Wol

From the start, when we bought the site 18 months ago:

iPom

Hello Mr Wol... I was only wondering how things were going just the other day.

x

BadgeIsBack

Good good.

When are you moving in?

Wol

...To today (just finished fencing this morning!

Stressfull 18 months but worth it in the end.

Good luck to all those embarking on the roller-coaster of building!

iPom

That looks like a real quality build, wol. Well done and cheers.

Did you get your garage doors eventually?

northernbird

looks fab Wol

biggy

looks fantastic Wol...cant wait to see the inside

Josie1100

wow...that is fab

BadgeIsBack

Lovely.

Hutch

Looks very nice mate. I'm up your way visiting my big sister next week ... put the kettle on.

jodeandsteve

Hi Biggy, just wanted to ask a fellow scot what life is like down under? We are looking at emigrating over to Melbourne (got family there) in a year or so- but im getting put off by everyone complaining of the high cost of living, house prices and lack of work. My husband may get a transfer over there and i work in the social sevices sector. We would love to make a new start over there but im getting put of. What do you think of your experiance? Is it worth the hassle? Im half Ozzie and have an Ozzie passport! Help!

biggy

have sent u a pm

paulhill

Looks great

Wol

Thanks all!

Based on my experiences, I could perhaps offer some sort of advice to those of you who are contemplating building to their own spec. (as opposed to buying off-plan from a large builder).

Location is the most important thing: it is always quoted and often forgotten. You can change the plan of your house, extend and put another floor on it but if it's in a bad location you're stuck with it. We came very close several times to buying land or knockdowns and pulled out because they weren't quite right. Eventually we *did* manage to get a good site but it did take a couple of years and we did have to pay quite a premium over the going rate to close the deal.

Visit the potential sites several times, at different times of day, weekdays and weekends. Talk to the surrounding residents. You can never be entirely sure that you won't end up with feral neighbours or a new runway across the fence but make the effort to *really* find out what goes on around you. Most of us don't make a bigger investment so don't rush it.

A nice view often means a sloping site, so factor in the extras associated with this. Our foundations probably added $50k to the project price: difficult to say since they were part of the overall quote. Don't leave yourself short of cash just because of this because other costs are going to escalate anyway!

If you've been around the block a few times and know what you do and don't like you'll have a fair idea what you want your home to look like. In this case draw up the overall plan yourself, let a good draftsman pull it together into building plans and save yourself a lt of money over employing an architect. We probably saved about $25k this way - and have a much better house into the bargain. Architects are notorious for indulging their own design ambitions - using someone else to fund them!

Take time to draw up a "Scope of Works" document on which to base your building quotes. Otherwise you are comparing apples and pears, and can come financially unstuck further down the track when "extras" rear their heads. I was fortunate in that a friend gave me a copy of *his* Scope of Works, a very detailed document which laid down just about every nail and brick in his build, quality and in many cases supplier: I based my own on this.

Get several quotes for the job - and make sure exactly what they include and, more importantly, don't include. That's where the Works document you drew up plays a big part: it shows that you are serious and are being professsional about it. Never engage a builder without talking to several previous clients: most people are happy to share their experiences and you want someone you can work with. We were lucky in that our builder is completely honest, never forgets even a casual request, acts immediately and follows through. Many aren't like that! You may be better engaging a small builder who will be hands on all the time. It also helps if the builder has a good relationship with the council planning and regulatory people: the last thing you want is constant wrangling over things that should be sorted out with a quick phone call.

Don't necessarily accept the contract that the builder offers: there are several pro-forma contracts out there. We didn't like the one ours drew up - it was the Building Association one, and specified that all moneys had to go into a separate account to be frawn upon by both parties. He was perfectly happy to use the Office of Fair Trading document, which has no such clause. Read it through, and make sure that *all* the moneys add up, stage payments are correct etc.

I included a clause expressedly allowing us full site access at any time: some builders won't allow it and quote insurance liability: don't have that - it will be *your* home, and you will have to put up with the bodge jobs that *will* be there.

I also included a clause insisting on a quiet and orderly site: you will have to live with the neighbours and if they've had six months of loud rock music played from several utes they will only blame *you*.

If you are eligible for the First Homeowners' Grant you can apply for it when the financing is arranged, I believe. If you are paying cash you have to wait until occupation.

Most contracts have "PC " items (Prime Cost). These are specified amounts allowed for, say, kitchen, tiling, bathroom units etc. This again is where the Scope of Works plays a part: it should have indicated the standard of finish and equipment you are aiming towards. There's no point in accepting a quote which has $2000 allowed for a bathroom suite if the one you want costs $10000. So check that the allowances are realistic so that you don't have huge overspend when you choose the tiles! The PC items should be for supplies only: fitting, laying etc is part of the overall quoted cost. There shouldn't be a builder's margin on PC items: if you get a bath for $1000 that should be what you pay, *not* another $300 to fit it and/or an extra $200 "Builder's margin". Ask around for comments on such things as taps and showers - there are some excellent things out there but some that shouldn't be on the market!

However, any extras that you decide on after contract have to be paid for, and the builder should specify in the contract what his margin is on these. Ours was 20%, which is reasonable. The builder should request the "extras" payments at the same time as the appropriate staged payments, and should provide invoices for the parts and the work at that time. Ours was incredibly organised and we had no difficulty in checking and agreeing his figures.

Spend the time that passes while waiting planning approval checking out the baths, taps, tiles, bricks, heating units etc that you will want - anything that isn't specified or is a PC item. You won't have time when the concrete starts flowing!

Be on site 25/8! Some builders and tradesmen will get away with what they can in many cases. The only important things are the foundations and the roof: one keeps the thing up and the other keeps it dry. In our case the suspended concrete floor was contracted to a specialist company: I found several dozen very serious installation defects which had been glossed over by the engineer and installers and not picked up by the builder. Not rocket science, just common-sense things: beams cantilevered instead of supported, for example.

The contract is a two-way thing: make sure your stage payment cash is ready so that you can pay as the payments are requested. It doesn't make for a relationship if the builder has to keep reminding you to pay, or has to wait each time.

If your contract doesn't include driveways, landscaping or the like start getting those quotes when the roof is on - there will be a lead time for these things and you don't want to be waiting to move in while a sea of mud from the road to the door is covered over!

The builder insures the project until completion and handover but make sure your own insurance kicks in then.

Once again, we were fortunate in that our builder was happy for us to put in quite a few items ourselves during construction: mantles, floor safe bolts, driveway etc. But remember that *he* actually "owns" the project until he hands over: it's not your right to be able to do this sort of thing.

It has been a very stressful time, this build, but we have for the first time got exactly what we want in a house and it's been quite a buzz seeing it progress from sketches, drafts, polystyrene models to a real structure that you live in! (We *did* employ an architect at the beginning but after a couple of wasted months realised we weren't going to get anything like what we wanted so cut our losses and did it ourselves.)

Best of luck if you go down the same road: the end is worthwhile even if the light at the end of the tunnel takes a long time to appear!

moneypenny20

Really pleased that after all your aggros you now have the house you want. Enjoy living there