Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Nov 20, 2017 6:20 pm Hi all! My wife and I have recently taken the plunge, and bought an old house that we one day want to knockdown and rebuild with a double storey family home. Unfortunately property prices are so ridiculous at the moment that we can't afford to do that just yet, and I think we will opt to rent out the house as to tenants in the mean time. I'm wondering what things we should have done before tenants move in to help with the design and build process? I gather the first thing is probably a Soil and Levels test, to work out what we are looking at in terms of the foundation building costs? I have an estimate for $350+GST. Is it worthwhile getting a surveyor to come and help out the entire plot? (Inc. trees, overlooking windows, etc.) Is that something that architects and/or the big building companies before designs can begin? Thanks very much for your insight. Re: 1st knockdown rebuild: 1st steps towards planning our ho 2Nov 20, 2017 10:10 pm We're in progress with our own double-storey KDR (ground floor frames went up up today), through a custom builder. We got our own site survey and soil testing done prior to engaging a builder or designer. It didn't cost that much to do (comparatively speaking), and meant that we were able to talk to builders, designers and architects from a much more informed base (especially around likely site costs and options), and didn't have to actually sign up to a particular builder before we had all the major variables sussed out. It also came in very handy when our first builder went bankrupt and we were able to take the site and soil surveys to other builders without any issues, but hopefully you won't need to do that! Architects and custom builders generally won't have an issue with you doing this, providing that they're properly done (and to be sure, while we were interviewing builders we asked them who they normally used, and then we engaged the most commonly used surveyor and geotech), and in fact being able to bring the data to them right at the start makes their life a bit easier - certainly in our case all the designers and architects we spoke to were quite appreciative of us being able to give them this info up-front. Just make sure your site surveyor provides you with the digital data file as well (.dwg) - any decent surveyor will know what you're talking about. Project builders, on the other hand, seem to be a bit more 'prickly' with you bringing your own reports, and there's a few accounts on this forum about them insisting that they do their own surveys (which the client pays for, of course - sometimes with exactly the same surveyor, for the second time!). You might get lucky, but it'd depend on the particular builder and the particular companies you hired. Never get in the way of a project builder and their particular way of doing things.... Re: 1st knockdown rebuild: 1st steps towards planning our ho 4Nov 23, 2017 8:49 pm We bought a block in an established area and the previous owner of the block had done survey and passed them on to us. We used them to get first stage tenders with 3 builders which helped them give more accurate quotes but the builder we went with still did another survey to draw up the plans because the survey that we supplied was not by one of their accredited surveyors. I still believe it was helpful though, but don’t think I’d bother again for such a flat block that’s empty. It might be more useful in your situation though viewtopic.php?f=31&t=89059 if the original house is in good condition most of what you listed could be added in stages without the need for KDR and costs and disruption of having to live elsewhere… 1 13686 Following these simple steps will help you mitigate unwanted costs, have your expectations met and give… 0 4550 Hi We have finally decided to complete a KDR on our corner plot in NE Melbourne suburbs. Given its a corner plot approx. 400 sqm just a standard design may not fit the… 0 8578 |