youngy73

i have been thinking of starting this thread for a little while now and have decided to do it. it will hopefully provide me with reference later and may be interesting to see where things change along the way. we have lived in cairns 4 years now and this will be our second build. House prices and building prices have increased very quickly in cairns and building the dream home in a regional area is very expensive when compared to brisbane for example. you are looking at a minimum of $1000 a square metre in cairns and that gets you a nice but basic home with regard to the fixtures and fitting. Land prices here are also not cheap with the majority of blocks around the $200000 mark.
We managed to purchase a block of land in a new subdivision at the end of panguna street, trinity beach. The block is 200 metres from our current house.
The agent selling the land wanted to sell our house and had a buyer lined up(his next door neighbours) even though our house was not up for sale. We ended up selling our home on the condition that we had our choice of block on the subdivision when the land was released. We ended up paying $259,000 for a 1020 sqm block which was up for $270,000 and this was 3 weeks before the land was released. When the land was released the developer had put another 5% onto every block so on paper we are already up over $20000. The 2 attachements are of the area before it was cleared and a site plan. Lot 29 is ours.



Colour map of subdivision.pdf

youngy73

Here are a couple of photos of the subdivsion. The second one is our block.

Timber Floor Au

Keep em coming mate plz.

I kept a log of our build for our use, but never did it on here. I think its paramount as Tiawanamautuwanutu did, to chronicle the entire project, not in a showy off way, but to help others register the complications frustrations and expense ( inc Stress ) doing a build.. good ONYA
plus:

if you havent got image editing software, send to me and i will reduce file size and image size, and do any orientation for you. To allow more people to view larger images you have

youngy73

Now that we had the land sorted it was time to look at house plans and builders. We new what type of house we wanted but due to the expense of building in cairns it was not going to possible for us to build it as we could not afford it if a builder did everything for us so we looked into owner builder or getting a builder to take it to lock up for us and then us finishing it. we gave our ideas to few builders and one guy came back with some good ideas and a house plan which suited the block and was very practical in its layout. This builder will take it to lock up for me and we will pay him a predetermined fee (yet to be determined) and i will pay all the contractors directly thus saving on the builders mark up. i have a few reservations about doing it this way but it is the only way that we can build the home we want. We have a budget of $350000 for the house and $50000 for the pool. These are realistic figures for cairns and the project should be achievable with these numbers. i will list every cost and charge as the build goes. I am sure things will blow ( they always do) but i will do a lot of the work myself to reduce costs. Attached our the house plans.These plans are for pricing only but detailed enough to give an idea.house plans pdf.pdf

ozzieeagle

I've not encountered anyone building up in FNQ before, just wondered what kind of work do you do to fund this project ? Or did you come over with enough to build outright without borrowing ?

Can you confirm that you've paid 200,000 for the land and 400,000 for the house and pool ? There would be legal fees on top of this as well ?

600,000 is a fair chunk for a brand new build. Place could be worth at least 850,000 afterwards.

nightnurse2

Good luck with the build
I will look forward to see it coming along (as I'm sure you will be )

youngy73

we paid $259,000 for the land.im a sparky and the wife is a police officer. cairns is expensive.if i got a builder to the whole project for me i would be looking at $450,000 for the house alone. at the end of it we are hoping to have a mortgage for $250000 and it should be worth in the low 7's but as its going to be our home and not an investment it doesnt really matter.

ozzieeagle

Thanks for that, I often wonder how people fund themselves outside of big cities. and you've cleared that up nicely for me.


Hope you enjoy yourselves and your new house.

One further question I would like to ask, and something that has been brought to my attention by people that have moved south. Is it true that you have difficulty in keeping leather products like coats and shoes, from rotting and moulding in the tropics. ?

Bix

Does this mean you're staying in Cairns Rich ?
Look forward to the story unfolding.

jackass

if you need a plumber/gas engineer mate - mr rooksie can sort you - he can even show off his new newcastle top!!!

youngy73

Is it true that you have difficulty in keeping leather products like coats and shoes, from rotting and moulding in the tropics. ?

yes its true.

Does this mean you're staying in Cairns Rich ?

yep, we are stating in cairns and steph is driving to port douglas everyday. we must try and have that beer. how about trinity beach tavern one day next week?

if you need a plumber/gas engineer mate - mr rooksie can sort you - he can even show off his new newcastle top!!!

yes i need both. i will be getting quotes after xmas.

Billy_NoMates

We thought about building. In fact we're in seven minds what to do at the moment. Missus wants a garden...and a pool...and a house with a room big enough for our snooker table...and a .... and a ....

In fact Youngy73, my missus met your wife the other day with some others from the UK.

youngy73

is your wife ruth and was at it at claires house.

Bix

Sure m8! Evening any day next week or aftn/evening on Mon or Wednesday, just name the day

Shaun&Dee

Interesting thread, keep it coming