Sleeping Beauty

we are currently thinking of employing a builder rather than go for one of the big guns. if that is the case, would we need to get an owner builders licence?

cresta57

We looked at that about four years ago, "Huff & Puff" straw bale homes build a decent place. When I eventually looked on the web at their builds it convinced me it would take more than the big bad wolf to knock them down.
Anyone interested google will find them.

stu:0

My girlfriend spent 2 years in a caravan waiting for her dad to do a convert a barn so i dont think she'l be up for it again. Thats one thing i guess you forget the fact you can spend more time outside in oz and probably wont want to be stuck inside tiling the bathroom. Be nice to do some of it though, cut costs to get that pool and cinema room

Stu

stu:0

How would you say the price compares doing that way, getting your own builder and architect compared to similar property built by one of the big guns.


Stu

welshpom

That I don't know sorry. Our house is way bigger than one of the average house builders would take on, so I can't compare prices.

Sleeping Beauty

did you need to get an owner/builder licence welshpom?

Exile

After building in WA, I would strongly disagree with this. In my case it wasn't a matter of asking for changes. The builder/tradesmen seemed incapable of doing anything without screwing it up, and there is often no other quality control apart from the owner. The site supervisor would drive by in his car every few months. This is one of the biggest builders in WA.

To cite just one example, they were using the wrong set of plans to build the second storey. We had windows in the wrong place, and all the pipes set in concrete for the bathroom were in the wrong places. Absolutely nobody noticed, apart from me, the owner. Worse still, when you point it out nobody really seems to care, and you are made to feel like you're being a pain in the arse.

Things may be different in Queensland, but I'd advise any owner to be on site as much as possible, and watch progress like a hawk. It's your money at stake, and my experience suggests that nobody else cares, and they will try to get away with as much as they can.

Not saying all tradesmen are like this, but there are loads like it here in WA, based on my (extremely bitter) experience and that of many, many others like me.

Jessie James

This sounds exactly like the experience of a friend of mine here in Melbourne. The mistakes were numerous and appalling. In the end he took weeks off work to be on site like you say, watching them like a hawk. He ended up losing money in lost wages and in getting them to put right all the mistakes every one of which the cheeky bastards fought him on trying to argue that somehow they weren't at fault. Total joke.

NickyC

Moral of the story: Don't build a house.

I have no idea why so many new arrivals jump in immediately and want to build a house. What's the attraction of living a zillion miles from civilisation in a bland house in a tree-less suburb with little infra-structure? Is it the novelty of being able to hand-pick a layout and choose where you want your power-points? Doesn't anyone stop to wonder why these flashy-looking houses are so cheap for their size? Could it have something to do with cheap materials and cheap workmanship?

When you've lived here as long as I have (and I've heard countless new-build horror stories over the years - they're not new) there's no way I'd ever put myself through the trouble and grief. Be warned...

Jessie James

Blinded by the light I'd say

[QUOTE=stu:0;4494969]cut costs to get that pool and cinema room

Sleeping Beauty

so what would you recommend?

sassie

[QUOTE=NickyC;4495747]Moral of the story: Don't build a house.
living a zillion miles from civilisation in a bland house in a tree-less suburb with little infra-structure?


Doesn't anyone stop to wonder why these flashy-looking houses are so cheap for their size? Could it have something to do with cheap materials and cheap workmanship?


Doesn't it depend on where you build. We've just built and our house is anything but bland and when we sit out on the back patio, all we can see is trees, in fact when our estate was being developed, that is what drew us in the first place, the fact that the developers left most of the trees still standing instead of bulldozing them all down, and as far as infrastructure, our estate is well equipped with everything, telephone cables, electricity, etc, etc all underground, so no nasty telegraph poles to look at.

And I certainly wouldn't call our house "cheap", total cost including land of course came to just over $420,000. Theres a new build a few doors up from us, much much smaller, no landscaping done and its on the market for $469,000.

But I would agree that you need to be on site as much as possible when building, as there were a few minor things that needed to be put right along the way. Overall, from our experience, I wouldn't hesitate in doing it all again.

NickyC

Buy an older house in an established area close to your local facilities.
You might have to forego the fifth bedroom/media room/alfresco/pool room or whatever the current marketing gimmick is this year - but any problems with the house will have been fixed up, it will have more character, there will most likely be public transport and schools nearby and it will be a better investment in the long run.

Sleeping Beauty

but then we would be buying a house, priced at slightly less money to build, only to rip out the bathrooms/kitchen and gutting it. 4 bedded houses round here are about the $360k mark. we are hoping to build a house because it is our dream. we arent going for the pool/snooker room/gun room etc. we are hoping to build because we want everything new.

if we were to buy a house it would be in the same area we are in now, and the same area of where we are looking to build. it has a mixture of old and new, and there are talks of developing this semi-rural location as logistically it is in a very good spot. all houses and land in this area are about a 5 minute drive to the shops/centre. the infrastruture is here, albeit in a very small way, but with plans to develop further. ie. a high school has been on the cards for some years, and now looks as though it will happen soon.

we have kept our options open and looked at properties for sale, as well as looking at land and houses. to be honest, the houses we have looked at so far, just havent ticked enough boxes (if any ) for us to warrant buying it. we dont want to rush into this, and so are taking our time over the decision. but so far, building and getting what we want rather than what we dont want and making do, is looking more promising.

just to add another poinbt here - the area we live in is about a half and half split of old and new houses. we are currently renting on the old part, sister was renting on the new part and just bought her first house, again on the new part. there is no real definition, they mingle into each other nicely. if anything, the plot sizes on the new build are bigger than the old build.

Exile

In my view, and based on my experience in Perth, the best you can do is a new build in an old, established area.

This usually involves demolishing an old house. Or do a major renovation (that tends to cost more per sq metre than building new). Make sure you do loads of research into builders and tradesmen, etc.

Land in these areas tends to be very expensive, but after living in newly developed areas, I would rather pump money into the land and location than into having a flashy new house in a brand new area. I recently sold up my nice new 2-storey house with ocean views and pool and traded it for a 2-bedroom dump of a house in an older area near the city. Some people think we are insane, but I was going mad in the suburbs, so had to try something else. It took 2.5 years to build the house. We lived in it for 6 months before we put it up for sale. I'll let you know if I regret it.

Everyone is different. Some people love the new estates. Some people like rural. Not for me, I'm afraid.