Building a House

[SammyRo]

Hey Ellee05


We had a great builder and were/are extremely happy, the best advice I can give is to have great (and constant) communication with the builders and site supervisor, and check on the build regularly (so you can pick up any errors early)

Def agree with this.

When considering your builders, compare their standard features and the cost to upgrade. We ended up going with a slightly more expensive builder, because their standard features (eg toilets, cupboards, handles, etc) was better than the other builder.
When it comes to the electrical plan, really consider powerpoints etc. We paid extra to put more in, and I'm glad we did, eg extra at both ends of the hall, external powerpoints, extra lights outside.
Consider what you really need and what you can do without. Because we see this house as a ten-year house, we decided that rather than an ensuite we would have a 2way bathroom, so we had the space for a seperate study as both DH and I work from home, but we figured small children don't need an ensuite. The next house we build will be suitable for teenagers.
Play a couple of builders off against each other - we were toying between 2 builders. We told them that if they included BIR in both children's rooms and extra overhead cupboards in the kitchen we would go with them, one builder came to the party and we went with them.
whilst you're deciding, drive round new developments on a regular basis and take a look at what how long some builders take for each stage. Some near us seem to be taking almost a year, and there is big delays between stages. The builder might be cheaper but you might end up paying more in rent as it takes twice as long.
Something that happened accidently, was we ended up with grey grout in the shower/bathroom, with white tiles ( a paperwork stuff up) but I would do it again as thats the one area that grout discolours quickly.
When it comes to your selections for tiles, paint, cupboards, etc, do it once and then forget about it. I've heard people going back 2 or 3 times, which really slows things down, plus you just end up 2nd guessing yourself.

I've already started compiling the list of what I want next time, but it was out of our budget this time anyway, like a laundry that is double the size and already has fitted cupboards, drawers in the kitchen, a pantry that you pull out.

As to your original point, we were first quoted around $122,000 and ended up paying about $127,000, so didn't think that was too big a difference.

Good luck! We really enjoyed the process and will definately do it again.

[alish]

we bought our house as a spec home (so 3/4 of the way through building it)

make sure you have eaves all around the house, if you dont and have a window open dirt and rain and sh*t comes in from everywhere, plus imo it looks yuck

DISHWASHER!!! i dont have one and its a p.i.t.a!!!!

thats about it for me really haha!!

but if you dont like something or it dosent look right, speak up about it, chuck a hissy fit if you have to, at the end of the day, they work for you.. i have learnt my lesson about not speaking up

good luck!

[~Phoenix~]

We are building at the moment, get our keys in just under two weeks YAY. So can't really comment if what we've chosen suits us or if we'd change anything but as PP's have said - power points, you can never have to many and make sure they are placed for any possible furniture upgrades/room rearranging.

A couple of extra's we added were also extra garden taps and outdoor gas outlets to run bbq and/or outdoor heaters.

Lots of kitchen benchspace was a must for me (my previous kitchen was a matchbox) and after looking at display homes I "needed" a walk through pantry, luckily DH agreed I kinda of wish my laundry was a bit bigger but we added extra cupboards in there so hopefuly it will be ok.

Think someone also mentioned making sure you visit the site as often as you can to pick up issues as they crop up, we've had a few along the way and not entirely happy with response to concerns with our brickwork so we are getting an independent inspection and report done before handover.

Best of luck with it all

[Ellee05]

Fantastic. All of your points are exactly the sort of things I'm looking for. We are currently looking at a more expensive builder but their finished product and service seems far superior to those others we have been speaking to. I'm always amazed at how the price they give you first up is sooo different to the end cost will be (this is the scary part) I just hope we don't have too many unforeseen costs.

Thanks again!

[~Phoenix~]

Another thing we asked the builder so we could kind of be prepared for what we were in for, we made a list of everything we wanted included in the finished house ie stone benchtops in kitchen, 3 coat paint system, higher ceilings, spa, floor to ceiling tiling etc and got them to price the house this way we could then choose to subtract to meet our budget if we needed and also so we weren't in for too much of a shock when it came selection time even then we were another $11K out of pocket - they make their money on the small things like an extra paint colour, each additional light/power points, upgrading shower screens, security screens etc.

We spent the money on things that aren't easily changed like tiling & additional cupboards and went with the standard ugly mixers/taps which we can change over anytime we like.