build or buy?? Advice and experiences wanted please

Ok so after a lot of soul searching and discussion DH and i have decided to put the house up for sale. DH has been offered a job 1hour up the coast and we decided its better to sell and buy something closer than have DH drive a total of 2 hours to and from work everyday, plus i've been entertaining the idea of moving for a while. Our neighbours are horrible and i hate being so boxed in.
Sooooooo i know we have to sell the house first (job doesn't start till june/july) but i've been searching for houses in our budget and so far nothing has really caught my eye.
Its always been my dream to have a cute cottage house with a nice veranda on a bit of land (maybe 2acres-not much) with no imediate neighbours. Well i've always said 'one day i'll get my dream house' but i'm starting to realise that might not happen, at least not for a good 5-10 years when i'll be working and we can afford it. So i've been searching for houses that are a bit of a compromise- suburban house with a rural outlook (as it seems anything on acreage is way too expensive).
But then i starting thinking about the possibility of maybe buying a cheap block of land with no neighbours and build or relocate a house. Problem is i don't know the first thing anout building a house or whether it is even a possibility for us
so i have a few questions for anyone out there who's either built their home or relocated an existing home onto a block of land.
(sorry for my daft questions but i honestly have no idea where to start)

1. How much does it cost to build a house? I know this answer can vary a lot depending on the type of house but i'm trying to get a rough idea- we can afford to borrow about $230,000-$240,000. If we got a peice of land for $100,000-$130,000 (i've seen a few cheapies around) we'd have around $90,000-$100,000 left over- is this enough to cover costs for a 3 bedroom house?

2.What sort of approval do i need? where do i start?-do i need counsil approval? I've seen a few blocks of land available that have no building covenants what exactly does this mean?

3. How expensive is it to get water/plumbing, phone electricity etc connected to a new block?

4. How much does it cost to buil a demporary dwelling eg a shed with bathroom, electricity etc to use while the house is being finished?

5. where do i find relocatable houses? Would this be a cheaper option than building a new house?

Sorry for all the questions, i'm really just after some advice and experiences so i can work out if its the best thing for our family or not. Am i crazy even thinking of venturing down this road with a young family? Anyone done it and lived to tell the tale?

Thanks all :D

Wow thats a lot of questions.. I'll do my best with what I know.

1. How much does it cost to build a house? I know this answer can vary a lot depending on the type of house but i'm trying to get a rough idea- we can afford to borrow about $230,000-$240,000. If we got a peice of land for $100,000-$130,000 (i've seen a few cheapies around) we'd have around $90,000-$100,000 left over- is this enough to cover costs for a 3 bedroom house?
Ok - at the moment - houses are about $1200 per square metre to build. We have a tiny tiny house (3 bedroom) that is 93 sq - so even a house as tiny as ours would cost approximately $112,000.

2.What sort of approval do i need? where do i start?-do i need counsil approval? I've seen a few blocks of land available that have no building covenants what exactly does this mean?

No building covenants mean that there is no strict code on what your house has to look like. Some building developers like the same asthetics to a common area, so they will stipulate that you have a certain looking house, gardens etc - and this passes on from seller to seller of that property. Some building covenants also contain a time limit on when you buy land as to when you must start building on it. Usually, its about 12 months. For approvals, you just go to a builder, they draw up the plans and submit it on your behalf for council approval.

3. How expensive is it to get water/plumbing, phone electricity etc connected to a new block?

Last we investigated it - it was around $30 000 for all of it. That could be just here on the coast though. ETA - after seeing Ray's post - that figure was including 2 water tanks (which we had to put in) and also a septic.

4. How much does it cost to buil a demporary dwelling eg a shed with bathroom, electricity etc to use while the house is being finished? Dunno, but you'd still have to get council approval on that.
5. where do i find relocatable houses? Would this be a cheaper option than building a new house?

Look online for businesses that sell the relocatable homes. Some houses don't travel well either. I'd say it might be a better option, but your house might not be as well structured or supported!!!!

Don't forget that you pay more stamp duty on a block of land that doesn't have a house already on it - even if you are planning on building on it.

HTH.

I dont know all the answers but I can help you out with a few of them. We've just built a house, but through a builder, but I do know some of the utility connection fees

electricity - can vary by company - ours is through powercor and cost about $170-$180 as you have to pay for the meter box.
telephone - $299 connection fee from Telstra
not sure onthe gas or water connection costs sorry.

MIL owner built on an acre, and I know she had issues with council planning permits. In addition to whether there are building covenants or caveats on the block, you need to check the plumbing as well - she discovered after she'd got all the building permits and started that she couldt have normal sewerage, or even a composting toilet, and had to have a septic tank which is another ongoing cost to have emptied and maintained.

Relocatable houses are advertised in the trading post, or the local paper - and probably other places too I just dont know where.. Also ask around at the Real Estate agencies locally as they can also have infomration about clearing sales and relocatable houses, if there are any locally.

what sort of house do you want to build? a kit home or a strawbale house might come within your budget - it all depends what you want.

ETA: Mel - is that something thats state specific - the stamp duty?? In vic stamp duty on an empty block is significantly less than on one with a house on it..

We've done both building and just recently bought established.
For us, we didn't want to go through building again, having to put in gardens etc... we are time poor people and it took us years to complete the garden and various other things when we built. A positive is that we built what we wanted and needed at the time, where as with us buying established, we had to settle for somethings that we (or should I say I?!) wern't happy with. For instance no walk-in-robe in the master bedroom whereas our other house did. We also freshly painted it inside and got the floorboards re-polished. In addition, we had to take into consideration stamp duty costs, which worked out to be about $30k or so.

Thanks for your quick replies :)

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. How expensive is it to get water/plumbing, phone electricity etc connected to a new block?

Last we investigated it - it was around $30 000 for all of it.

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Thanks Arimeh i was guessing it'd be about that. Do you know how i would find this out for sure? Do i check with counsil?

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what sort of house do you want to build? a kit home or a strawbale house might come within your budget - it all depends what you want.

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rayray i had a look online at a few kit home companies and it looks as though i'd be paying around $55,000 and upwards for a basic 3bedder... does anyone know how much the builders charge?
I found a few sites that sell pre built houses that they deliver the block of land but i'm not sure if it would be cheaper to just get builders in to build on site????

Argggh there's so much to think about. Part of me thinks it'd be a good idea to build and i get excited with the idea of a brand spanking new home but then i know theres so much red tape/setbacks/extra costs that i'm not sure if we'd be digging our own grave IYKWIM.
Can anyone tell me how long it takes to have a house built?
Also does anyone know how much clearing/preparing the site costs? eg levelling the ground and clearing trees etc

ta!

Ok it depends who is building it - if its a specy builder - it will take longer because they are building so many at the one time yeah? If its not and just a "normal" builder - usually about 12 weeks? That would be the minimum, for a simple house etc.

My DH said its a great time to be building though, you can really get the prices down cos people are short of work. About the site - it depends on what the site is like, eg, lots of rocks in the dirt etc that they would have to dig up - how many trees etc....

ETA - and about the costs - quiz your builder, he should have an approximate idea since he's doing it all the time!

Thanks Arimeh you've been a big help :) i really would love to build..there's a part of me thats up for the challenge and i think i'd really enjoy it but then i think of the kids and poor DH who works so hard and i don't know if its fair to put them through the stress of it all. I've talked about if briefly with DH and he isn't totally against it but he's worried about the extra costs and all the red tape...
hmmmm something to ponder over i guess.
Thanks so much for the info everyone ;)