Buy Or Build (How much cheaper)

[minty]

Hi all,

 

when we did our recce back in 2009 we loved the idea of getting a block of land and doing a new build. This could very well be through a company on a land and home package but does this really work out much cheaper then buying a existing home.

 

Has anyone gone down this route and how easy is it to do.

[csobrien1966]

It does work out cheaper in MOST cases.

 

What you have to remember is what ever the total is you can easily add $40-50,000 on top of that for extra footings, fencing, cementing and landscaping.

Some people have been stung REALLY BAD by some builders on footings etc.

 

Try and get a fixed contract.

[minty]

It does work out cheaper in MOST cases.

 

What you have to remember is what ever the total is you can easily add $40-50,000 on top of that for extra footings, fencing, cementing and landscaping.

Some people have been stung REALLY BAD by some builders on footings etc.

 

Try and get a fixed contract.

 

Is it easy to get fixed contracts?

[AussieRob]

I must admit I thought all if not most builders had fixed contracts, but I've only built once and I'm not in the building or real estate industry so i can't be sure. We built with Sterling Homes which was fixed and Rossdale home advertise it all the time. I think it just means that when they give you a price, that stays as the price, if there are unforeseen circumstances then that becomes their responsibility.

 

I think in hindsight I wished we'd looked around more at established homes, still may not have bought one but we didn't even look at them. If there is a home out there that is perfect for you as it is, then it's probably cheaper to buy the established one. With a new home all you get is a house, and you have to buy everything, curtains, blinds, storm water pipes, driveway, landscaping, fences, grass, irrigation etc... Although it'll be purely your designed house, to your tastes, it could be expensive.

[Guest Peachie]

depends where you want to live and how big the block most new homes are smaller blocks near to the city if you want a garden then older home better

[csobrien1966]

Hickinbotham/ Statesman homes do not do fix contracts.

 

Please be careful

[jim and adel]

Unless you're looking to keep the cost down by sticking to basic designs, inclusions and finishes, I don't reckon you save much (if anything) by building. We'd always wanted to build when in the UK, so that's what we did here, but we knew it wouldn't work out cheaper. What we have got is a one-off house that pretty much meets all our needs because we designed it. The extras that we added cost us a lot more than we'll ever get back if we sell (because we added them for our comfort and enjoyment not because they make the house worth more). These are things like better quality insulation (really quite poor imho if you go with the standard offerings), roof sarking, extra noggings for putting heavy items on walls etc.

 

Also, I'd treat with caution any claims of fixed contacts, as you'd be amazed how builders can add costs on if they choose to regardless of what you think you've signed. Plenty of threads on the homeone building forum if you want examples of people who thought they had a fixed price!

 

Jim

[Guest willfam]

Don't forget that on established homes you have to pay a State Govt stamp duty. If you buy a home for $400,000 then the stamp duty is around $16,000 !!!!

[Guest BurgessFamily]

If you build you will only pay stamp duty on the land value, this could save you thousands. You may also get the 'new build' grant from the State government, worth several thousand too.

[Guest Tina P]

You have to pay a mortgate (interest only) on the build by stage payments as well as your rent, just have to hope its a quick build :-)

[bergkamp10]

check out some of the new estates in the southern suburbs.the "quality" of new build might change your mind

[minty]

If you build you will only pay stamp duty on the land value, this could save you thousands. You may also get the 'new build' grant from the State government, worth several thousand too.

 

 

This is my main reason for thinking of a new build. I know you can get carried away with adapting things to make it unique but i think if you stick to the plans and dont deviate from the basic design of the agreed drawings it must come in cheaper or no one would build new.

 

The fixed price is a qreat idea though so i will look into this further.

[jim and adel]

The thing with fixed price contracts is that they're amongst the last things organised, so don't think you'll know exactly what the price is at the outset because you won't. It can take many months before you're at the stage of knowing the exact amount, by which time the builder pretty much has all the necessary info (what sort of soil you've got etc) in order to be sure they won't get any nasty surprises. The customer, on the other hand, is not protected from price rises and spec changes that have happened since they first started the proceedings with the builder all those months ago ...

 

Regarding new builds being cheaper or nobody would build new, that's not really the case. It's simply supply and demand - too few established properties available for Adelaide's population so the answer is to build more. Oh, and you really do get what you pay for with builders - some of what the builders at the cheaper end of the market shove up would be lucky to withstand a violent sneeze ...

 

Jim

[newlife]

I have a lovely large chunk of land for sale in a great suburb

[Guest guest569]

ive built twice and honestly think its about $20k cheaper to build than buy an established house that ticks your boxes. It is very stressfull and there are alot of hidden costs. Also as Tina says you pay rent for 12 months whilst building and council approval.

Sometimes its better to just find the right house and move straight in with your cases !!! or if you like a challenge then go for it.

[monty9110]

We had a fixed price contract .

 

The sales man in the display home got an 'estimate' of the total build cost from the architects etc, including fittings etc...

We had to pay a deposit to the builders (think it was $5k.. more than other builders) in order for them to proceed to drawing up plans.

It took us over 6 months to get our fixed price and it was approx $50K MORE than we had been estimated..

 

At this stage we could pull out, but would be $5k down!! as it had dragged on so long and we wanted our house to be built , we did continue with the Builders... We spoke to the salesmans manager to complain etc & it turned out he had lied to us about consulting people regarding our estimate..All this from a company that says trust is a must!!

We still had to find another $30k to get driveway/landscaping etc , which we were aware of.. but you need to factor in these costs too.

 

At the end of the day, we would never be able to afford the house we built,( which we are now very happy with, quality etc), had we bought it ready made.. but building is a long and very frustrating process..

[jim and adel]

We had a fixed price contract .

 

The sales man in the display home got an 'estimate' of the total build cost from the architects etc, including fittings etc...

We had to pay a deposit to the builders (think it was $5k.. more than other builders) in order for them to proceed to drawing up plans.

It took us over 6 months to get our fixed price and it was approx $50K MORE than we had been estimated..

 

At this stage we could pull out, but would be $5k down!! as it had dragged on so long and we wanted our house to be built , we did continue with the Builders... We spoke to the salesmans manager to complain etc & it turned out he had lied to us about consulting people regarding our estimate..All this from a company that says trust is a must!!

 

Yeah, the company you built with was one of plenty we spoke to. We'd already had the house designed and had all the details and specs – right down to roof trusses etc – as well as having our soil report. Ours is a sloping block and we'd already had it benched and the house site was level and ready to go, so it should have been a straightforward matter to give us a price to build it ... when they gave us the estimate and discussed a deposit we said we'd sign up on condition the final price was within ten percent of the estimate. They refused. They said that all kinds of things could change, including our minds with some of the selections, but we pointed out that this often happens with a build and these changes are handled by contract variations, but they couldn't give any guarantee that their estimate would be within ten percent of the final price. We weren't going to hand over five grand on that basis!

 

These companies know that once you've 'done your money' and become emotionally tied for several months you're unlikely to pull out when the price is suddenly higher than you'd bargained for. Funny how they don't mention any of this when advertising their fixed price contracts!

 

Jim

[Guest BurgessFamily]

If you are going to buy an established home, try looking for one with solid brick, and not brick veneer. That is a big benefit of an existing home over the newer dog boxes (as well as the garden space).

 

Since we've been renting, we've managed to be the first into a new home, nice 4 bedroom one - built by one of the leading house builders. Was surprised when I saw the thickness of the plasterboard - 6mm. Spoke to a friend and they said legally it should be 13mm.

 

Also note, most new houses here are timber framed / brick veneer, and therefore don't require any real foundations. They just stick then on a concrete 'slab'. Still, it's what your happy with that matters.

[Guest guest569]

10 mm is Aus regs and superceil on the ceilings.

The footings ( 400mm) are reinforced and poured with the slab.

[Misplaced]

ive built twice and honestly think its about $20k cheaper to build than buy an established house that ticks your boxes. It is very stressfull and there are alot of hidden costs. Also as Tina says you pay rent for 12 months whilst building and council approval.

Sometimes its better to just find the right house and move straight in with your cases !!! or if you like a challenge then go for it.

 

Who have you built with?

[Guest guest569]

Who have you built with?

Both times with Hickinbothams. probably not my first choice of builder but they have alot of the land in the area i was looking at.So if i had their land i had to choose one of their houses to go on it. have a look at Endeavour Homes, they do a nice house and what you get as an upgrade in most builders spec is standard with them !!! http://www.endeavourhomes.com.au/

[Guest guest569]

Also have to add that i haven't met anyone who has built and not said they would do something different if they were to do it again !! You learn from your mistakes and also learn from others who have done it !! They all want your money so play them to get as much as you can thrown in !!! You can move walls to make things bigger and change specs at the early stages before plans are done for next to nothing. You can even take one builders layout to another and see what they can do it for if they have been recommended to you or have a better reputation. Remember your in the driving seat and all the builders are still feeling the world recession !!!