marco121068

One of the main benefits I can see to building your own is that you can (eventually) get a house exactly how you want it.

A dogs life

Or you could just renovate an existing house to be exactly as you want it...

Hutch

Yea, I totally agree. It's something we've been considering ourselves. To be honest I never did the maths thinking it'd work out cheaper than buying an existing home - in fact I'd happily pay a bit more to have a layout that precisely fits our needs. The plot we're looking at is just under $200k and we've been quoted $150k for the build with all the trimmings. Assuming another $35k for 'extras', that's $385k, which is about $65k shy of what similar sized homes cost in the area.

Biggie's been building his own house - his input would be useful

AndyD

We have been told to allow $20000 for extras (floor coverings And blinds) on any NEW purchase.

Lee Family

We are over here now in Brisbane on holiday and have been round loads of show homes, nearly all of the sales reps have told us to allow at least an extra $30000 on top of the house build price for all the items not included in the general specification. one house we looked at had over $120000 of extras added to it (it was nice though ) although it was still cheaper than the homes we were chauffeured around on Bribie Island (think the salesman thought it was my flash Merc' outside and kept asking how my game of golf was lol) didnt see us pull up in the little hire car.

Jon

pompeywill

Here is my experience, maybe it will help someone.

We bought a plot 18 months ago in Perth, cost $127,000

The house original cost was $100,000, a few extras inc air con, french doors to games room, french doors to front lounge (original plans were too openplan for us, we like to hide from the kids)

We excluded blinds and floorcoverings, also all wardrobe doors were excluded. (they were charging over $200 for a standard flush door)

We added loads of extra sockets, and TV points, for a cost of an extra $3500
We had a price increase of $8000 also.

So in total we are looking at a rough cost of $240,000
Landscaping (hows longs a piece of string) maybe $20,000
We are having a pool installed which will cost between $10-$15,000.

House will eventually cost us around $280,000 I reckon (with a pool dont forget)

Houses in our area are reaching $300,000 so we wont lose out, but we wont get rich quick either.

Overall an enjoyable experience, we funded the cost while living in the UK so it hasn't been a problem. (had a second mortgage on our property here)

I wont count my chickens though as its not finished yet, will keep you posted.

MrsDagboy

Nowhere near that here in Qld where spalen is - just bought a house, stamp duty $10k.

In my experience here in Brisbane, you cant build a house & do all the establishing for the same price that you can buy an established house. Even when people say its going to cost $X to do such & such, you can usually double what you expect it to cost. For example, Pompeywill is quoting $10-15K for a pool - we just got our put in & all up it has cost us close to $50K with fencing & landscaping & paving - admittedly a larger pool than most people would put in their backyards, but I find it hard to believe that someone could put an inground pool in with all the extras that go with it, landscaping, fencing etc for $10K (or even $15K) unless they were digging it themselves . Of course if it were an aboveground pool & they did the fencing etc themselves then $15K is a more realistic budget as frineds of ours just had an above ground one put in at the same time we did ours & thats about what they paid. Its the same with everything - you pay big time unless you do it all yourself, even something as simple as concrete garden edging is $20-$30/metre, concreting for a driveway is minimum of $45/sqm, small retaining wall, where's your chequebook? :scared:

Of course as others have said, you get to get the house that you want in the end, just remember that if you want even one wall moved 6 inches one way on a plan that will involve extra costs, builders charge you for just breathing the same air as you . If you choose to renovate you will also be at the mercy of builders (as we are), but at least the main structure of the building is there & can be lived in while things are being done up.

Lastly, remember that when you see a showhome & the builder says "ohh this house costs $150K" he means the basic house not the house you are seeing . As Lee family have said, its not unusual to add an extra $100-$150K for all the extras to make it the same quality. Every show home has an upmarket kitchen, better appliances, doors, doorknobs, paint finish, carpets, tiles, bathroom, lights etc than the "basic" model. If you seriously are happy with the basic version then thats fine, but dont forget that when you come to sell it (or when you talk about what its worth compared to an established house), your house will be worth a considerable amount less than the house down the road with the better quality fittings. Just make sure you compare apples with apples.

MrsDagboy

Thats something else to consider I guess - how much the market (& therefore the block of land) will have gone up in that time. Bit hard to compare really in some ways, but Im betting that you cant still buy a block of land where you bought yours for $127K?

Anne4Terry

Has anybody bought a decent size plot with a ramshackle old house on it, knocked that down then put a new house on it? Wondered how the costs of that compared as surely water, electric etc would already be connected to the site?

Paul2004

I was told that ppl do this a lot, especially when we was looking at older suburbs of the Gold Coast for example. People I spoke to inc an expat Chippy out there explained how the houses in Oz 'aint' built like over here. None of this 2 skin (double brick) walls to the exterior! ... oh no, 1 brick think walls! ...... just for show really! The interior is like this :



He said the houses are built to last 50 years, 25 even! I questioned this, but that was what he said! He said even houses in the UK was NEVER built to last so long, and for an example said that the tower blocks in the 70's were only built to last 25yrs!!

Anyway, all I'm saying is yeah, I think ppl WILL buy an old derilict house for the land, and build new! I think with a proprty in Oz, the money IS all in the land really. Ok, a lovely house WILL add ot the value obv, but you know what I mean! ..... *think*

and while I'm at it, here's a few more pics I took in Oz a few weeks ago of new builds (Upper Coomera - Gold Coast'ish) :

Advertised as a 900m block, but looks massive to me! .... maybe 900m IS massive!



Timber Frame :



Getting there!



and I spose had to throw a Beut in! ...



I wish! ... lol

Nicstids

[

and I spose had to throw a Beut in! ...



I wish! ... lol[/QUOTE]

Not having a go or anything but am I the only one who thinks that completed house is horrible?!!

Paul2004

Of course your entitled to your opinion, but I stick to 'it's a beaut ...

Thing is too, in this area I'd go as far to say MOST houses are single storey, so the double storey houses stand out a bit! ...

Buty lots of individuality which was nice!

Horses for Courses tho!

pompeywill

True the land has crept up, you cant get a block our size for that money now. Thats why I like the idea of new builds, the longer they take the more they are worth (in theory) if you can sustain the cost.

Also the price I quoted on the pool was just a ballpark figure I picked up reading another thread on pools, so it could well be more expensive.

tabby

When were out in Aus in Sept, we asked around for corner plots for sale thinking the same as you that you get more usable space for your money as you do in the UK, then we noticed that there were a awful lot of corner plots for sale and that they were always the last to go on new developments, what we found out was that if you have a standard plot (i.e not corner) the house has to be set back a minimum amount (i think 6 mtrs) from the front of the land/road, what happens on the corner plots is that this rule applies on all sides on a road which means you lose a lot of land, as you have to set the house back 6 mtrs and the side fences back 6 mtrs to from the road.

Hope this helps

MrsDagboy

Nope!!!!!!!

Yeah the land figure is what throws the value though, I guess in some respects if you compare what the land is worth now + the cost of the house you get a better idea of how much to compare to established houses as the land would be worth more now anyway, even if you had done absolutely nothing to it (does that make sense?).

And I hope you have deep pockets for that pool .