Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum Re: The cost of building 3Jun 25, 2013 9:04 am My storybook home build: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=57987 Re: The cost of building 4Jun 25, 2013 9:52 am After our experience I'm not sure that cost does always relate to quality in building. Our house is 167 square metres single storey including garage and cost us around $360,000 (including professional fees) and it still isn't finished. The building designer and the builder used the star rating (7.5) and "quality" as a reason for the high cost of building it. It does have wood framed double-glazing and good insulation( R5 in the ceiling and R2.5 in the walls) and we have a gas log fire. We have a rainwater tank installation which is problematic and we are going to have to foot the bill to fix it. The house is greywater ready but only one bathroom is connected to the line and they linked the kitchen plumbing to it, which I have now found out is not recommended. The house is mainly weatherboard (pine) with a bit of facade brick to satisfy the estate. We have had to do the tiling (with the exception of wet areas) and all of the painting inside and outside ourselves. We have had to varnish all the wood ourselves. We have no skirting boards and will have to do that ourselves. On top of that there is just some poor workmanship on electrical and light fittings and doors which we have to fix. And the joinery is all IKEA; we had to pay the builder extra to install that. Initially he didn't even leave enough height under the overhead cupboards for our fridge and asked us to buy a new one! (We didn't.) I hope you have better luck than us but one way to ensure you have better luck is to never take anyone in the building industry at face value. Always ask for references, follow the references up and get several quotes. If you are owner building then you can at least avoid hiring a builder but from my experience with concreters you can't even be sure that the trades know the building regulations or will stick to them. Re: The cost of building 5Jun 25, 2013 2:50 pm Yes they say "you get what you pay for" but that is not always true as we find with Liliana's experience. You can pay for it and still not get it. That is why your own project control is indispensable. If you don't have the expertise, buy it, it's cheaper than hair replacement. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: The cost of building 6Jun 25, 2013 9:48 pm We just finished owner-building and moved in in a very similar house to your description (double-storey, double-garage, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms+powder room, big pantry, 1 big living area, big deck and balcony. all around 250sqm) and we spent $300k flat including very nice driveway, but not including any landscaping. However our house is slightly not standard... We used Thermacell ICF for the ground floor and 140x35 timber frame + light cladding (hebel panels + scyon matrix) for the first floor. we used R3.5 insulation in the walls and R7.0 in the roof, Upvc double glazing windows, Only quality materials everywhere. we also imported sliding systems for build-in robes and kitchen cabinets. But my husband did most of the job himself, for some parts with the help of 1 carpenter. We hired tradies only for suspended concrete slab, structural steel-work, roofing, plastering and rendering. So yes, 260sqm for $300k is possible depending which state you build in, how much you are going to do yourself and desired quality of the house. Re: The cost of building 7Jul 02, 2013 10:05 pm ...we also imported sliding systems for build-in robes and kitchen cabinets... Thinking to do the same to save on building cost. Where did you import the stuff? Are you happy with the quality of the products? Re: The cost of building 8Jul 02, 2013 10:15 pm Must ask Nika25, who did the electrical, and plumbing etc which have to be signed off on if your hubby did nearly all the work. I assume this was also extra? Wannabehomebuilder. having done this recently I can only suggest that you do your sums to get an accurate price of everything you want and cost it properly. When you have done that, revisit it all again to ensure you are correct. Then have a very good contingency allowance to allow for unknowns. This is guaranteed to happen. If you do not budget for this you WILL run over. The more homework you do the better prepared you will. Any "quality" is possible. It all comes down to costings and whether or not it can be fitted into your budget. Settlement 1/2/12 New Shed 23/3/12 Slab poured 27/3/12 Frame complete 4/5/12 Roof complete 1/6/12 LOCKUP 29/6/12 Our new build blog http://kareenhillsownerbuild.blogspot.com/ Re: The cost of building 9Jul 06, 2013 9:10 am MJlo ...we also imported sliding systems for build-in robes and kitchen cabinets... Thinking to do the same to save on building cost. Where did you import the stuff? Are you happy with the quality of the products? We imported from Eastern Europe, we have relatives there, so it was easy to organise. Very happy with the quality, you can't get much better than this. For similar quality and size kitchen we were quoted $30-35k locally, yet only $6k overseas for top of the range kitchen (not including benchtop though. We bought Quantum Quartz benchtop locally, as it was too heavy and fragile for shipment). Laundry cabinets cost only $1000 there, were quoted about $4000 here. Build-in robes sliding system cost us about $300-400 each. Again for something similar (but still not as good) we were quoted more than $2000 each. And we also imported many sheets of particle board for the shelvings in the robes. Timber looking similar to laminex range, not plain white. Cost us 3 times cheaper than cheapest crappiest white melamine from Bunnings. I've heard about someone who imported kitchen and robes from Vietnam and was impressed with product quality and prices. If we didn't have relatives in europe we would definitely took a journey to Asia, for same purpose You can even try China, just need to be extra careful with quality etc. Mind you there are heaps of premium quality stuff in China, sadly it just seems that the cheapest crap gets imported in Australia Re: The cost of building 10Jul 06, 2013 9:30 am delatite13 Must ask Nika25, who did the electrical, and plumbing etc which have to be signed off on if your hubby did nearly all the work. I assume this was also extra? Yes you are right. I didn't mention it because licensed electricians/plumbers are compulsory anyway. They cost us about $12k each and it's included in $300k total building cost custom probably not. Volume, most defiantly, but spec would vary. If youre doing a knock down, there additional costs associated with that that will eat into your budget… 1 10663 multiple occ properties are always billed by trades at a premium, rarely per sqm for the lot. You either have trades you know whoe will do by sqm or youre going to get… 1 3008 2 3714 |