New House constructions - What surprises?

Need a hand with a home project, how to fix that bloody roof leak, hang a door etc...
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dvestate
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New House constructions - What surprises?

Post by dvestate »

The wife and I have been looking for a new place for about 3 months now and can't find anything that we really want to live in. We did the display home stuff at the start an crossed it off the list as an option as we though we'd have to live with the in-laws and offload our joint.

Crunched the numbers over this week and worked out a strategy to stay at our place and get a new place built.

So now before I pull the trigger and go steaming ahead any of the fine ARSE members done the new house thing in the past? were there any issues that came out of know where that smacked you upside the head and cost you a bucket of cash?

Wanting to get myself a 'worse case' list map it out and then know sort of what could/will go wrong :)
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Re: New House constructions - What surprises?

Post by ysu »

What I know about nearly any project; the orig costing will blow out. There's hardly any project - especially IT and building - which remains within the original budget. There's always something.

I'm very curious, though, as to what local problems usually arise, as I've no xp in Australian building whatsoever (been around a few back in Hungary in the family, but that's very different).

Also: can you tell me what sort of strategy do you employ to get this built while at your own place? I'd love to do that as well, but I see no easy way...(i.e. none without a truckload of cash, hehe)
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dvestate
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Re: New House constructions - What surprises?

Post by dvestate »

I have to say that a smart purchase at the right time a few years back meaning that my current mortgage per week is less than I would have to pay to rent a place in the same suburb has helped out. I also managed to save a bit of cash over the 8 years we have owned the place by not spending all of my overtime payments.

So planning to sit 12 months of my current mortgage payments into that account and pay off the 2nd mortgage from when we have to start paying when the land becomes registered, worse case I sell my current place an move in with family if things get tight when construction starts which would not be the most ideal thing with a crazy 2yr old and an even crazier cat!!
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Re: New House constructions - What surprises?

Post by thornz »

We have just finished building our new house and TBH, it was nowhere near as bad as the horror stories you hear. In saying that, we were very thorough with everything before we signed any contracts, and worked with a company that gave a set price contract from the start, which meant that the house would be built on the plans for the initial cost. It meant that they couldnt surprise us with any hidden costs, and the only variations there would be, would be things we decided to change through the building process. I think from memory we only ended up just under $2000 over our initial cost, and these were purely options that we decided to do.

The biggest thing to remember is you get what you pay for. We found that when we were looking, some companies seemed so cheap, but at the end of day, it comes down to the fitout quality, and what they price in there build contract. Even once we decided who we were going to use, we spent months going over everyrthing, pricing different options, just to be certain there were no hidden costs.

The other trick some companys would use, is giving completely unrealistic PC sums for parts of the build where you have a major input, such as kitchens, bathrooms, landscaping etc where you are choosing different benchtops, basins, planst etc etc. I remember looking at a couple, and there PC sum for a kitchen was $3000, good luck building a kitchen for that. But its the PC sums that can really blow your budget out of the water, that house that on the inital contract was $200k, can quickly blow out by the time you design your kitchen to how you wanted it. The company we went with gave good PC's sums, and most we actually came in under budget.

Then again, it may be completely different building a house in Australia then it is in NZ, and if so ignore anything I ave said.
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dvestate
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Re: New House constructions - What surprises?

Post by dvestate »

Sounds about right thornz, I'm trying to look more at the all costs builders so there is nothing missing.... actually grilling the hell out of one guy at the moment about each aspect of the pricing :)

Spoke to a friend of a friend at work and he's basically told me where he stuffed up was going with someone who didn't do floor coverings and didn't know that his choice of timber flooring after the fact meant the incorrect skirting was in place, had to be removed and replaced so he paid for it twice.

He also told me if your going to complain to get them moving in construction let the Mrs go nuts at them he said they had one spot where nothing happened for 5 weeks after the slab was poured, his wife went nuts and they were out 2 days later and if there was nothing new happening each week she was ripping into them. He said they soon got the place done to get rid of her ;)
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Re: New House constructions - What surprises?

Post by thornz »

I think its the way to go chosing a fixed price contract. As mentioned, the main thing is do your homework in regards to PC sums and wether they are realistic or not, it can be the biggest killer. We were lucky in a way that the father in law is in the construction industry, so we ran everything past him in regards to what to look out for.

Just make sure you take your time and really make the company's you have shortlisted work hard to get your money.

Another thing that could be worth asking about is if they do house and land packages (popular here in NZ). Its kind of what we ended up doing, still designed the house exactly how we wanted, but sort of got a combo deal by buying the section and building through the same company. It also meant that we only had to pay a 10% deposit up front, and then the balance on completion. The added bonus of this is that its in there interest to get the house done ASAP, so that they arent paying interest on the money that they have borrowed to build the house. It was slightly more expensive doing it this way, but saved us drawing down on the mortgage, no progress payments, and made the 5 month build time so much more financially viable, instead of paying rent and a mortgage.
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dvestate
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Re: New House constructions - What surprises?

Post by dvestate »

Well through the process there are basically these options here:

* House & Land with 10% deposit - Only done in certain areas and usually you get no say in colurs etc but you obviously get the price lock in and pay at the end.

* House & Land - You build one of the homes on land they have choosen (usually the smaller bits), but you have to pay the land in full at Land Registration and then progress payments throughout construction

* Buy your land find your house - I'm leaning to this option, I choose the exact location of the block and the size and go through the purchase process and while waiting for Registration (6 months) I look for my builder.

My parents built a place 18 years ago and I remember some of the stuff that happened, Dad worked in the industry for 30 odd years so can run everything past him and get him onto the site during construction to check they are doing it right
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Re: New House constructions - What surprises?

Post by NeilPearson »

the project homes (the house and land option) are about $300 per square metre cheaper. thats here In WA. They are cheaper because they are cheaper to build. they are really the bare minimums in housing. but they are so popular nowdays because of the price.
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Re: New House constructions - What surprises?

Post by ysu »

I'd not think too much, mate, if I had a dad who can double-check if everything is correct. It's a huge bonus.
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Re: New House constructions - What surprises?

Post by Bauer »

dragging up an old thread cos Im thinking of looking for a block sometime this year or next and building on it.

I fully expect not to go down the mainstream path and will prolly look for something architect designed yet to a smart budget. I dont think I want normal.

Anyone here in the building game?

Im assuming I fly Mick down here to design my house and w00dsy can lay my carpet at the other end of the build (you can bring norbs as I have a stanley knife here for him) Anyone else need a trip to Tassie?
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Re: New House constructions - What surprises?

Post by r8response »

Norbs can probably do the internal wiring as well. Make everything Cat 6 or Fiber :D
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Re: New House constructions - What surprises?

Post by DexterPunk »

I can take fancy photos of it, if you ever want to sell it.
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Re: New House constructions - What surprises?

Post by bengatta »

6 years on, I still have nightmares...
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Re: RE: Re: New House constructions - What surprises?

Post by w00dsy »

bengatta wrote:6 years on, I still have nightmares...

Almost everyone I worked for that built their own house said they are glad they did it once but will never do it again.
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Re: RE: Re: New House constructions - What surprises?

Post by Exar Kun »

w00dsy wrote:
bengatta wrote:6 years on, I still have nightmares...

Almost everyone I worked for that built their own house said they are glad they did it once but will never do it again.
Hehe yep. Haven't done it myself but judging by what our clients go through that is certainly the case.
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