Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum 1 Mar 30, 2009 7:57 am Hi All In order to get finance approved, we need to give the bank an estimate of contruction cost. We went to one quantity surveyor who wanted $1200 to do this!! What did everyone else do? I guess we could run around getting five hundred quotes but this is extremely time consuming and I am not sure particulary accurate. Thoughts? Re: CONSTRUCTION ESTIMATE 2Mar 30, 2009 8:45 am Hi Loretta, We have just been through the finance hurdle of being an OB and its not a particularly good time as they are very wary of loaning at the moment. We were told with just at the NAB that they have 900 owner builder loans at the creditors at the moment so understandbly they want an estimation of your costs. Also the Nab loan was 80% max so they wanted to know and see the 20% that we were going to put forward ourselves. I would say it has taken at least 4 weeks to get our loan to be drawn down today as everything had to be authorised in Melbourne. We went down the path of getting quotes which yes was very time consuming, but was helped by hubbie being off work with injured wrist. I would say it took at least 3 weeks to get them all together and to be honest don't think its exact but at least its a start and the bank was happy with it. We only got one quote for each part, which they were fine about. I also made a spreadsheet up with the price for each stage and total build included. Might be time consuming but if it helps to get the loan and not having to fork out $1200 well worth it. Also maybe shop around for a different estimator, does seem expensive. Hope this helps Re: CONSTRUCTION ESTIMATE 3Mar 30, 2009 9:52 am Quote: We went to one quantity surveyor who wanted $1200 to do this!! Shop around, ours took only $500, for not exceptional, but acceptable estimate. Chris My father rode a camel, I drive a car, my son flies in a jetliner, his son will ride a camel.Saudi saying Re: CONSTRUCTION ESTIMATE 4Mar 30, 2009 10:01 am Am I just looking for quantity surveyors or are there other professionals that can do this? thanks! Re: CONSTRUCTION ESTIMATE 5Mar 30, 2009 11:24 am loretta Hi All In order to get finance approved, we need to give the bank an estimate of contruction cost. We went to one quantity surveyor who wanted $1200 to do this!! What did everyone else do? I guess we could run around getting five hundred quotes but this is extremely time consuming and I am not sure particulary accurate. Thoughts? Take you the number of square meters and multiply by $1200. This would be pretty close unless you are going for a full brick with suspended concrete slab, a prestige house or somethign unusual. There are some cost calculators on the web that ask various quesions and give an estimate. This should be good enough to get the ball rolling wth the bank. Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: CONSTRUCTION ESTIMATE 6Apr 01, 2009 9:20 pm Loretta, Did the NAB want you to have a 20% overrun just in case you don't get it done on budget? I have found it frustrating that I can take a fixed price contract to the bank from abuilder and it is approved strait away with no need for quotes. Re: CONSTRUCTION ESTIMATE 7Apr 01, 2009 9:34 pm Hi there They haven't said that yet to us but I have heard from friends that they will ask for this. Is that what they said to you. I am still trying to decide whether we go for the quotes or pay for a surveyor! Re: CONSTRUCTION ESTIMATE 9Apr 02, 2009 11:30 pm Hi Loretta, as u will see from all the above good advice, IMO it really comes down to 2 points firstly either u cost it out urself at no monetary cost just a lot of time- from my experience i recon that will take u 3 to 4 weeks to do properly (ie getting actual quotes if u don't know going rates) or u pay out & get a professional estimator. secondly is the bank prepared to accept ur costings or do they need a professional estimate? if u do the costings urself then i recon on 40+ years experience in o/bing i would add the 20%... if an estimator is doing it, u shouldn't need to add 20%, but i'd still add 10%, there r always going to be variations to any build whether its a professional builder or an o/ber. i like to do it myself, cos it gets u in the right frame of mind for scheduling etc & its a saving u can do. if u do it urself, why not post up ur costs in this forum & see if anyone has anything to add - theres a lot of good practical experience around! IMO using $ cost per m2 should only be a basic check - type of materials, number of bathrooms, split levels, under roof garages, verandahs, the amount of work u do urself etc are all variables that can make a $ rate per m2 be very general guide, IMO not specific enough for a loan application, but i could be wrong......cheers tony. Re: CONSTRUCTION ESTIMATE 10Apr 03, 2009 7:44 am Tony Some good points there. One thing I like to do different is when you do estimating is not including the extra 10 or 20% markup in the paper work (you may do this for the bank). However when your going through your build try to aim for the initial low budget but keep in mind you might go over. The reason behind this is if you factorise you 20% overruns from day one many owner builders will still go over this Budget plus 20%. This helps to bring owner builders to relatity. The trouble IMHO with owner builders is that simply get carried away and alway want the best of everything without knowing where to draw that line. In the professional world coming under budget is just as bad as going over budget. I believe going 10% over budget is the same as going 10% under budget. Yes i now many of you will be surprised with my comments. After all budgets for many projects are hypothetical, and in terms of owner building the real risk with be trying not to over capitalise and under capitalise for that manner. The amount of work you do yourself especially if you already have a full time job becomes a juggling act. Re: CONSTRUCTION ESTIMATE 11Apr 03, 2009 7:56 am borg In the professional world coming under budget is just as bad as going over budget. I believe going 10% over budget is the same as going 10% under budget. Correct. If you are 10% under budget your budgetting was inaccurate. One way to deal with this is to have three columns in your spreadsheet - Budget, Maximum budget and Actuals. So long as your actuals are between budget and maximum budget you will be OK. JB Re: CONSTRUCTION ESTIMATE 12Apr 03, 2009 11:38 am Good thinking everyone, thank you! That estimator you recommended James came back with $450. MUCH better than $1200 and they seem very thorough. Getting him to do it is my preference, however hubby is now leaning towards doing it himself. Quite frankly i don't think we have the expertise nor the time. Re: CONSTRUCTION ESTIMATE 13Apr 03, 2009 1:56 pm loretta Good thinking everyone, thank you! That estimator you recommended James came back with $450. MUCH better than $1200 and they seem very thorough. Getting him to do it is my preference, however hubby is now leaning towards doing it himself. Quite frankly i don't think we have the expertise nor the time. Just to be clear, I haven't used PDH estimating myself but I have heard good reports. I understand that also as part of their service you get a big fat folder with lots of documentation and help related to owner building. JB Re: CONSTRUCTION ESTIMATE 14Apr 04, 2009 1:42 pm Sounds really good. Thanks for the recommendation James Hi, I'd like some advice on the best option please on the estimate options we've been provided from our builder. This is for the… 0 4064 We are about to commence a new build I and Iām reading about defects along the way. My question is should we employ a independent building inspector to come in and… 0 5237 Can you give advice on how to get missing certificates needed for a form 21? Our bank requires us to provide one but we are missing 4 building certificates from our first… 3 71779 |