Canberra build quotes

Hi Canberrians, I have been quoted for 170m2 living area + garage 380K build with nothing fancy (driveway included, no dishwasher, 2550 ceiling, everything standard , even bath is only 1500, watertank). So that's $2235 per m2, which looks super expensive to me when looking at national standards. Other builders quoted 340-350 with driveway ( less media room though) some even threw in landscaping but that is for build for next year where I am missing building grand.
The builder sells block that is ready to build now, which you are well aware impossible to find, however their price on block is reasonable. The cost for the build seems to be way up there and I feel they are pushing it up as I am stuck with them and their block.
What is your per m2 build came up to? please help me to understand whether I am getting ripped off or it is actually a norm in Canberra area. (please highlight whether it was a basic inclusion, upgrades etc).
I have not signed contract yet, so I am not really stuck and have the way out if I find out that I am overpriced, so your input is really appreciated.
Many many thanks!

Hi Almay, good to see another Canberra post. I’m building a house in Molonglo Valley. I was told by various sources that 2000-2500 per m2 is the Canberra norm. Please note this calculation includes garage. I’m still in the design phase and haven’t got the costing yet. The costing is likely to end as 2500 per m2 as I’m building on a slope block. Canberra is expensive compared with others states. Who is your builder? I was told volume builder is slightly cheaper if your land is flat and suitable for their plans.

Hi, yes the build cost is actually horrendous, to the point that I start having second thought about building. 4bdr house in VIC or QLD (outside of COVIT) time can be built for 250K! this is unreal. I am working really hard to find 4bdrm house build for 350K with decency, and have been knocked back twice(!) by 2 builders. How is it even legal to overcharge so much?! I guess they have too much business here. To be frankly, if not Builders Grant, I would not sign up for that horror haha, just would bought an investment property somewhere and keep offsetting rent here. But 25K +10K for new house (I am not FTHG eligible) is not small amount of money. It really helps to slightly offset this "illegally" crazy high prices.
I am currently trying to work with BLD, they seems to be willing to work so far. VERY slowly, but progressing to pre-contractural stage.
Have you picked the builder yet?

Yeah its pretty bad. I'm about to start the process of building on land we just bought. Shopping around for builders, ideas and costs at the moment. Really needing to get to $1700-1800/m2 with a couple of upgrades.

hi, good luck with that! How many m2 do you want to build?

Where did you buy the land? Congrats on the purchase!

Hopefully 240-260-ish for everything under the roof line, but it depends on price. So far initial feelers with builders are within about 10% of budget, so we'll see what we can get and what compromises we need to make.

We bought a block in Taylor. Its was pretty hard, since many blocks there are either very small (to small for a 4 bedroom family) or very step grades. We kept our eyes on the the LDA website for ages for ones that we might be interested in, as soon as one popped up on the map as available we contacted the agent, they said it was already sold, but we asked to be wait listed in case it didn't go through. 4 weeks later we got a call and they said it was available again if we wanted it, so jumped at the chance. It was a little over our budget, but it was reasonably sized (by today's standard) and relatively flat.

Hi Almay - I am also going through the design stage with BLD. Would love to know how you're going, any issues so far? I, too, find them a bit slow.

Almay & Moki

How did you go with BLD?
I am in process of getting quotes as well. So interested to see how you went with them

Hi there. I decided not to build with them in the end. For better or worse, I have ended up with another builder.

Can you tell me who you went with and how was your experience dealing with them?