allison

Anyone got any experience? What factors do you look for? Any problems with building on slopes? does anyone know much about the soil tests? Anyone had problems with builders covenants?

Thanks

cresta57

We've bought land, major factors when buying are where the flood plain is if your contemplating buying somewhere that floods as well as shifting sand or rocky terrain. Some local councils inform you if your intended purchase is within a flood plain others keep it quiet and you have to ask around.
Building on slopes is not much of a problem, ours slopes at an alarming rate, it does make for good views though. Sloping blocks can add to the foundation [slab] costs as the house pad will need to be either cut & filled or built up to level with imported fill. Any filled area needs to be drilled & piled down to solid ground therefore slab construction can be quite pricey if a ring beam is required.
Soil tests are used to determine the slab construction & the waste water management if your not connecting to a mains sewer. Soil type varies and each type is accorded a letter ours was M from memory, builds close by to your intended purchase can give you some idea of what to expect though test results can vary block to block even within the same block they can alter.
Covenants are usually imposed by the developer of the land sometimes by the previous owners of the land or the local council. They can vary enormously from stipulating which bricks or what roof construction can be used to insisting X amount of trees are planted even the type of house that can be constructed. We're working on a couple of jobs governed by covenants at the moment, one insists 50% of the exterior walls are constructed using fibro, the other that every house must be a rendered finish. They can cause problems for some builders in particular project builders that knock out lots of homes all in the same style. The guy who built the home that needed 50% of the walls fibro had to pay for all the bricks even though 50% weren't used he then had to pay for extra fibro. All because the sales guy couldn't quote a price to deduct one & add the other.

allison

Thanks for your advice. it has definitely given me more food for thought esp the bit about flood plains. I was looking at a place in Bli bli as one option but I suspect it could be in an area that floods. Given that surrounding roads have flood markers on them.

themerlin

When you buy/ make an offer make sure you put as many get outs clauses in the contract. Just incase you find something nasty about the land.

We had a bit of an issue with the creek that runs through our block and the sewage system.

Centurion

Just make sure your offer is subject to satisfactory soil tests and subject to site survey or somesuch. That way you can back out. And dont believe an agents crap in saying that the vendor wont be interested in any subject to clauses. Agents here are full of rubbish and most will lie, steal and clone thier grandmothers for a sale.

themerlin

So true!