Costing and budgeting

Cheeky · Jan 24, 2009 9:01 pm

A banker who told me to always get a fixed price from the builder before starting. I have heard stories about people blowing way out of budget. The base price of most houses sound very reasonable. But after you add the necessities like flooring, lighting, landscaping and maybe a few add-ons like high ceiling and bi-folds, I'd imagine the price would quickly skyrocket. AllCastle told me to add about $100K to the base price to cover things like demolition, tiles, lights etc, Eden Brae said to add about $150K for a basic Windsor. How much (or what percentage) did you add to your base price? How fixed is the price you get?

claego · Jan 24, 2009 9:35 pm

The base price of my house is 140k and the final contract is 190k, basically it include everything and i can just move in.. The only thing i need to do after handover is landscaping, air-conditioning, letterbox and antenna. It is a fixed price contract

I think it really depend on what upgrade do you want and what promotion you get from your builder. I am glad that i have a pretty good promotion at the time i signed up so a lot of things that i want to add is already included for free or half price

Wanna · Jan 24, 2009 9:49 pm

Hi, base price for our house is $179k. Our contract price is $236k.
you might want to check out this thread from a while ago......

http://www.homeone.com.au/forum/viewtop ... light=poll

Hope that helps and doesn't scare you too much

Hels · Jan 24, 2009 9:51 pm

The base price of our house is $205,000 approx. The contract price is now $255,000 but that does include $10,000 extra for site costs.
Then we will have approx $50,000 of extras after the house is finished. So your estimate of $100,000 was pretty close in our case.

ZZZ · Jan 24, 2009 11:06 pm

I think anywhere between 25-45% should be allowed ontop of your base price. So if your base price is $150,000 - you should budget for at least $190 - 220K.

Cheeky · Jan 24, 2009 11:16 pm

Thanks for all the replies.

Once a fixed price contract is signed, how much extra could I expect to pay? I mean, what if they find a big rock underneath or something, surely, the builder is not going to dig that up for free. So, how would you factor in the unexpected? And how common is it to go over the fixed price?

buildingadreamhome · Jan 25, 2009 8:42 am

We have an $8000 provision for rock as part of our site costs which added up to $50000 (we have a sloping block). We have a lot of rock and there will be a lot of excavation due to a 10000L underground water tank needing to be installed underground in the backyard due to council regulations.

The builder has estimated this figure on what they can see above ground and their knowledge of the area (there used to be a sandstone quarry at the bottom of my street in the 1800's). Considering this we hopefully won't go over the provision but you never really know what is down under there until they start digging!

Zerosignal · Jan 25, 2009 1:04 pm

buildingadreamhome

The builder has estimated this figure on what they can see above ground and their knowledge of the area (there used to be a sandstone quarry at the bottom of my street in the 1800's). Considering this we hopefully won't go over the provision but you never really know what is down under there until they start digging!

Don't let them take your sandstone away

buildingadreamhome · Jan 26, 2009 9:59 am

We will be holding onto it!!

lisanne · Jan 26, 2009 10:16 am

I'm hoping to not add too much extra to my base price, but then I will organise external quotes for things like aircon, driveways and fencing and still include it in my mortgage - these things can be done a lot cheaper when it isn't through the builder.

ebyelyakov · Jan 26, 2009 1:26 pm

The base price for the home we're going to build was around 236K, the deposited tender was at 349K -- considering a few modifications, fancy bricks, high ceiling, and air-con, site costs, BASIX and so-on, so-on, so on...

I'm also expeting an aditional 50K (hope it will be less) for finishes like hardwood flooring throughout the house (392 m2 to cover), fencing landscaping and a driveway...

So, in my case it was (is) almost 60% of the base price... I believe that having no modifications and cutting costs to the maximum we could have fit the whole house close to 320K -- i.e. within 20-30% on top of the base price...

Cheeky · Jan 26, 2009 10:38 pm

Thanks. Very helpful.

wake_me · Jan 27, 2009 10:07 am

Cheeky,
Add-ons like high ceiling and bi-folds, have to be done at the time of the build so will be added into your contract so you know what you are paying before you sign.

In regards to extra's like flooring, landcaping, lighting etc. it is much safer to think of all the things you want and get the builders to quote them for you. This can be added into your contract and would basically make it a turn key contract. Or you just get independent quotes for all the finishing and make up your mind whether the hassle and risk of organising it your self is worth it.

If you are worried about hitting rock, get a soil test yourself. They usually do between 2 and 4 holes around 3m deep for around $400. This will tell you exactly whats down there. If theres no rock, then you dont have to worry about it. If there is, than the inormation gathered from the test should allow the builders to put a pretty accurate allowance into the contract.

woodsey · Jan 27, 2009 10:30 am

Our base price was $157,000, with extras including add ons from colour selections and adjustment from sale quote to contract it was $197,000, but that didn't including landscaping, letterbox or TV Antena, or curtains we have all but finished our front landscaping (backyard is another story!) and have all the other mention items installed or brought, spent about an additional $10,000, which in our mind is cheaper then if we went through the builder! Oh the other big one fences, for us because it had to be colorbond and we are on a cnr $3500!

fruitty · Jan 28, 2009 5:44 pm

wake_me

Cheeky,
If you are worried about hitting rock, get a soil test yourself. They usually do between 2 and 4 holes around 3m deep for around $400.

Where / who can I get to do the soil test?

Thanks

wake_me · Jan 28, 2009 8:42 pm

Just look under soil in your yellow pages. Geotechnical or consulting engineers.