hidden cost of building a house?
 

hi peeps,

a lot of you guys'n'gals have built your own houses and from what I've seen they all look fantastic, we're looking to build our house in WA using a company, but since the furthest I've got is looking at the cost of new houses from brochures etc. I have a question regarding costs I hope you folks don't mind helping me out with, I've contacted several builders but none have replied to my emails :confused:. Regarding costs, there is a total cost in the brochures but this excludes the price of the land, so what other costs are associated with building your own house if any? Does the house builder do your gardens? Can you barter the price a little, can you get multiple house builders competing for your business? Do they offer any freebies or special deals? I realise it could depend on house builder but in general can anyone help?

thanks for your help
Dave

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

In general the price in the brochure is get you in the door price, then you add on to a realistic price, including things such as the engineering for the house once its sited on your land according to the geostructural report, could be an extra 5 grand could be 50 grand. Most display homes are the upgraded package from the brochure price, skys the limit, one display home round here is $110,000 over the brochure price :rolleyes: Plus your amendments and changes all add to it, plus any extras you want. Nothing like gardens, drives, carpets flyscreens are included all thats your own responsiblity, you can add it on to the contract price but many will mark it up.

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

Thanks.
Jeez! a $110,000 over the brochure price :eek: , some of those show house are lovely though, now I see why. How much is it in general to have you garden done, driveway monoblocked, fly screens etc?

Dave

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

Most display homes would tell you to allow 30 grand. But its really how longs a piece of string, weve had a house with a 10 M driveway this ones 100 M driveway, that sort of thng its like a pool one could be 20 one could be 90. Really depends what you want.

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

fair enough. Anyone with experience able to tell me what you got with your money, I don't want to offend anyone or seem to be just nosey. We don't have that much money and the cost of buying an older home in Perth right now is too expensive, but we need to know if we're being realistic enough to even afford a new built house. :rolleyes:

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

We spent $40,000 on top of the contract price with standard inclusions for the house. Mainly on upgrades of sinks, bathroom, tiles, electrics, colorbond fencing and a front wall and gate, driveway and landscaping, crimsafe screens etc.

To be honest I'm not sure if building is the cheaper option at the moment compared to buying a well priced used property.

Having said that we would do it again and enjoyed the process but only because we had a small builder who allowed us to change specs and gave us copies of the trade invoices for upgrades etc and didnt try to rip us off. We were going with a large building company but could see the mark up being made on upgrades would send the cost through the roof.

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

Hi there. we built in Qld so WA maybe a little different, but here is our experience. Display house we chose had 2 prices, "basic" and "as displayed". Basic was I think from memory about $154,000, but did not include things like carpets, driveways, etc. "as displayed" was $201,000 which we went for as we could see exactly what we were getting for the money, including driveway. On top of that, we chose to upgrade the kitchen, i.e. granite worktops and glass splashback, which cost an extra $2,500. we also chose to supply our own fixtures and fittings as the ones the builder supplied were rubbish, i.e. all tap and shower fittings and also an undermount sink in the kitchen, which cost extra to install. we chose to include about 3 times more power sockets than they were going to supply (they never provide enough).
We also had to supply all our own light and fan fittings. All this extra stuff cost another $11,000. so our final contract price
was about $212000, and for that, we got exactly what we wanted. Our house is an identical replica of the display house which meant there were no extra construction costs.

All the fencing and landscaping was our responsbiility. We have just spent about $8,000 in fencing, plus $4,000 for glass pool fencing. Landscaping so far, I estimate to be approximately 3 grand so far.

Hope this has given you an idea.

Gina

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

Thanks Gina, thanks Centurion, exactly what I was looking for :) Anyone else?

Gina why do you think building might no be as cheap as buying? R u thinking of the price of land?

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

Hiya,
We're in the process of building a house in Queensland at the moment and I'm glad to say that we've got a great builder and we've got a happy list of inclusions that works for us. Our house price was $188,000 and we bought the land separately. The only extra we added in was air con. Our inclusions do indeed include the driveway, the landscaping (front and back) fencing and gates, tiling, carpets, blinds, flyscreens etc. I think it is really builder dependent and you just have to look around for what you want. We may add some extra things in but to be honest we're happy with the look of the things we're getting as the inclusions.
The only extra costs we incurred were solicitors fees for the land purchase and stamp duty fees. You should get the first homeowners allowance though when your house completes and this is more than enough to cover fees. You are also entitled to get a percentage of your stamp duty back within 12 months I think.
Hope that helps and good luck with your house searching.
Take care
Tracy and Angela

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

[We are building in SA with Rossdale homes,signed the contract yesterday.
Our house has a basic price of $129k,this is for a four bed with 2 baths,family room and sep lounge.
Our build has come in at $222,extras include things like air conditioning,floor coverings,driveway and perimeter path,rendering etc.As soon as I can find our quote will post it online so you can see it broken down!!
Don't forget GST as well,also the rent you will have to pay at the same time as any mortgage you have on the land and build.

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

I'd love to see the quote, thanks gjs.

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

Hi Tracey, Angela,

thanks for the input. I hope everything goes well with your build. I see you added air con as an extra, not much need for that in QLD :rolleyes: :D

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

We have a small builder who accommodates us well. There are a lot of PC items in the contract but so far we are on budget.

Unexpected costs so far have been the $3500 the council charged for approving the build and around $80k for the foundations - not including the floor itself (Only unexpected in so far as the actual amount involved!)

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

Base price inc garage $130,250
Adjustments
structural changes$4,226.00
ceiling raised to 2.7m
lounge room squared off
roller door on rear of garage

Council/Zone Requirements $2,650.00
Rainwater tank
tank connection,overflow connection to stormwater,concrete slab for base of rainwater

Services $2,120.00
Install Telstra conduit in underground electrical trench and wire phone points to house
sewer adjustmnt to allow flexible couplings for reactive soil nd lagging to wastes

Stormwater $5,530

Siteworks $34,631.00 :scared:
Excavation and filing of site
footings
Trench inspection#Concrete upstand to footing on Boundary
SL82 mesh to slab
removal of excess soil from site cut

External Finishes $7,104.00
front elevation,rendered and painted
Moulding to front elevation
Coloured mortar
"xremote controled roller doors to front of garage
termi mesh termite barrier to perimeter of house

Cabinetmaking $3,608.00
Extra cupboards in kitchen,open shelving above fridge
2x sliding door BIRs
Bulkheads above kitchen cupboards

Appliances $10,420
gas heating system
Ducted Evaporative air con system
Oven,hot plate and extractor fan,as have upgraded these(basic models
included in base price)

Internal finishes $789
double doors to lounge

Floor coverings $11,151 (includes fitting)
Tiling to entry,dining,meals,family kitchen and rear passage.
Carpet to 4 beds and lounge

Landscaping $9,630.00
pavers to drive and perimeter of house

Pretty scary stuff!
We will also have to pay for all the little extras like fencing,post box,TV arial,garden landscaping,washing line,window treatments,patio,pergola....and another 10 months rent until it is built!Hope this helps!!

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

We checked out a show home over the weekend and the extras to ensure you get exactly the same as the show house was $154K over the brochure price.

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

We've looked at so many 'show homes' they all 'BLURRRrrrr' into one!

As best as I can see they all do the same and if you want the extra's it'll cost you!

You either pay the builder (complete with their mark up) to supply and fit them OR you spend time on the phone, driving around getting quotes for seperate companies to do them for you.

Us, we'll pay the builder on anything to do with the build (warranty and all that), other things such as landscaping and water tanks will be done later in my time so that I can shop around for the best deal and get what I want not just what the builder offers.

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

wow this is fantastic! the list, not the price :D . thank you very much, this gives me good incite into what costs are involved. Karma coming your way.

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

christ! that's about the same price as the brochure price alone.

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

http://www.simonds.com.au/

The Toscana seemed quite reasonable

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

aye it does seem very nice! But by the time you buy that plus $100,000 or more for everything else plus the land :eek: ,

looks like I was being very unrealistic about how much a house would actually cost, this thread is great for me, thank you to all who's helped, keep em comin.

Dave

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

Dave,

If Perth is where you're heading, best check out the time line to completion.

Pretty hectic here at the moment and taking upto 2 years from purchase of "titled" land to movin in. ie rental costs and mortgage repayments kickin in at various as constructed stages.

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

You're welcome! :)

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

Hey,

I write finance loans for people who are building houses (as well as buying existing ones). I'm in SA and the procedures in WA are slightly different but your basics will be as follows...

1) find land, put deposit on land, look for finance (unless cash buyer).
2) find builder, find house you like and obtain a building contract with all of the cost listings on it, this will generally include about $50k for 'extras'.
3) you will start to pay off your land loan as soon as it settles, however you will not pay anything on the construction initially. As the build progresses you will receive 'progress payments' say $50k a time. You will then pay interest on the cost of your land loan, plus $50k. there are generally about 5 progress payments made throughout your build and each time you add the payment onto your loan balance and start paying it off. It can be quite complicated, however IF you have a decent broker they will sort all of that out for you and just let you know each stage is taken care of.

i would recommend getting pre-approval from a lender prior to looking so that you know exactly how much you will be able to realistically afford. There's no point setting your heart on a $200k home if you can only afford $150k. There are also alot of other factors that may hinder you being approved for a loan because of being new to the country.

if you would like to PM me with any more questions please do. It can be quite complicated so i am happy to help. I am a Pom and the reason I moved into finance here was because I totally understood how frustrating it was speaking to people who didn't understand my frame of reference from the UK - it is quite different.

Good luck,

Callie xxx

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

We're spending $65,000 above the brochure price of our house and the most expensive items were the rendering ($12,000) and the air-conditioning ($11,000 for 6 reverse cycle units - reduced from $17,000). Add to that special packages, driveway, silver-range tiles, alfresco dining area concrete, facade selection, landscaping, spa-bath etc etc and the price can easily climb. I was shocked when we actually sat down and costed our house but I think that even with the interest rate hikes it can't fail to be a good investment (there are other factors to consider if you are also concentrating on the investment potential of your house, such as size of development, covenants, location to the see and city etc etc). The only issue that concerns me is how badly will the prices be affected if the water runs out as no bugger will want to live in the SE QLD region?

Also, the type of slab that you have to have put down can positively or adversely affect the final costing?

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

And don't forget your $7,000 First Home Owner Grant.

Our application is in - and they will pay it on presentation of the first stage payment demand from the builder.

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

Having spent the last four mornings from 6am until it was too hot to think, back and belly crawling under my suspended floor installation (prior to the pour tomorrow) trying to correct deficiencies, and after complaining to the MD, they sent three people down from the Hunter Valley to inspect.

Standards are certainly very different to the UK!

I am beginning to think we should have done what several people said at the beginning: get a plot in a nice position and just build a very cheap kit home on it!

It seems impossible to get anyone to take care doing a building job regardless of the price - so save your money....

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

Is that just in SA? I think in NSW you have to complete the place.

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

Not sure.

I know in WA they only pay it on completion as I've got a friend building there.

Re: hidden cost of building a house?
 

Hum Hum :D Some builders have happy customers, so happy one lot came back 4 times, built for many people (poms included) time and time again.