Hi All,
Many thanks for your information - can I ask the main reason for staying away from large builders - I take it Dale Alcock & the likes.

Large company = large profits / inflexible?

We are looking at Redink.

Metricon seemingly make great homes but they really do take their time doing it and their customer service is appalling.

Our costs look like being about the same as yours but I know that they can go way higher. We're looking to build with Metricon and have secured a deal which gives a fair few extras at a fixed cost (e.g. stone bench tops, decent facade, glass splashbacks etc.). The scariest thing for us was the thought of unknown site costs. The first plot of land we liked was in an area where there is known to be a lot of rock and the builders were all quoting "unknown costs subject to soil test" and we were warned it could go up to or beyond $30k. another bit of land we liked was on good land and the builders are guranteeing a site cost of $10k with an optional addition of no more than $2k if rocks are found during the soil test. We're now lookuing at that land seriously as it's also being sold with fencing included.

Just got to look around and ask lots and lots of questions. Get a walk through with the builder and make sure you ask if bulkheads are included where there's a cut out in the walls, if the alfresco is concreted and roofed, if driveway is included, also check on ceiling heights as we've found showhomes are often higher than standard). Speak to as many builders as you can as they all tell you something different but you can use this information to compile a decent list of questions.

It's a fairly daunting task but we're hoping that we'll get the perfect house for us at the end of it and we still reckon we can bring it in for less than the cost of buying second hand (and remember the stamp duty is cheaper if building this way which is a BIG saving).

Not necessarily. We have a Metricon going up next door to us, and it's going up at a rate of knots. The tradies are their 6 days a week (most weeks), and seem to work quite long hours

Yep, metricon are quoting 18 weeks for single storey (or 22? weeks for double) - seems reasonable to me...

I checked the Metricon website - they look like really nice homes - but alas not in WA.

We've looked at virtually every show home in Melbourne (at least it feels like that anyway), and although most are lovely, we just got a great vibe from Metricon and the house style we've chosen just "felt" right to us. They're quoting us around 20 weeks for a build on a single storey house.

Our build came in within $1500 of our budget and estimate - but that included a hell of a lot of pure guesswork!

We *did* have an honest builder, who credited us with several items that didn't come up to costings. For example, we had some $5000 back on the footings underspend.

But then: you move in --- and the spending really starts!

Hi All,
Has anyone used Redink homes in Perth - if so what was the difference between the quoted build cost & the final bill (extras). i.e close or miles out.

We are now getting our figures rounded up here in light of the above posts.

Graeme

we have recently gone to pre-start with Dale Alcock Homes in Perth and here is an idea of some of the extras we've factored in to our build and what they cost, it's worth noting you don't need to add in any of these you can just have the basic build.

Shower screens instead of shower curtain rails $600
Enclosing the study $800
heightened ceilings throughout living areas $6000
Pergola brackets $1000
Supervents (whirly birld things to help reduce roof condensation) $800
Upgrade internal doors to panelled doors $900
Extra power points $74 per double
conduits with wall plate $32 each
Solar HWS $4000
Junction boxes instead of lights so we can have our own downlights installed $13 per room.

There are loads more i could give you but that should give you an idea.

Our site costs are pretty high as we are bulding rural so we have a rural loading fee and also need spetics and a cut and fill on the block. Site costs for a block on a new estate which is sold ready to build on shouldn't be more than $7k and most new developments include fencing and some landscaping.

In addition to all this we have floor coverings, window treatments, pergola, patio paving, air con, fencing etc which we are budgeting $50k for but it is a larger than average home as we have a larger than average family.

I hope you find this useful if you need any more info send me a pm.

Lynn

I guess it's down to where you are building then because we have a swathe of Metricon homes going up on our development and they are progressing at a conspicuously slow rate.

Customer service still leaves a lot to be desired though.

Yes but reality is quite different for us. We have 25 weeks wound into our contract but there was a period of 3 weeks where the house build ground to a halt because they simply cannot find enough tradies to meet the demand for their builds.

At the moment they seem to work in short bursts interspersed with longer periods of inactivity.

whether its a large builder or a small one they're all in it to make a living.the larger companies usually have an army of sales people who could sell sand to the arabs. you will deal with different people all the way through the building process with each not really knowing what the other is up to. the smaller builder will be hands on and know where the house is at when you call him. ive also found that the smallers builders are more likely to build you the most suitable house, offer you ideas and its a lot easier and cheaper to change things along the way. a salesperson is simply that. they generally would have no building experiece ( there are obvisiously exeptions). it also makes me laugh when the large builders offer use of a colour consultant. its usually just some chick in the office straight out of high school.