Who's built a new house?

[Amaunet]

Background: I currently live in a 2 br fibro cottage/shack/box....its been a good first home, but I am feeling restless in it. I want my "forevever" house, my family home where I raise my kids and make lots of memories. I also love "stickybeaking" at open homes and have been looking at a few houses and reading the realestate mag and browsing the net. I have seen NOTHING suitable in our price range and I also keep comparing everything to this awesome display home I fell in love with a few years ago.

I went to an open house yesterday and got chatting to the agent. I mentioned perhaps building but finding suitable land close to trains is difficult. She then mentioned a vacant block that has just listed IN THE SAME STREET AS MY PARENTS!!! I would LOVE this (DH isn't convinced) The block is quite sloping - but the builder I like specialises in sloping blocks - so its PERFECT.

DH isn't as READY as me to start this process, my idea is to buy the (or a) block now (we can afford it no probs) and build in a few years. So to get to the point of my post (sorry I waffle) - who has built a house? What are the hidden costs? Pitfalls? Benefits?

The builder included everything except floorcoverings and lightfittings - he even covers "site costs" eg excavation.

Extras I have thought of
- fencing
- landscaping- turf, plants
- driveway
- may need some retaining walls to create level outdoor areas
- aircond/heating
- curtains
- paths etc

What else - I am trying to come up with a realistic figure we will need. The house is about $290K - will an extra $30K cover the rest?

Also, do you pay for the house in stages? Or at the end at handover - when would our mortgage start?

Thanks

K

[Turkish Delight]

progress payments will start as soon as the builder starts on the block. The builder charges a portion of the price of house when he completes a stage. There are a few stages from start to end. Of course that doesn't include your repayments on the block.

Floor coverings can be expensive depending on the type you choose, as can lightfittings. Our aircon is ducted and cost us $6k depending on the size of the house, this can change.
It is soooo expensive building a house of scratch. We have just completed everything in our house (which we built). It's been about 4 years since we moved in.

Drivways are expensive too. Our is exposed aggregate and cost us $4k.

GL.

[YoYo]

I LOVED it when I built my house! ALLLL the way back in 2003, and all by myself too

A lot of the things you mentioned can be included in the cost with the builder, although they usually charge a bit more for the privelidge. It does however do away with having to move into a cold un carpeted / tiled with sand or cardboard boxes as a driveway!

As far as the payments go, when I did it (and it is the norm, but then again every company is different) you are given a fixed price contract, and at certain parts of the building process (siteworks, concrete pad (well that's in Perth), brickwork, roofing etc) you do a periodical payment before or after each section is completed. Then by the time the house is finished, you are fully paid up! Key handover and the house is yours.

In Perth you can get house and land packages, so the land and house are all rolled into one mortgage. I think if you buy land first, you will have mortgage for that (unless you can pay for it outright) and then the house will be on top of that...IYKWIM....You'd see a mortgage broker probably to help with that stuff.

I loved the building process and would love to do it again

[Pandora]

We built, but did house and land so its a bit different

290K is good if it includes sitecosts - make sure this is not capped. Sometimes sitecosts can be tens of thousands above the estimate - has the land been surveyed as yet? The site costs for our house were fixed in the price but were over 30K on their own.

You also need to think of costs of things such as TV antenna, gas connection, electricity connection, phone connection - these can be between 150-300+ each
Landscaping can run in to thousands depending on what you want and how much you can do yourself. We havent been able to afford to get ours donw yet other than the front which was included, but there are no plants so far.
Do you want a water tank installed?
What sort of heating annd cooling - ducted heating and refrig cooling will cost 5K-7K
Are your kitchen appliances and cabinetry included?
Letterbox

As far as mortgage goes, you can get a progressive drawdown loan where you pay in stages, and you only pay the interest component until the last drawdown of funds, then you start paying the full amount.

If you think 30K will cover it, count on it being 40-50K

[melbel]

Also be careful you dont get caught out on the site costs....generally they are only calculated for a standard level block with stable soil, what they call an "M" class slab. Anything outside this will incur extra costs as we found out being on a slope. So check the fine print carefully and ask lots of questions.

Our driveway which is a standard size and is fully sealed concrete cost us just over $7000 five years ago as a guide to cost.

Curtains for a full house lot would be in the $10,000+ bracket for proper ones.

[Nelle]

We move into our house in 11 days, and I sort of think that apart from the obvious up-front expenses like foundation and actual house, it depends on how much of a work in progress you want it to be.

If the builder specialises in sloped blocks then you'd think they'd be prepared for yours, but definitely find out. Often finance is dependent on the soil test and land being surveyed anyway, in case the cost blows out beyond what you can afford.

As for the other things - it just depends on how you want to start out. For us, we compromised on the things that we can sort out later.
- Like we didn't include an alfresco area, because we're handy (okay, well our family are) and we can do it ourselves when we have some spare time and money.
- We have vinyl floors because they're gentler than tiles on little boys sliding around in socks and if we get sick of them in 10 years then they're relatively easy to replace.
- We got our curtains from IKEA because one day I want plantation shutters which I will have to sell a child to buy and I can't decide which child to sell yet.
- We will take awhile to put in a permanent clothesline because I don't know what area gets the most sun. And the same with the garden, I need to know where the sun and wind hits to know what will survive where.
- We have heating, but I imagine air-con will come when we decide we just can't do without it anymore. And when we can afford it.

But yeah, things can be upgraded. When you want better taps, showerhead, oven, curtains, letterbox, driveway, light fixtures, paint colours, benchtop, carpet - that is all stuff you can compromise on for now if you need because it's not incredibly costly to replace down the track.
When you're building you want things like room size and window placement and any garage and storage issues and kitchen and bathroom layout to be right, because they're the things that will cost a packet to change later. If I had a budget, I'd rather spend that money on a house with great kitchen and lots of storage cupboards, and then get the air con later.

So that's my essay for you. It really is great to build, because you can have things just where you want them. You just need to go into it knowing how much everything will cost, and having some things you can compromise on if you need. If it's going to be your forever home, then you might be okay with it being a work in progress - as long as you give yourselves a timeline for things so your backyards still isn't all mud after years of living there!

[~Raven~]

Also be careful you dont get caught out on the site costs....generally they are only calculated for a standard level block with stable soil, what they call an "M" class slab. Anything outside this will incur extra costs as we found out being on a slope. So check the fine print carefully and ask lots of questions.

If you're buying land make sure you add a clause where you can back out of the sale if it's not class M or better. It doesn't mean you have to back out, but it's your choice to go through with it depending on how much it will cost for the footings for your house. Some soil types can cost an extra $10,000 + to build on.

Some land sales people will be honest with you and say which blocks contain fill once you ask them but they generally aren't upfront with that information. Same with fall.
It should be all there in the documents (in Vic it's called Section 32) for you to read in the plan of subdivision but they won't tell you

[misty]

alot of good points already.

Just thought I would add:
- you may need to pay an independant certifier (not sure about all the states, but this is a requirement in ACT) they cost about $3000.
- mailbox, clothesline
- (in ACT) you are also required to have a water tank, connected to the toilet and laundry; and in some suburbs, solar hot water systems. So ceck out with your local council any extra's you may be required to have

Basically go through the inclusions list with a fine tooth comb before signning anything. On the current house we are building It took us four weeks of going back and forth about the inclusions in the contract.

[Lulu]

The only thing I would disagree with is to get decent fittings (taps etc) from the start - it makes a HUGE difference to the overall look of the house. Yes, they can be expensive but always worth it in the end.

[Cupcake]

Hey ControlFreak, i work for a construction company and the way it works for us is payment in 6 stages, 5% Deposit, 10% Base Stage, 15% Frame Stage, 35% Frame Stage, 20% Fixing Stage, 15% Practical Completion. Your bank will go out at every stage to ensure the work has been done. Any variations you do throughout a job often incurr a Variation fee plus the cost of changing whatever you changed, that money can either be claimed at the end of the job or at the appropriate stage of the job.

A lot of builders give a base price which seems cheap but as you say it doesnt include fixtures, fittings, floor coverings. Sloping blocks can be quite expensive.

We have a standard Specification which is included in all our houses then you can add or subtract anything you like, our extras list is

Draws and Glass fronts to kitchen
Glass splashback as per display
Microwave with trim kit
Main floor tiles as display (supply and lay)
Rectified wet area tiles as display (supply and lay)
Glass feature tiles as display (supply and lay)
Feature shower bases
Carpets as per display (supply and lay)
Tiling to front porch & rear patio and around pool (Supply and lay)
Glass wardrobe doors to Bed 2, 3 as per display
Intercom as display
Security System as per display
Ducted Vacuum as per display
Light Fitting as per display
Fans as per display
Split system Air conditioners as per display
TV Antenna with booster
Letterbox Rendered (800 x 600)
Wall mounted clothesline
Pool as per display including sandstone edge
Pool fencing to owners requirements
Exposed aggregate drive way and laundry pad-as display
Drive way sealing
BBQ Cabinet & BBQ
Designer Flake to Garage floor
Metallic Paint on Feature wall
Water tank to owner?s requirements
- 5000L Above-ground
- 5000L Under-ground
Fencing to owners requirements
Landscaping to owners requirements

Some of those items are just upgrades of already included stuff but thought it may help. Also window furnishings like blinds are extras.

Hope this has been of some help if you have any questions PM me, if im unsure there will be someone in the office i can ask, goodluck!!

[~Kim~]

We've been in ours nearly 12months.
In NSW watertank is mandatory and must be connected to toilets. You also need a basix report and epending on a lot of environmental factors yo may need special lighting/insulation etc to make sure it all complies. You must also have a clothesline installed inside and out. Otherwise the house won't be passed.
An estimate of our costs were
Carpet $5K - included though
Fences - $4K
R/C AC - $12K
Garden $3-5K
Drive/paths/patio - $15K This was at mates rates too. The others were much dearer
Window treatments $5K

So no tiles etc are included? Ours were as long as the styles we picked are in a certain pricerange. We paid extra.
I know you loved the disply home and builder but shop around as some will have waaay more stuff included. eg mine came with a 900mm oven as standard.
Some builders don't even put 2 courses of bricks over the windows. They either put the windows higher and stop the wall at the top or use weatherboard. That was something I didn't like about some builders. They charged extra for more bricks.

[~Raven~]

Also if you're not happy with the builders selection for tiles etc then spend a bit extra and get what you like so maybe budget an extra grand to cover that. You will have to look at them every day so don't settle for something and kick youself over them later on.

I think we spent an extra $600 on feature tiles and labor for our ensuite and bathroom. They had a display at the tile showroom and I couldn't get it out of my head. I LOVE them

[Inanna]

It is exciting to build and I didn't find it stressful at all.

I agree completely with Lulu that you get what you are wanting. Get the fixtures you want and get good quality ones that will last the distance.

I didn't have any surprise costs. I priced everything and it was all put in the contract. Right down to the taps!

Driveways are expensive and ours wasn't done well and it is a pain in the butt!

I loved my builder and I had everything included and there were no hidden costs...

[Amaunet]

Thanks so much for all the advice - this forum continues to overwhelm me with the generosity of the members!

Some great advice - esp the now and later stuff -there are definiety things I could wait for eg landscaping etc - just turf would do to keep the dust down, outdoor entertaining area etc. Also makes me think of the things we could do ourselves - my mum can make the curtains etc. I would spend the money to get any structural garden work done tho - such as retaining walls to create flat areas - would be easier to do then than later.

The builder has an EXCELLENT reputation and is primarily based in my area. They have won awards (recently) for design, quality and customer service as well as value. They will also make changes to the plan for no extra cost such as position of internal walls/rooms, bathroom layout etc and flipping design etc. We can also do things to the plan we like such as "square off" the back to get a bit of extra space in kids b/r for low $$$ (eg $2k). They seem flexible, within reason of course.

They factor in sloping site costs into their sloping site designs but will come and do a tender BEFORE we buy the land to make sure it is suitable etc. They also have a 5 star inclusions pack (which is inc in the $290K which has lots of things that have been mentioned inc Omega appliances, remote garage, flyscreens, fancy fittings (taps etc), extra tiles in bathrooms, exhaust fans in all wet areas, china toilet cistern, choice of doors etc. The price also includes BASIX requirements in NSW which has to do with water tanks and enviro specs I think.

I am getting excited - DH hasn't said "No" to my ideas - so thats a good start - he needs time to think it over tho. I am going to go and visit the block again today!