Building in Canberra

jefferson8 · Sep 03, 2009 5:39 pm

Hi everyone

I've been looking to buy a new house in Canberra for the past 4 months & after much dissapointment in dealings with real estate agents I have decided to build.

I've been to the display village in Forde & have been speaking to a few builders (both large companies & independent). I've decided to go with Matthew at Gold Ruby as he's got such a great reputation & pretty much half of the new homes in Franklin, Forde & Casey are being built by his comapany!

The only problem is I will have to wait close to a year for land to be released, then ready to be built on, then eventually building in Bonner

Is there anyone from Canberra who is building or has had a house built? Any bit of advice, knowledge, or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

KT+2 · Sep 03, 2009 6:16 pm

We are still waiting for our block to be finished (Bonner). It should be early next year.

jefferson8 · Sep 06, 2009 6:04 pm

Does that mean you can start building in early 2010? Did you buy your piece of land in the August 16th land release?

I've heard that it may take up to 8 months from the time you purchase the land to the time you can actually start building on it. That seems like a long wait. Or is that common?

cleoj · Sep 07, 2009 12:16 am

Hi Jefferson,
we're building in the new development at Macgregor. We came to building after a similar quest through real estate and are currently at lock up stage. I'm pretty disappointed with our builder at the moment, having been at lock up stage with very little progress for nearly a month, but our house is starting to look like its getting close.
Goldruby have built a few houses in our area that I admire, and they seem to do so in a fairly timely fashion (my current obsession!)
Anyway, good luck with it, let me know if you have any more questions, and keep us posted!

MarkoL · Sep 07, 2009 10:33 am

Hi Jefferson8

We are building with Matt at the moment and he is really great. We have a block in Casey - we were looking in Feb 09 and picked a block that month. They kept saying that the land would be ready at end of March... and we didn't settle until early May (which was a pain). I really think it just depends on what stage you are buying your block... if its ready then you can most likely build on it straight away... if the developers are still doing their thing then its up to them when they release. and of course loan approvals and bank valuations add to the delay as well!

Good luck!

KT+2 · Sep 07, 2009 12:18 pm

We got our block in the March release, but I think all of stage 1b should be ready around the same time (Feb-April). Those who were lucky enough to get blocks in 1a are already starting to build.

Mark_ACT · Sep 25, 2009 12:35 pm

We have just moved into a new home in Franklin that we had constructed by Vemira Design. A smaller largely custom builder who also do a few spec homes each year. I can't speak highly enough of them and their workmanship. They still have some houses available in Franklin so if you are not committed at Bonner and would look at something closer to the City....

jefferson8 · Nov 09, 2009 5:16 pm

Update

I've just registered for the Bonner stage 2a ballot. However, there are only a few blocks of land out of the 234blocks that are both cheap enough & big enough for what I had discussed with my builder. So therefore if I don't get drawn then I miss out & if I get drawn but my pieces of land are already gone then I miss out

I'm just praying that luck will be on my side.....

The other alternative is to go with a more expensive block but that may mean cutting out a bedroom & maybe going with some cheaper finishings like laminate instead of stone benchtops etc.

Damn Canberra land prices!!!!

jayjay · Nov 09, 2009 8:06 pm

Good for you Jefferson8. Fingers crossed for you. I didn't realise that Bonner had ballots. My sister has bought a house and land package in Bonner - at frame stage at the moment. I think it is going to be a lovely suburb.

We will be building in Forde next year. We settled on our land in April this year. House sitting at the moment for friends. We paid an awful lot >300K for our block which is just over 600m2!!!

Crazy land prices and the house prices are not cheap either. Our builder told us that the reason those living in Canberra pay more for a house and land is due to the higher than average salaries of Canberrans.

jefferson8 · Nov 10, 2009 6:58 pm

Bad news

My builder has just pointed out that the land I'm thinking of buying won't be ready to be built on until November 2010 - February 2011 or maybe even March 2011 - May 2011 !!!! Then it's a 5 month build on top of that !!!!!

That's a whole year & a half before my house gets built

Now I'm re-thinking the whole thing.

cnd · Nov 26, 2009 12:09 pm

hey jefferson,

I feel for you!

my fiancee and I are in 1B in Bonner (hey KT+2, new near-neighbour!) we were told that construction would commence in Sept, then Oct, then sometime before May next year. We exchanged 6 weeks ago knowing this, but hopefully there are no further delays to it.

I suggest looking at house/land packages in 1b, try to find a similar style place - there are a number of blocks which will be ready to commence in 6 months or so, fingers crossed.

cheers

Jo P · Feb 11, 2010 10:01 am

I feel for you all. We are building in 1a. Only about 7 weeks till completion. Our block was ready pretty much on time and then the only major delays we had were with planning and revenue. I hope your land all settles quickly

adi.sinha · Feb 12, 2010 10:06 am

Is anyone else waiting for land release in stage 1b in Bonner? We are building with renaissance in section 29, just hoping land gets released asap.

On another note, does anyone know what the go is with the FHOG and FHOB? We signed building contract before 30th sept, but do we need to start construction within the 6 month timeframe to be eligible for the boost? Its not exactly our fault if LDA doesnt release in time.
Any help would be warmly appreciated. After all its a matter of 14k$ on top of the 7k$ FHOG !!! :wink:

bvbfan · Mar 01, 2010 9:10 pm

Probably best to talk to ACT Revenue Office about this issue.

Also depends on if its a contract to build or a house and land package.

For house and land package, the docs on the website seem to suggest that as long as the contract is signed by Sept 30, 2009 and that construction is completed by March 31, 2011 you should be eligible.

If contract to build seems to be 26weeks from date of contract

Best to check with ACT Revenue though as I could be wrong

cnd · Apr 07, 2010 8:57 am

adi.sinha

Is anyone else waiting for land release in stage 1b in Bonner? We are building with renaissance in section 29, just hoping land gets released asap.

On another note, does anyone know what the go is with the FHOG and FHOB? We signed building contract before 30th sept, but do we need to start construction within the 6 month timeframe to be eligible for the boost? Its not exactly our fault if LDA doesnt release in time.
Any help would be warmly appreciated. After all its a matter of 14k$ on top of the 7k$ FHOG !!! :wink:

We faced this same quandry, and decided to hold off until 31 October, because the LDA had told us we were looking at settling the land as late as the end of April.

As we understand it, construction work must start within 6 months of the exchange of contract date. We decided to play cautiously and sign as late as possible, because any delays after that is the fault of the LDA and we can apply to the revenue office for an exemption on the 6-month limit for the FHOB.

adi.sinha · Nov 11, 2010 10:21 am

Construction is under way now.
We did get the FHOB + FHOG. Just had to write to the ACT revenue and tell them that our land wasnt release untill end of June, so no way we could start before 30 march, and they gave us exemption to the 6 month start after contract date rule.
Thanks to Mr Rudd and ACT revenue.

fmus0993 · Dec 17, 2010 10:51 am

Hi Guys,

Has anyone built with BLD homes? If you have had any experience with them I'd love to know about it! I am considering them for the MIAMI design (display home in bonner).

Thanks.

nobld · Mar 11, 2011 10:32 am

hi fmus0993 - hope it is not too late for you and that you haven't signed up with BLD homes. We used BLD homes to build our custom home and it has been a disastrous experience. We have since spoken to another person who also had similar bad experience with them. Happy to discuss if you would like to know more.
cheers

fmus0993 · Mar 11, 2011 12:21 pm

nobld

hi fmus0993 - hope it is not too late for you and that you haven't signed up with BLD homes. We used BLD homes to build our custom home and it has been a disastrous experience. We have since spoken to another person who also had similar bad experience with them. Happy to discuss if you would like to know more.
cheers

hi,
thanks for the feedback. luckily for us it's not too late.
we were put off BLD simply by the behaviour of the sales person. he was obnoxious and totally unhelpful.
we are looking to sign up with Gold Ruby. So far we're quite happy with our dealings with the owner.

umehomes · Mar 23, 2011 10:16 pm

Great to find this forum and got useful information about building in Canberra.

I am about to start my first home construction soon in Bonner stage 2A and would like some help with builder recommendation.

Has anyone use the following builder before?

Modern Living Homes
Deemro Homes
Goldruby Homes
Masterton Homes

I have saw some post recommend Goldruby but I found they have too many projects at the moment. So would be appreciated if anyone can comment on the above builder, or simply recommend the best builder you think in Canberra.

Thanks heaps