Browse Forums Building A New House Re: What builder did you choose and why? 2Jul 24, 2018 3:35 pm We built with GJ Gardner 5 years ago. Looked through heaps of display homes and they won us on the real polished floors...not floating floors. Had not stepped into any other display home with it! Also the design suited our block and we only altered a few minor things. Overall a great experience and 5 years down the track we still love our forever house... Re: What builder did you choose and why? 4Jul 24, 2018 8:34 pm What’s your budget. There are different builders at different price points. Re: What builder did you choose and why? 6Jul 25, 2018 8:22 am Where are you building?? Do searches here for builders you are considering. Look for plans you like, go talk to the builders, get ideas on cost. If $430 is your max build budget, then it will be most likely a standard project builder. Read threads and form your own opinion. most have long administration phases, longer for knockdown rebuild. This is a great place to start your initial research. Re: What builder did you choose and why? 9Jul 25, 2018 9:00 am I chose Coral Homes, mainly because my block is quite small (375m2) and they had a floorplan that fit the block really well and still allowed for some room. It was between Coral, Metricon and Plantation for me early on but the decider was the master bedroom at the back of the house (away from road traffic noise) had a walk in closet behind the bed, and the ensuite had a huge shower, double sinks, separate toilet and huge bath. At the time I was single and it was exactly what I wanted as I am also very tall and needed the bigger shower/bath space! Plantation had very nice finishes but for the same relative price only offered a single garage, no patio, and their ensuite options were standard and small. Metricon was the same. Decide what absolutely have to have in your build and what you can be flexible with, and I recommend getting a quote based on that from a few builders so you get an idea what they will change in their floorplans to accomodate you. Coral included a double garage and patio for the same price as Plantation's single garage with no patio quote. The floorplan I liked with Plantation and Metricon was too long for my block, and would have left no backyard. With a good quote from Coral I decided to push ahead and I removed builder supplied driveways, landscaping, patios and letterbox to reduce the cost. If there's any stage of the build you can do yourself confidently ( eg you or partner are an electrician), that can save money too, as they obviously charge a premium for those things but I was also not a fan of their options and really wanted driveway and timber decking to suit what I want, for probably less money. This was my first build and I was clueless but think about where you want kids bedrooms in relation to yours, best positioning on a block, type of inclusions and upgrades (house frame, countertops, flooring options, storage options), site costings, and get a really comprehensive comparison between builders. If you buy a block first take a copy of the land with elevations to the builder and that can help get an accurate quite on site costs too. Coral Homes Avoca 20, Providence, Ripley QLD Re: What builder did you choose and why? 11Jul 26, 2018 11:53 pm Go and look at lots of displays, speak to lots of sales people but don't feel pressured to sign in a hurry. If you have a tricky block, look for builders that build homes that suit those sort of blocks regularly and are familiar with the requirements. Don't be shy about telling builders you are considering several builders and are comparing them against each other. I am surprised by the advice to look for a plan that is closest to what you like. Most (if not all) project builders will custom design a plan to suit exactly what you want at the same price per square metre as one of their example plans. The price per sqm to build a house only varies depending on the construction method chosen and level of finishing and inclusions (do you want stone benchtops/nicer taps/detailed doors/better cornices etc). Before we settled on a custom plan we went and looked at a LOT of displays, when we saw things we liked/disliked we got a copy of the plan and marked on the plan what was good, what was bad. Then when we came to design our own plan we incorporated bits and pieces we liked and avoided things we knew we didn't like. Consider things you might do yourself after handover. Some things are much easier to do during the build, other things are just as easy to do after handover and you can save yourself thousands by sourcing your own contractors (ie flooring/painting/window coverings/landscaping/paving). Re: What builder did you choose and why? 12Jul 30, 2018 8:58 am watto82 I chose Coral Homes, mainly because my block is quite small (375m2) and they had a floorplan that fit the block really well and still allowed for some room. It was between Coral, Metricon and Plantation for me early on but the decider was the master bedroom at the back of the house (away from road traffic noise) had a walk in closet behind the bed, and the ensuite had a huge shower, double sinks, separate toilet and huge bath. At the time I was single and it was exactly what I wanted as I am also very tall and needed the bigger shower/bath space! Plantation had very nice finishes but for the same relative price only offered a single garage, no patio, and their ensuite options were standard and small. Metricon was the same. Decide what absolutely have to have in your build and what you can be flexible with, and I recommend getting a quote based on that from a few builders so you get an idea what they will change in their floorplans to accomodate you. Coral included a double garage and patio for the same price as Plantation's single garage with no patio quote. The floorplan I liked with Plantation and Metricon was too long for my block, and would have left no backyard. With a good quote from Coral I decided to push ahead and I removed builder supplied driveways, landscaping, patios and letterbox to reduce the cost. If there's any stage of the build you can do yourself confidently ( eg you or partner are an electrician), that can save money too, as they obviously charge a premium for those things but I was also not a fan of their options and really wanted driveway and timber decking to suit what I want, for probably less money. This was my first build and I was clueless but think about where you want kids bedrooms in relation to yours, best positioning on a block, type of inclusions and upgrades (house frame, countertops, flooring options, storage options), site costings, and get a really comprehensive comparison between builders. If you buy a block first take a copy of the land with elevations to the builder and that can help get an accurate quite on site costs too. Thanks for the info. That's very useful. Do you remember how much Coral charged for driveway, landscaping and letterbox ? Thanks Re: What builder did you choose and why? 13Jul 30, 2018 9:29 am Elisha That’s great you had a good experience with GJ Gardner Homes. That’s great about the floors. How are they with what’s included with the house? Good, we had quite a few variations but my wishlist were polished floorboards and granite benchtops which we achieved. 6 month build. Aircon, central heating, brick letterbox, clothesline, concrete paths and driveway, flywire screens and lots more were included. We already had our block of land but they do lots of house and land packages which look good too! Re: What builder did you choose and why? 14Jul 31, 2018 9:00 am I don't remember the letterbox cost, I think around $100 to $200? The driveway was $5000 and the concrete for back patio and front porch was a grand or two, I'll try and find the quote. Coral Homes Avoca 20, Providence, Ripley QLD Re: What builder did you choose and why? 16Jul 31, 2018 5:19 pm ethan870 thanks I just had a quote from them and they charge $7500 driveway $2800 patio and front porch with tiles I think i will take off the driveway. way too expensive for a 25m2. Coral Homes Avoca 20, Providence, Ripley QLD Re: What builder did you choose and why? 17Jul 31, 2018 5:25 pm watto82 ethan870 thanks I just had a quote from them and they charge $7500 driveway $2800 patio and front porch with tiles I think i will take off the driveway. way too expensive for a 25m2. Yup, and mine was only 3m x 3m! Crazy markup.Thanks anyway. One more question if you don't mind. I just received the BAL rating for the block we are looking at and is considered as 12.5. Do you know if that generally add extra costs to the building ? Thanks Re: What builder did you choose and why? 18Jul 31, 2018 5:37 pm I don't know too much about BAL ratings but a quick google indicates the location is rated one above BAL low, which attracts no structure or cost modification. BAL 12.5 apparently indicates a vulnerability to ember attack and may have some minimal extra requirements, butvthat is something I would research and take to the builder to confirm. Coral Homes Avoca 20, Providence, Ripley QLD Re: What builder did you choose and why? 19Jul 31, 2018 6:51 pm What first attracted me to Fairhaven Homes was that they had base prices on their website. I liked the transparency of that and it made it easier for me to make comparisons, as I had a fairly strict budget. I then visited their local display home and a few others and I liked their houses the most. I discussed options with the sales consultant and realised I could actually afford a 4 bedroom house, where everywhere else I was looking at 3 bedroom houses. Fairhaven had a floor plan that I loved. So far my experience has been good and have found that I can afford nice extras like double glazed windows. In regards to BAL, my land JUST made it in to the BAL region which costed an extra ~$3000. Fairhaven Homes - Clovelly 191 Hi All, I just wanted to close this topic out with an update. So we ended up agreeing to a number with the insurance company, and after an extensive amount of hand… 8 23348 Anthony Firstly, wow you have put a lot of work into your list of questions! Great job and they are mostly valid questions that a builder should be able to answer. As… 14 10673 That sucks! Hope it all works out. Good to move away from steel anyway for all your reasons, but it's also thermally poor. 16 17724 |