I thought I would post here to see if anyway could shed any assistance. My wife and I are looking at buying some land in Newcastle, NSW and building a home from scratch. Having never done this before, there is only so much research you can do, so I thought I would ask people that have experienced what we are looking to achieve.
To help,
- The land size we are looking at is between 800 - 1100 sq m
- The house would be approximately 200-250 sq m.
My specific questions are around time and costs. Mainly:-
- from signing the contracts, what is the time to complete - also, the actual building time
- Within that, at what point in time could we move in (on the basis we could finish things on once moved in - painting, decking, tiling etc)
- I have the advantage of having a brother in law who is an architect, another brother in law who is a sparky, and a father in law (retired) who was a builder and could therefore act as forman and odd-job man
- I have some experience of basic DIY, but would have to get tradesmen in for most of it
- What would be a (very) generic cost of the build, assuming nice appliances, fixtures and fittings etc with a pool and decking area (I have thought approx $14,000 for 1 en-suite bathroom, one family bathroom and downstairs toilet, and a further $10,000 for the kitchen, $10,000 for decking and $5,000 for a pool - but appreciate I may be way off!)
- How easy/expensive is it to install an underground wine cellar (accessed from internal) as the build takes place
- The property would have a double garage
- Wooden floors downstairs and carpet upstairs
- Bi-fold doors at the back of the house
- Separate lounge, with open plan kitchen, dining and sitting room
- 3/4 bedrooms and a study
- Is my approx house size even big enough for the above
I've estimated about 200 man days, with some projects running concurrently. But with things like kitchen build and electrics being done myself on weekends during the build, decking paining and tiling being done after moving in, I've estimated 80 calendar days is possible.
Any advice, tips and estimates are greatly appreciated. I can also provide any additional info if needed.
Thanks in advance.
Iain