We built our house in Queensland in 2002 but we got a loan from the bank and when the land was bought, the money went off our loan then, then after each stage of construction, the bank sent someone out to inspect that it had been done and done properly and then would release the funds to the builder.

In that time, we only had to pay the interest of the loan, not a full repayment amount. Our full repayment amounts did not kick in until it was handed over to us. There were a couple of extra costs that we weren't expecting - though not too bad. Rates - we had to pay rates on the land itself (not on the facilities because they weren't hooked up). We also had to pay council fees when our water and plumbing were hooked up. It wasn't that expensive but if you are budgeting for it you probably want to be aware.