Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum 1 Jun 18, 2016 8:52 am Hi everyone, We have been on the custom design/build journey for about 18 months now. Design complete and DA in hand; have been working on detailed costs/tender with one or two builders over the last 6 months. We are struggling to get builders to get comfortable with the customisations we want after lockup (things like higher insulation, quality glazing, level access inside/outside etc). Anyway - looking into owner build as an option. Lot of accumulated knowledge although no trade background. Can dedicate family member on site for full time oversight. So I can project manage effectively but can't do any trade work. I wanted to ask those that have completed owner builds over the last 3-5 years. What has the approx finished (move-in) costs (per sq metre) been for your builds? Initial data I have seems to suggest about $1150 per sqm. Want to validate if this is a reasonable figure from those that have actually done it. But this estimate is without actual detailed quotes and hence my question. Re: Finished per sqm costs for OB 2Jun 18, 2016 9:10 am That question is a bit like asking how long is a piece of string ? Without giving us a few major details you are going to get widely differing replies. It's no use comparing a two storey double brick home price per sq m with a lot of siteworks like retaining walls etc and a triple garage if you are intending on building a single storey weatherboard house with a single garage. Posting up your floorplans to give us an idea of the scope of house you are aiming for would help too. Stewie Re: Finished per sqm costs for OB 3Jun 18, 2016 2:12 pm Agree with stewies comment. You need to compare apples with apples. Adding or deleting items can vary the costs in the tens of thousands. Saying that I am happy to let you know our cost per square metre and an idea on what that includes if you feel it helps with your decision. Based on your previous posts I can see it's been quite a decision for you. Your house plan photos are no longer accessible btw. Your build is in the same area as mine and as such prices should be similar for a similar build. Our build completed this month. Price includes driveway but not general landscaping. -Our house is 478sqm double storey house with triple drive through garage. -It's built on an elevated suspended slab using concrete bearers and joists. Important for your costing as I have no retaining costs but extra costs for this. -All our concrete was 32mpa. Extra cost on standard. -we used a premium dry pressed solid brick. Extra cost. -terracotta tiles -architectural Windows with low e glass -2.7m ceilings both floors. -insulation. Really not a lot of cost to save here by not doing more. We have 0.5R rated wall wrap with 2.0 in the walls, 4.1 in the ceiling with sarking also, plus 2.0 sound screen between floors and internally. -Italian 900 x 450mm tiles to ceiling in all wet areas. Extra cost +++ in product and labour. -130mm spotted gum floors -polyurethane cabinetry with soft close -stone bench tops -custom WIR's -frameless shower screens. Extra cost. -glass balustrading. -custom staircase -23HP ducted RCAC with zoning -100% New Zealand wool carpets -Semi solid internal doors -non standard cornice throughout -LOPI fireplace -free standing bath - plantation shutters to all Windows and French door. Not an exhaustive list but you get the idea. Our cost per sqm doing quite a bit ourselves $1450. How much you can do yourself will greatly alter your final cost. Good luck. Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=38&t=75302 Re: Finished per sqm costs for OB 4Jun 19, 2016 8:51 am Stewie D That question is a bit like asking how long is a piece of string ? Without giving us a few major details you are going to get widely differing replies. It's no use comparing a two storey double brick home price per sq m with a lot of siteworks like retaining walls etc and a triple garage if you are intending on building a single storey weatherboard house with a single garage. Posting up your floorplans to give us an idea of the scope of house you are aiming for would help too. Stewie Stewie - Two storey brick veneer home on a reasonably level block (about 600mm cross fall across the building platform). Some retaining walls required (mostly around the 400 to 600mm height, some parts at 900mm and none above 900mm) - total length of all retaining wall is about 40m. I will post the floor plans and the site plan to give a better idea. gandn Agree with stewies comment. You need to compare apples with apples. Adding or deleting items can vary the costs in the tens of thousands. Saying that I am happy to let you know our cost per square metre and an idea on what that includes if you feel it helps with your decision. Based on your previous posts I can see it's been quite a decision for you. Your house plan photos are no longer accessible btw. Your build is in the same area as mine and as such prices should be similar for a similar build. gandn - That was really really useful! It's the first figure I have that is based on some reality and not just a theoretical figure. I think our inclusions and specifications are almost at the same level (ours is perhaps a bit lower on some areas and a bit more on others). We are looking at using facebrick and concrete tiles. Our window specs, ceiling heights, insulation, tiling, cabinetry, benchtops, aircon, bath, shutters and stair case are all identical. With some of the other specs you have, we have gone a bit lower. One thing where we have gone higher is that we have asked for a level threshold (internal, sill and external) at the front entry and the alfresco entry from dining. Essentially grate drains with sub-sill drainage at Alfresco and grate drain with sloping porch at the front entry. One other thing where we have gone higher is with a coffered ceiling on the living room void. Please have a look at the plans when you get a chance - feedback/advice sincerely appreciated. The average per sqm for tenders from builders have been between $1650 and $1800 and as we get closer to contract, the price seem to go up (calling out the difficulty of things such as grates and the coffered ceilings). One OB consultant suggested that $1150 to $1200 per sqm was our OB cost - I think that's ambitious and not practical. So - we are really trying to figure out if OB could work for us. One late option that popped up with a local builder yesterday was a cost plus contract (fixed margin on top of the cost). The builder is happy to expose all the quotes before engaging subcontractors. Re: Finished per sqm costs for OB 7Jun 19, 2016 8:30 pm Thanks, Stewie. Previous post edited and individual images posted. Re: Finished per sqm costs for OB 8Jun 20, 2016 10:07 am Looks like a beautiful house. You must have a very wide block! Comparing your plans to mine it appears we do have a very similar amount of rooms and spaces. I don't feel you will get away any cheaper than what we have done as OB/ sqm. You can cut costs by choosing cheaper bricks, tiles, flooring etc but you do have more site costs. My price/ sqm did not include all the things we never paid for. This included all plumbing and electrical. The other thing with doing OB over engaging a builder is availability of trades. There is a serious lack of trades atm in Sydney. Our build took 19 months. 4 months of this was spent waiting for the bricklayer where nothing else got done. I suggest you give your plans to a concretor, bricklayer, tiler and carpenter and see if you can actually get trades first. Not trying to be a downer, just realistic. Those were the trades we spent the most time waiting on. It seems due to the availability of work all trades are picking and choosing jobs, the easy ones! Noone wanted to lay our bricks or our tiles so we waited and paid a premium. Good luck and hope to be able to follow along whichever way you go. Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=38&t=75302 Re: Finished per sqm costs for OB 9Jun 20, 2016 1:03 pm You guys are obviously fans of the Georgian Revival style ( as I am ). We don't see many of those on H1. If you are looking at doing this as an OB I'd suggest you may run into trouble doing it all under one licence. An OB licence in NSW will permit you to build only one dwelling on any given property. I know what you are proposing is all basically one building, however knowing how the dept of FT looks at it they will regard it as two structures ( unless they have relaxed this rule of course ). The other thing to do is download " The Gyprock Red Book " which to quote " is the most widely recognised and respected technical fire and acoustic wall and ceiling design guide in the plasterboard industry." Some good info there regarding separation of dwellings for the aforementioned reasons. Stewie Petercurtis You able to contact the certifier and get a copy of your structural plans, if they are not in your contract. If your home was approved via CDC then they… 1 19183 1) I had requested R6 ceiling insualtion batts, however I noticed that on some areas there are huge gaps which will allow hot air to sweep in, and also noticed black/grey… 0 3476 interesting situation what happened after builder issued final invoice? did you list as defect or not does the building surveyor have any responsibility? ie. issuing… 13 46800 |