galba

I have tried searching for 'House Build' etc but not found anything relevant.

OH and I have decided to build a house. We have seen a couple of blocks we like but not sure what we need to do now! We are speaking to friends who have bought before and also trying to find something out about financing it. At the moment the builder (Webb Brown) are quoting approx 20-22 months from planning to getting keys - which fits in well with our plans.

We have a 20% deposit for the land do we get a mortgage for that on its own and then another for the build cost? How do the payments work?

Can anyone suggest a good broker? Any comments on Webb Brown? What research do we need to do before buying the block? Any good websites?

Thanks

Galba

Dorothy

Webb Brown are part of the Alcock Group. They are huge here. They own Homebuyers Centre, Celebration, Dale Alcock, APG, Web Brown Neves, and one other that I can't remember. We built with Celebration and were 90% pleased with them I would say. We did buy the land first then work with the builder to find a house to fit on it but our block is a fairly good size so just about anything fits. Everything goes on the same mortgage and you make progress payments. The mortgage is relatively small at first, just for the land, then as the bulider asks for money your payments go up. Ours were land only for the first 6 months then once they were ready to start we had to get the bank to fork out about 1/3 of the cost of the house. Our payments went up accordingly. Then just before they went to lock up they asked for another 1/3 and just before we were ready for our handover inspection we had to get the rest. Your mortgage broker really should do all of that for you though.

For finance, we used a broker called Mark from Resolve Finance http://www.resolvefinance.com.au/. His office is in the same building as Celebration Homes in Osborne Park, but he came out to our house on weekends or evenings to do everything. I don't think we ever saw him in his office! He was fantastic, getting us a really great rate and handled everything from start to finish. We didn't have to do anything at all.

The quote of 20-22 months sounds incredibly long to me though. Ours took just over 14 months from signing the contracts for the land to handover and 6 months of that was waiting for the local council to register the titles. The actual build was just over 7 months. Slab went down in early January and handover was 21 July.

Ace did a house build thread when they built their 2 storey which you could look for and Tiawamutu did one when she built her 1 level house.

Don't forget to add at least 10-15% to the quoted prices for "extras" like power points and such. Flooring and window coverings are also not included so you have to budget for that as well.

ozhappy981

As Dorothy has said for finance.

We had to pay $1,000 to get computerised plans. Then another $4,000 at the "preparation of plans" agreement. If we'd then walked away, we would have lost the $5,000. Staying with them, meant the $5,000 became part of the deposit.

The deposit of 6.5% was paid when the contracts were signed. Since then we've been making progress payments (at what stage you make them and how much is laid down in regulations).

As for the timing of 20-22 months? Are you building a two-storey house?
If yes, then that's probably right on timing.

We signed up with APG at the end of July 2008. We then had to wait until just before Christmas to get the contracts. Why that took so long, I have no idea. It was never explained (they just kept saying it was out of their control) and I found that incredibly frustrating.

Slab went down end of April 2009 and since then it's been really speedy. Top storey has roof on and inside was plastered last week.

According to our contract, handover is May 2010, but if they keep up at the present pace, we'll be in before.

We're building with APG (also part of the Alcock Brown Neaves empire). We have been very happy with the standard of the build so far. We had an independent inspection done before the roof trusses went on the top floor. The inspector only found three things wrong and they were fixed by APG within 24 hours.

We get fortnightly updates on what's planned by our customer liaison officer and we've had three site meetings with our building supervisor and technical manager when they've explained "stuff" to us. All very good.

We would definitely recommend them. We were told that they use the same crew of tradies across the whole ABN group. So it doesn't matter much whether you build with Webb Brown Neaves, APG, or Dale Alcock.

galba

Thanks Dorothy and ozchappy981 - very helpful information.

We were told that the reason the build is so long is because the house would need to be individually designed - 2/3 storey on a 380-415m2 block.

Finance - so you get one home loan for both the land and the house and you start paying interest on the land part straightaway and in increments for the build part? and only a 6.5% deposit is needed? That seems very low!

Any pointers on things to check when selecting a block - we plan on putting a pool in and obviously need to make sure that there are no pipes/drains in the way. We are able to build 8.5 m high but can do an undercroft garage. The sites are all prepared so don't need to worry about power and drains etc.

Thanks again

Galba

Dorothy

We put $1000 down on the house and $1500 on the land. Other than that our FHOG was the down payment. So, just under $10k for a $400k house/land.

It really depends on your finances how much you have to put down.

SJFothe

We're building with Commodore homes which is part of BGC group. We had to put down $500 deposit for land and then same for build. The slab went down two weeks ago and we have just received invoices for the balance of deposit (6.5%) and payment for the slab, before this we were only paying the mortgage on the land. Paperwork side of things took 6mths and contracts state 12 mths in total to completion
We used and would highly recommend Jon Hartley, Perth Finance, he's based in Freo but comes out to you to do home visits. Pm me if you would like his details. His mobile is always on, we call him morning, noon and night and weekends he is fantastic.

ozhappy981

Tell the builder where you plan to put the pool, so they know not to put soakwells etc into that area.

We actually had the pool dug out by the pool building company before the house building started. It made for much easier access for the pool builder.

Dorothy

Most builders don't do soakwells. They're the homeowner's responsibility after handover.

ozhappy981

I think as with most things, it depends on the builder. My guess would be that those at the "cheaper end" don't do it or count it as an "extra".

APG most definitely do soakwells. It's in our specification and I saw them on site before they were "dug in" .

Note to galba: Whichever builder you choose, check your specification *very* carefully. Never assume that something will be included (not just soakwells). For example, with APG cornices in all the rooms are included automatically. But skirting boards and window sills are "extras".

ACE

Hi Galba,
We are building a two storey house which is our own design. It has taken 17 months so far and that is from going to site. When looking at land make sure you check things like soil type i.e high limestone content, sandy etc. This will have a bearing on the siteworks. Ours is a sandy elevated block so the builder gave us a rebate on the estimated siteworks cost as it was very easy to prepare.

In terms of budget we under estimated our completion costs and we will be pying around 20-25%% of the cost of our home to finish off -window treatments, timber flooring, tiling, carpets, painting, light fittings, driveway, landscaping, pool, boundary walls and fencing.

We found that things went so fast to begin with, however, we have been at lock up since Christmas and everything has been steadily slowing down since then. We are now pretty frustrated because we had expected to move in during the last school holidays; the supervisor even told us that we would get the keys by May 2009 and we were worrying about getting someone to take over our lease.

Having said all that, overall it has been a great experience and I would build again in a heartbeat.


Good luck with your build and enjoy the ride!
ACE

galba

Currently googling 'soakwells'!

I wouldn't have even thought about windowsills!?! Thing is OH and I are pretty easy going and make decisions on a whim - will housebuilding suit us? I'm not sure I really want to get involved in checking over everything, every week, to make sure it's been done properly - can you employ people to do this?

Ace- who did you build with, can you recommend them? Looking for a 2/3 storey individually designed topsy-turvy to get river views - can you PM ballpark figure?

ozhappy981

No need to check every week to make sure it's been done properly. We are not builders, or even good with DIY.

We are obviously curious about what's happening on site and that's why we go out every weekend. Last week the plastering had been done - but I would have no idea if it was "done properly"

I think when you do your research, then select a builder, then start out in the process, you need to develop and have a certain amount of trust in your builder that they know what they are doing and that their aim is to build you a beautiful house.

We know that APG (and the whole ABN group) are very highely regarded in the Perth building scene and have a reputation for building beautiful homes. It's not in their interest to build something shoddy. I have faith in our site supervisor; it's his job to "supervise" on a day-to-day basis.

We hired an independent buidling inspector for "piece of mind", because we can't tell if something has been done properly or not. He comes out and does an inspection at certain milestones in the build: (1) When the trusses went on upstairs, (2) when the trusses have gone on downstairs, (3) just before official handover from the builder, (4) just before the six months period is up to notify the builder of defects.

We think that's enough "inspecting".

I think if you are the laid-back, easy-going type building will definitely suit you - you are less likely to get stressed out by little hicups en route.

Building our own house meant we could design the layout to suit our way of living. And it also means the house is being constructed how we want it, i.e. with cavity wall insulation, R6 ceiling batts, European style double-glazing (i.e. uPVS, not aluminium), rain-water tank, and solar panels.

There is a poster called "Family of 3" here on BE, who built a house in Perth while they lived in Singapore. They never saw the build - they dealt with it all from Singapore.

ozhappy981

Oh dear, that's scary!!! We hope to be at lock-up by Christmas as well and that hand-over will be two months after that. I really don't want to think that by this tike next year we will still be in our rental!

ACE

Hi Galba,
Snap we have also built an upside down house but in our case it is to maximise ocean and estuary views. We have the main living, kitchen, master bed ensuite, guest powder room and study upstairs and the kids have games, theatre, gym 2 baths and 3 beds downstairs.

We built with In Vogue and on the whole we have been quite happy with them. There have been a few things that we have not been happy with and they have sorted them out. I have found them very honest when it comes to rebates etc, a good example is our aircon. We chose to use a company not recommended by In Vogue so we had to pay a fee ($800). A few months into the build our air con company were added to In Vogue’s list of recommended supplies so without any prompting they called us and offered us our $800 back. I was quite impressed as we would have been none the wiser if they hadn’t brought it to our attention.

link to our home build thread:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=545967

The first few pics are really slow to load and then I discovered 'Pix Resizer'

I have Pm’d you

ACE

Don't get worried, the build time depends on a lot of factors, such as whether you are building a single storey or double, if it is your own design or one of the builders standard designs, the block has a bearing on the outcome too things such as size, soil type, shape, wind loads etc all affect the overall completion time. My boss built with Dale Alcock a few years back and his house took 10 weeks