pazza

For a while i've been looking at different Real Estate agencies for houses that'll suit our budget.
Has anyone built their own home and was it any cheaper in the long run. With being a builder myself, it's something i'll be looking into when we go to Oz.
I'd appreciate if anyone could share any info and prices (if that's not too cheeky) on the subject, Good or bad, as i know everything doesn't always go without any hitches.

Cheers in advance

Steve.

Juliecabs

If you do a search on here for Builders you should come up with a few answers, Steve.
Try this one for starters:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...light=builders

Julie

pazza

Thanks for that Julie,
I haven't been on for the last couple of weeks, so i missed that thread. Read through them and i'm still none the wiser .

Thanks again
Steve.

Hutch

From what I've read on here - until you get yourself fully qualified with all the appropriate Australian paperwork, you wouldn't be able to work on the house yourself. Assuming you did have all the appropriate dockets I guess you'd have to employ a builders yourself, rather than using one of these 'do everything' companies that flog you the plot of land, prepare it and build a property according to several templates.

I suggest you read Fraser's recent thread for some of the pitfalls of building your own home down-under - also either Biggie or Scossie (can't remember which) is/has built/building his own place and has posted some good threads full of useful info.

Bottom line seems to be that it's no cheaper to do it this way, but you do end up with your own purpose-built home and that's worth the wait for many people. Amongst the snippets I've learnt in reading these threads is - middle plots are preferable to corner plots over there, *always* get a soil survey before committing to the purchase of a plot of land and factor in at least $30k in variable costs.

angela&rob

hello steve i hope this helps angela and i decided to build a house while we where still in england a 4 x 2 etc we went to perth for a week and within 2 days found a plot of land of 620m and a house it cost us 117.000 english 280.000 aus this has taken about 1 year to complete.as i am still in the uk at the moment, ihad a friend of mine get a valuation on it as it stands i he was told that when its finished it will be worth 320000.00 au thats not a bad return whilst im stlill in england(living with the mother in law). i hope you can pick the bones out of this all the best .rob

pazza

Thanks Rob,
That's good investing mate, and you're not having to put up with the mess and stuff. Have you used a builder who's been recommended, or did you go pot luck ? Did your friend over see the whole build for you while you were in the UK ?
£117.000, sounds a great price (do you mean 4 bedroom 2 bathroom in 4 x 2 ),was that for all the extras, or is that for a basic build ? Is the land big enough for the house and a swimming pool, as this would be a must.
Sorry about all the questions Rob, but i'm trying to see what we'll get for our budget.
Thanks again Rob
Steve

angela&rob

hello steve the builder we used are celebration homes and they sub all the work out to their contractors just like over here . You have a project manager who organises everything for you so we haven't had to do anything except pay the installments when each bit of work is finished. we opted for the biggest house possible. with a large patio area 10mx5m(this is bigger than the whole area of the house ive just sold in brentwood).the house is 270 m2 including the garage 4 double bedrooms 2 ensuite bathrooms cinema room games room etc we could have a small pool around 7mx 6m but the beach is only a 10 min drive away if that. better off saving the money and installing air con, thats a lot of house for not a lot of money but the exchange rate was 2.4 at the time.if you are a builder and you have the contacts then you will save a packet i hope this helps i can send a pic of the house if you like rob

angela&rob

dont forget the more money you have the bigger house and land you can buy we had 165000.00 cash after the sale of or house we are lucky to have no mortgage and a few dollors in the bank. my advise is dont go mad get soming ing that you can live in untill you settle (i must be getting old) because you dont want to over strech your selfthere is gonna be more than anothe pressure on you with moving let alone worring about money. all the best mate rob roll on jan 16th 2006

sas123

A good plan is to rent FIRST for say 6+ months just to get a feel what land/houses etc before comitting. There is so many great houses and location. It is worth taking your time. We have been here over 6 months and just started to look. We quite like the following homw builders:
http://www.simonds.com.au/main.asp?region=1&netType=&
and
http://www.clarendonhomes.com.au/htm...ntr/index.html

katyjoy

Hi Steve,

we have just moved into our new house and our VERY happy with the outcome. We chose a smaller builder and our house was completed in 4 months and we were in. We have had to do a lot of work ourselves with painting ( my dad is a painter) and landscaping as well as the decking. We had choosed to do a lot of it ourselves so that we could a/ get inside as the inlaws were arriving and b/ save those hard earned pennies.
I personally think it is better to build than to buy as you get what you want and if you don't mind the hard work in establishing a garden its well worth it, plus there's the added bonus of not having to pay stamp duty on the house as well as the land and a lot of land companies will pay that for you anyway. The builder we built with ( PROSTRUCT) were very good and moved rooms around and cut rooms out and added an extra garage on for us, and made a plan that fitted our block. So far we have not had to factor in any cost and we didn't get a soil test on the land either. We got the 12k from the government and that is what is paying for the gardening, fencing and all the paint!

It has not been without its stress and a lot of hard work, it is a slow process but we r young, no kids and only have the animals to think of!

I would recommend that you rent for a while, like we did and suss out the areas and see what you can afford. Basically research, research, research and you will get a good deal. Choose a smaller firm, don't go with the big house builders as they are VERY inflexible and won't have the same level of service. Bager them when they are building and stay on top of what they are supposed to be doing and when, that worked for us and i got us in in 4 months instead of the 6 they thought!

Good luck with it all and if you like the challenge and enjoy the hard work go for it, we have had a good experience and we are only first time home owners ( we did have a house in the UK but not really). Make sure you have a deposit ( a LARGE one) it makes it easier and unless you are in your job for 3 months no bank apart from the stinky commonwealth will lend you money and that makes it difficult and then you are stuck with their high fees and charges!

Good luck

cranni

I would recommend to rent first, building was cheaper for us, we bought our block in January, Building started in April. and we move in 4 weeks, its so exciting building your own house, we picked the roof tiles down to the taps.
We are doing some things our selves, they wanted 4000 to paint inside, we can do that. they do so much tiling, we will do the rest. WE have 5 beds 2 baths, theatre room, games room .laundry.family area, study and my favourite double garage withr emote comtrol door,
My husband is doing the flooring, saving another 4000.
We are having a pool put in after xmas. we are doing the land scaping.
I cant explain how good it feels. WE rented for 12 months, and still not unpacked our t chest. no point yet really. Denise