was? Re: Building at Bardia - New Breeze 617Mar 27, 2018 2:45 pm absep19 IamSAM absep19 Hi Folks, Assuming many are at same stage for April rego. and I am trying to get ducks in order, I have 2 questions to ask. You may be in same boat or from past experience you may have some recommendations... 1. My builder Rawson asked me for a landscaping plan before they go to council. I understand this to be done after registration but it make sense to get the company finalised. Did anyone have any recommendations on which company/group/landscaper can provide that and how much did they quote you for it? 2. I have flexibility to get my bush fire report outside of my builder. Rawson told me it would be couple of hundred of dollars without exact amount until yet. An outside vendor quoted $330 for CDC and $660 for DA. I am going through council,so 660 is my benchmark at the moment. Does anyone has any other vendor that I can touch base with and if you know how much they cost? Ask me your questions and I will be able to answer some of them as well. BTW, I have got second email from Dahua stating my lot will go in for mid April for rego, along with few other onwners in the list. Who else has got it? Regards Bas Hi Bas, Based on my journey so far... 1) For sake of the CDC/DA approval, my builder submitted a standard landscaping plan adapted to my lot. 2) My builder obtained the the bush fire (BAL assessment) report and it is from an agency called "Harris Environmental Consulting". My lot is 4049 and got BAL of 12.5. I have a turnkey package from builder hence specific charges for this report are not known. Cheers Hi Sam, By turn key package you mean house and land package? If so, generally the landscaping is included. If not, what do you mean by standard landscaping plan. I can check with Rawson if they have anything of such they can use here. I bought land from New Breeze and the quote from my builder is for house only and does not include actual landscaping. The CDC/DA plans require a high level landscaping plan and the details for this were drawn-up by my builder based upon standard/common choices. See attached image. The actual landscaping will be different depending upon $ remaining and needs to be done within 6 months of completion as per the bond with New Breeze. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Building at Bardia - New Breeze 618Mar 27, 2018 2:48 pm absep19 Icthys99 Hi Bas Unfortunately, I can't answer your questions as my land's rego is so far away and I am at step 0 of the whole process. But you did offer to answer questions, so can you advise why you are going through council? Is it because your home size exceeds the prima facie floor area limits? Hi Icthys99, I evaluated CDC option. but with the setbacks, I cannot build the size of house and plan I wanted. So I chose Council and this might still be possible. Only downside is the council time to approve, but given that I am going to live there, I want to maximise and ready to wait few more weeks. CDC is pretty straight forward, but with council you have few option to play around things. I wasn't able to get PPOS as directed it endmondson DCP under CDC and so I had to compromise on the length of house to achieve that. With DCP, my front setback is only 3m, and it worked out. Once you have design in mind, speak with you builder where you will have to compromise minimum. However if everything works out design wise for you, I will recommend CDC. You will have ball rolling much faster. Hi Bas I am fine to go through council because I am looking to build a home which will exceed base CDC and DCP requirements. As you say, for something to live in, I don't mind the wait. So is your home size much bigger than the standard rules? Some builders are telling me I can fit a much larger home (like 20% more than allowed), but still within set backs and site coverage per the rules) and that this will pass through council. Should I be trusting the builders when they say this? Re: Building at Bardia - New Breeze 619Mar 27, 2018 2:56 pm The pier allowance for my lot was 65 lineal mt. and the actual turned up under 60. I think the piers were under a mt...however I did not attend the site so don't know for sure. The soil report (LOT Classification report) showed sample drills and the rock was within a mt. For reference, this is the Austlii reference. My take on this is, that they would be breaking the law denying access to a homeowner in Victoria, or their agent from having… 1 4979 Is it just a report written to give to the bank initially and it is based on what and how your payments are made up for, or is it a full service where they go out and… 2 2986 Hi Suku18 In NSW the statutory required insurances are: 1. HBCF ( Home Building Compensation Fund) - This is if the builder dies or goes broke. But this only covers 20%… 1 1279 |