Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 01, 2007 10:11 pm Hi,
I am currently looking for a builder for a two storey house custom design produced by an architect (approx 250sqm in total). I would appreciate any recommendations - the project builders I have spoken to seem to charge considerably more for a custom design than for their standard designs of equivalent size. Thanks in advance. JM How different? 4Jan 18, 2007 11:31 pm Hi JM
Have you tried to find a design which is close enough to modify? There must be lots of designs out there. If you end up using an architect I'd be interested to hear your experience with them. Regards Re: Builder in Adelaide 5Apr 20, 2007 3:10 am Hi JM,
Are you still loging into this forum? My husband and I are at the first stage of selecting an architect to build our home and will be going through the same builder selections you are. It's not an easy process Please let me know what stage you are at and I am more than happy to pass on some of the discussions I have had so far. Sue Re: Builder in Adelaide 6Apr 21, 2007 12:26 am Hi Susan
Where and who are you building with in Adelaide. regards PDU Re: Builder in Adelaide 7Apr 22, 2007 1:13 am Hi PDU,
We are wanting a custom built home (for several reasons) and are still in the beginning stage but I have been researching builders & architects for a few weeks and am nearing some decisions now......I think. This is soooo difficult. One thing that is really giving me the pain is there are not many with web sites! Oh golly, what is up with that? We live in Glenelg and bought our small bungalo some 10 years ago and really do not want to leave the area so our only option (and cheapest) is to build a decent home which we expect will see us out. I'm seeing Chase Crown Living next week, they have a display home in St Peters which gives an example of their workmanship....their website is good but I have a feeling they are very expensive. They offer a 'fixed' price which includes everything but I'll know more details later. I'm also going to get some Architectural Magazines to try and further develop the style we want and maybe find more local builders. One architect said they tender out the build to 4 builders 'who are good at what they do' but do you think she would tell me who they might be before I signed with her? How are you going? Have you seen www.chasecrownliving.com.au Susan Re: Builder in Adelaide 8Apr 23, 2007 3:36 pm Hey I'm in Adelaide, and you know what'd be doing if I was in your boots?
I'd drive the new burbs and see what is being built, write down the builders names, try to catch up with the owners, and I'd also ask your potential architects for the address of some other homes that they have designed, then I'd knock on the door of the proud owners and ask them who built it and are they happy with it. And I'm sure if someone did the same to you in 5 years time, you'd be happy to tell them your experiences. I also know of a bulder who lives in Glenelg, who builds new homes - mainly does his own developments, but he might be interested. Email me if you still need a name. My thoughts. Re: Builder in Adelaide 9Apr 24, 2007 2:30 am Hi Yak_Chat, I have been given 3 architects and 3 builders to follow up next week. These are from personal referrals. So, I will have brief meetings with them and then follow up their finished work (with the door knocking as you kindly suggested).
I will also spend time at the home display centers and pack my picnic lunch and drive around and around looking at new builds and noting the builders and where appropriate, knock on doors. If I need to, I shall email you for the glenelg builder you know, and thanks for your thoughts. Re: Builder in Adelaide 10Apr 24, 2007 4:31 pm You might want to try: http://www.hotpropertygroup.net/
I'm not sure they are doing custom public jobs anymore but it can't hurt asking. Our block is a similar size ~260m2 and they do build a lot of townhouses etc. on small blocks. We're very happy with the quality of the house, they are just a bit slow (will take ~9 months to complete our place - this could be normal for custom jobs - I'm not sure) and the communication isn't always the best. Other than that, they're pretty flexible, they were about 10% cheaper than our nearest quote and have good ideas for building small modern homes. If you want to have a look at our place, PM me. Re: Builder in Adelaide 11Apr 24, 2007 7:46 pm Hi Susan
I presume you wish to design your home from scratch, hence the need for an architect. We are building with Rossdale. We have taken one of their existing designs as a base and modified it the way we want it. We have made extensive changes and have been pleased with the help and suggestions of the consultant we used. We are at the pre-building stage and although things are moving very slowly we hope they will speed up when construction starts. Be careful of builders offering a fixed price, Rossdale do this but invariably you will want to change some selections from those "included" and that's where the extra costs come in. The price is fixed to a point only. The good thing with this is that you will not get any nasty surprises on land preparation and footing costs as some on here have experienced. I wish you well with your plans. Regards PDU Re: Builder in Adelaide 12Apr 26, 2007 10:18 am Hi Susan and others.
I dropped into the homeideas centre yesterday on the cnr of Anzac Hwy and South rds and I saw some info on a company called findabuilder. Thought this might help you with your quest. www.findabuilder.net.au and if anyone has not been to a homeideas centre, there is one in every state and they have loads and loads of house things on display and brochures to suit. It was my first visit, but I'll be going back. www.homeideas.com.au Cheers Steve Re: Builder in Adelaide 13Apr 26, 2007 11:15 am Yak_Chat
Have they finished refitting yet. When I went there were a lot of empty spaces. PDU Re: Builder in Adelaide 15Apr 28, 2007 3:22 am Hi guys, thanks for your imput, keep it coming
FYI spoke to ******** keen to see their spec home.....or maybe not! A smallish 2 storey home starts at $2500/2m up to $3100/2m (for the better quality build, you know, the best house in the universe and all that) which, for a 250square mtr home becomes $625000 - $900000. 5 OK, OK, I get the picture.....are you all smiling and shaking your heads? Will concentrate next week with the real world and keep my secret dream of living in a palace to myself. Naivety is a beautiful thing. Susan Re: Builder in Adelaide 16Apr 28, 2007 9:00 am Susan
There is nothing wrong with aspiring to better things as long as you can afford it, it doesn't go to your head and you become a different person along the way. After all, we work hard enough for our money (well most of us anyway) and after our pimp (the ATO) takes his cut we must make the most of whats left as an investment for a better future life. Our experience with our builder, so far, has become a little frustrating, as we are waiting for final selection costings to be completed and they are taking far too long. We are currently yet to start building and are almost two months behind schedule. I have already shaken the cage and am about to take the organ grinder by the scruff of the neck. Things will improve, especially as their slogan is "Trust is a Must" Good luck with your dream. Re: Builder in Adelaide 17Apr 29, 2007 3:57 pm Hi Susan
We seem to have travelled down a similar path with architects and custom designs. We recently found a couple of project designs that were fairly close to the mark. After getting 4 quotes from project builders we found their inclusions varied considerably i.e. removal of soil following excavation is one example. One builder told us they don't remove the soil (fixed price quote) while another included it in the footing costs. Given I don't want to wheel barrow it out I couldn't understand why it wouldn't be included but perhaps I am just new to this process! The third builder referred us to one of their happy customers so we could get an idea of a possible front elevation for our build. The owners saw us admiring their home and warned us against proceeding as they were in court with the builder. The gods were smiling that day. We think we have finally found a good boutique builder who is approachable, a good listener and gives us a lot of information. We hope the final price is competitive. Cheers & good luck with the process. Beetle Re: Builder in Adelaide 18Apr 29, 2007 10:40 pm Hi PDU, thanks for your encouragement. As we are planning to live in this dream home for the next 40 - 100 years ( ) we are prepared to spend a little of our hard earned cash.
What's the hold up with your builder? You must be very frustrated and ready to do some Two months behind schedule and draging is crap, kick their assss PDU One builder's slogan I read was "Trust us like you trust your Doctor". Suffice to say I pressed the delete button. Susan Re: Builder in Adelaide 19Apr 29, 2007 11:00 pm Hi Beetle, It is good to read you think you've found the right company. Your comment on the 'happy customers' who warned you off the builder really had me laughing, how sweet was that?
Thanks for the tip on excavating....what a weird one! My uncle was telling me that when he found the right home to build, the quotes were issued etc, and he was happy with it all until he discovered that it did not include the foundations!...haha....it's bewildering. Good luck Beetle. Susan Re: Builder in Adelaide 20Apr 30, 2007 10:23 am Just a thought....
Might be worth checking out the new spec homes estate in the south side, I think it's off Black road. Some nice homes in there but I'd like to see more enviro stuff in them though. But till the govt makes the mandates, most builders are not intersted, and put it in the to hard basket. the old WIIFM. "Whats in it For Me" they say! Re building - I worked with a guy who built a very large house in Craigburn farm. They picked a very nice house to build, then did lots of mods to the "standard" house and his words halfway through were - "never again" Next time he'd buy what they offered - He was sick of things not being right. Gutters not meeting at the right height, foundation costs changing, drainage, etc etc and all sorts of niggly things. My obseravtions - It will always cost more for a "custom" designed house. Kit "standard design" houses can always be cheaper because they have standard order lists, known quantities, and no "risk" factors of the unknown" for the builder meaning they can send in the "basic" team to do the work, "over hiring intelligent experienced tradies" etc etc. But I reckon some of the spec homes purposely also leave things out, that they know you'd like to have, so they can get some variations and the price and their profits up. Another way around it and a builder friend of mine who lives in NSW says he tries to do all the time now is a cost plus 10% project. It takes his risk away and the owner has greater flexability to "Change" the spec, get a better rpeice and knows how much any cvariations will cost them. It basically works in this manner. The owner agrees to pay all invoices he presents to them for their house + 10% on top. This not the GST - it is his profit of 10% for the project. Then they also pay all his labour invoices. Obviously you have to be able to trust the builder, but as he is not factoring in his risk, he can build it for a much more cost effective price and the variations are at your cost- literally. Happy building Steve Building a new home, and looking for a garage builder (home builder not contracted to do this). Someone to build steel garage (double), colorbond, including supply and… 0 3246 Hi Mofflepop, I would recommend finding a building designer to prepare plans, they should design to your specified budget. The benefit is you can tender the project out… 9 20355 |