eintracht

When we reach Melbourne in Jan 06 we are planning to buy a plot of land and have our own house built. We've got a budget for the land and house but having read a couple of other posts am a bit worried about some hidden costs.
I've read that it can cost 000's of dollars to prepare your land before it can be built and that will be a cost on top of that quoted by the builder to build your house. I know there is soil sampling but this seems to be included in building quotes. Can anybody who has been through this be prepared to elaborate please.

Many thanks

Chris

Three Legs

Try and purchase a plot of land that is relatively level avoiding large associated groundwork costs ...

Ensure the plot is serviced ... ie, gas, electric, telephone, drainage connections ...

I'm unsure whether they spray the ground in Victoria for termites but look into anyway ...

Jobs a good 'un

Three Legs (Ex-Quantity Surveyor )

marco121068

The contract I've signed for a house build has included an additional $14,000 'allowance' for footings etc. based on the sales guys estimate. If it's any more than that when they come to do it then I've got to pay more - if it's less (hmmm I somehow doubt that) I'll get a refund.

The soil sampling is included - but until it's been done then nobody knows what the results will be.

robert cowan

get a soil report before you buy. this is what we did. we made an offer on the land that we wanted but we made the offer subject to the soil report. so if the report was bad we could re-negotiate the price or withdraw our offer without losing our deposit. the soil report cost $350

Ozceltic

This is all well and good but your builder will normally demand a soil test of their own. Not many (If any) builders will accept a soil test report from a third party.
Worth getting for your own piece of mind though and can be got for as little as $250.

DevMountain

Make sure that when you find a piece of land that you investigate the building restrictions before you pay up.

There is a 1.5 acre plot near us that has been sold 5 times in as many years - each time the purchasers have resold as soon as they have found out what the council have said what they can and cannot do with it!!

robert cowan

this is all well and good? builders soil test is in with price off build.i will explain.
if you get a soil test done and it comes back as a p class test and the sale is subject to a soil test. you get a quot from a builder for a p class slab for the house you like, the builder has to put a base in anyway but you have to find out how much more cost it will be to up grade to a p class base. then you go back to vendor of land and say you are not interested unless they reduce their price. we told them to knock $20000 off. they met us half way at $10000.
our builder will use the soil test we had done as they use same engineering company for soil tests.

Ozceltic

Yes the builders soil test is in with the price of the build BUT ONLY if you build with that builder, they are not transferable.
We changed our minds about the first builder after their engineering seemed a bit sub standard, our new builder will not use the soil and contour surveys we had done for $1800 (Which would of come off the cost of the build if we had gone through with first builder) so we are up for another spend with new builder...Deep breath.

You only buy land once and whatever surveys you have done is up to you. All I can say is you are lucky to find a builder who uses the same engineering company as you used, or was it more than luck