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building your own????

building your own????

Old May 10th 2008, 8:57 am
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Default building your own????

Hi all!

has anyone out there bought land & built their own house?

Just wondered if was a better alternative to buying one 'ready made'

Has anyone done it before they left the UK so that it was ready for their arrival in NZ? How easy/difficult was it?

Does it work out cheaper or more expensive to do it this way?

So many questions, so little time!!
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Old May 10th 2008, 10:01 am
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Default Re: building your own????

Originally Posted by iwannagonow
Hi all!

has anyone out there bought land & built their own house?

Just wondered if was a better alternative to buying one 'ready made'

Has anyone done it before they left the UK so that it was ready for their arrival in NZ? How easy/difficult was it?

Does it work out cheaper or more expensive to do it this way?

So many questions, so little time!!
Have a friend who has built. It is not cheap these days!! Cost of land plus up to $2000-2500 per sq.mt.

WOULDnot recommend building whislt in another hemishpere..UNLESS you have 1000000% confidence in your project manager.

I would love to build my own but you need sooooooo much time, patience and strength I am not sure I could do it with three little ones in tow.

It is debatable if build your own is going to be any cheaper in the sinking NZ housing market.

The benefits are you get exactly what you want where you want it. I am certain I could not have built what we have any cheaper than we bought even 3 years ago (even after a small fortune has been spent getting it how we want it). Benefits are that the house and gardens have matured and are awesome..rarely will you find a plot with a mature garden to build on..and more importantly this house has been up almost 20 years with no major problems...new builds can be tricky......poor builders...poor materials..poor choice of plot etc...established houses can be equally as troublesome


If I was REALLY rich with no kids I would self build. But I'm not.cue someone else's dream 20 years previously..that'll do nicely.
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Old May 10th 2008, 10:09 am
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Default Re: building your own????

Originally Posted by Genesis
Have a friend who has built. It is not cheap these days!! Cost of land plus up to $2000-2500 per sq.mt.

WOULDnot recommend building whislt in another hemishpere..UNLESS you have 1000000% confidence in your project manager.

I would love to build my own but you need sooooooo much time, patience and strength I am not sure I could do it with three little ones in tow.

It is debatable if build your own is going to be any cheaper in the sinking NZ housing market.

The benefits are you get exactly what you want where you want it. I am certain I could not have built what we have any cheaper than we bought even 3 years ago (even after a small fortune has been spent getting it how we want it). Benefits are that the house and gardens have matured and are awesome..rarely will you find a plot with a mature garden to build on..and more importantly this house has been up almost 20 years with no major problems...new builds can be tricky......poor builders...poor materials..poor choice of plot etc...established houses can be equally as troublesome


If I was REALLY rich with no kids I would self build. But I'm not.cue someone else's dream 20 years previously..that'll do nicely.

Cheers

well, that's made my mind up then!

We're not REALLY rich & we do have kids, therefore, it doesn't seem like the best solution!

Think we'll stick to buying a 'regular' house!
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Old May 10th 2008, 10:40 am
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Default Re: building your own????

Originally Posted by iwannagonow
Cheers

well, that's made my mind up then!

We're not REALLY rich & we do have kids, therefore, it doesn't seem like the best solution!

Think we'll stick to buying a 'regular' house!
Gosh, you were easily persuaded

Wait until you get here before making such big decisions. Building a house rarely means that you have to build it *yourself*, there are plenty of house building companies that do the whole land house package and all you have to do is decide on the piece of land and choose the style of house you want built on it, choose fixtures and fittings, and there endeth your involvement in the build and no need to even get your hands dirty. It's really can be as easy as that.

Depending of course on where you are looking at living there are plenty of bits of mature land available, possibly not in suburbsville where a bare paddock has recently been subdivided especially for the purpose, but they are readily available the further out of town you go.

Another option might be to buy one that someone else has recently or partially built, they invariably come up for sale when money runs out . Still defeats the object a tad as I would like to build for a once in a lifetime opportunity to have a house to my own spec, not someone elses.
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Old May 10th 2008, 10:46 am
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Default Re: building your own????

Don't know where you are headed but for an example this was the first one that came up when I googled 'house and land package':

http://www.benchmarkhomes.co.nz/

There are dozens more that do the same.
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Old May 10th 2008, 10:57 am
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Default Re: building your own????

Originally Posted by Bo-Jangles
Don't know where you are headed but for an example this was the first one that came up when I googled 'house and land package':

http://www.benchmarkhomes.co.nz/

There are dozens more that do the same.
Thanks for that, will definately check it out!

We will be looking in the Tauranga area
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Old May 10th 2008, 3:10 pm
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Default Re: building your own????

Be sure to do plenty of research before you go down this route.

There's the cost of the land to consider, then an Architects fee's for drawing up plans (ours charged $7K + GST).
An engineer's report cost $2K, and we have heard that to submit our plans and receive consent from the council is likely to be around anothe $7K!

Factor in the rising costs of building materials, and before you know it your initial budget has been blown away by costs that you didn't forsee!

Having got this far with our own plans, we are seriously considering if this is going to be a viable option for us.
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Old May 11th 2008, 1:33 am
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Default Re: building your own????

I don't think you would be looking at $2k-$2.5k per m2. A more realistic cost would be $800/m2. It depends on where you want to build and the cost of land, but building should work out cheaper than buying. The mortgage process is similar, although you draw down on the mortgage when you need it in the building process rather than taking it all in one go. You will also use up your deposit before drawing on the mortgage.

I wouldn't discount building so quickly - existing houses in NZ are poorly built (leaky buildings, dampness, etc) and many with no insulation or heating. At least if you build, you will be able to build to a higher standard.

Building a 250m2 3-bedroom home you should be looking at around $400k-$500k (including land) - not the $1m+ that was suggested earlier!
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Old May 11th 2008, 3:24 am
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Default Re: building your own????

Originally Posted by snowball05
Be sure to do plenty of research before you go down this route.

There's the cost of the land to consider, then an Architects fee's for drawing up plans (ours charged $7K + GST).
An engineer's report cost $2K, and we have heard that to submit our plans and receive consent from the council is likely to be around anothe $7K!

Factor in the rising costs of building materials, and before you know it your initial budget has been blown away by costs that you didn't forsee!

Having got this far with our own plans, we are seriously considering if this is going to be a viable option for us.


Good point. If the land is 'bare' and has no services they can be VERY expensive dependent on how far you are from the main trunking.

What I would do is look at your budget and then see what it buys 'built' as opposed to building fresh. Once you add up all the costs a new build can be very expensive..especially as I mentioned earlier in the current shrinking NZ housing market. There's allegedly a long way to go down price wise.

There could be some real bargains around in the next 12-18 months.
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Old May 11th 2008, 5:31 am
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Default Re: building your own????

Originally Posted by Genesis
There could be some real bargains around in the next 12-18 months.
I would think also those reductions in real estate will also translate to price reductions in bare land too, so could also be a good time to bank a piece of land for a future build. Just another option we are considering for the longer term. I would love to have a house built, but couldn't presently afford a second mortgage or additional rent whilst we waited for that to happen. As a step in that direction we are toying with buying a piece of land and building a relatively cheap *temporary* kitset home, with a view to building something more substantial at a later date.

Nothing is impossible and anyone coming here should keep an open mind about what they would like to do, it seems impossible from miles away. Budgets are budgets and we all have our own financial constraints, but it is possible to build a cheap house in a dream location or vice versa to build an extememely expensive house in a cheaper location. With a myriad of other possibilities in between. You can get fixed price packages to avoid nasty surprises and whilst yes it may cost x thousand dollars for surveys etc, in the grander scheme I have seen some fantastic houses built for $200 to $250k with a piece of land at similar prices depending of course on where and how big.

With a budget of $500k you could really do something fantastic and above that, well dream away, it could be spectacular with all mod cons and anything you would like to add, it depends how much you have or want to chuck at your dream. You might be able to buy a similar ready built house down the road a bit cheaper, who knows? You'll never know because they won't be exactly the same.
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Old May 11th 2008, 9:15 pm
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Default Re: building your own????

Realistically to build a quality house you will indeed be looking at $ 2000.00 per square metre. $ 1500.00 per square metre would be ok. Anything less
would be a concern.
It does not take long for trees and shrubs to become well established in the Tauranga region. Our present garden - with large olive trees etc matured within 4 years.
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Old May 11th 2008, 9:31 pm
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Default Re: building your own????

Originally Posted by Hokey-pokey
Realistically to build a quality house you will indeed be looking at $ 2000.00 per square metre. $ 1500.00 per square metre would be ok. Anything less
would be a concern.
It does not take long for trees and shrubs to become well established in the Tauranga region. Our present garden - with large olive trees etc matured within 4 years.
I agree, $1,500 - $2,000 per m2, anything less would be, well, I don't know what it would be?!

Try PM'ing Ash1 he lives here in Papamoa and is a builder and has looked at these costs in detail.
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Old May 11th 2008, 11:16 pm
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Default Re: building your own????

We are intending to build within the next few years and would like somewhere between 10-15 acres in the general Auckland south as far as Pukekohe region.

The market for property including bare land is taking a slow step back at the moment which could speed up depending on who you listen to. Finally over the past month or so even the hardened optimists like estate agents are admitting the market if failing. We drive through the Flat bush/Redoubt road area of Auckland to get to town and where as last year the area was being snapped up by buyers of bare land, its now seeing prices slashed. Big parcels of land are reappearing on the the market as developers are struggling, with boards like 'urgent action required' and 'price slashed and going down' posted.

The new consents are way down and this will eventually feed back through the system to the builders as the current work they are doing starts to become more scarce. The relatively high NZ price for building has i'm sure been fuelled by the greed of the past few years.... the next year or so will come home to haunt many in property and building and hopefully lead to a bit of 'real' competition and then lower build prices.

Now is a relatively good time to be a buyer if you have the cash but i'm sure it will only get better and better for a while yet.
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Old May 13th 2008, 4:16 am
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Default Re: building your own????

My in-laws built 5 years ago. Their house was 320m2 and cost $500,000 for the basic build to a very high standard. They had double glazing and even central heating with radiators installed as they were so impressed with what they had seen at our house in the UK. To totally finish the house, including driveway, shed, plants etc cost a further $150,000 all up.

I've got a photo somewhere, ah here it is, this was before all the landscaping etc was done



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Old May 13th 2008, 6:22 am
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Cor Buzz That's a bit good.

Lovely to see you here by the way.
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