Have you had a house built

[Guest maxxangel]

This is probably a long shot, but has anyone brought a plot of land and found a builder to build for you? If so, how was the experience and how do you go about finding a builder?

Cara

[Guest ReadyPenny]

If my memory serves me correctly, AndyandLindsey (username) are building at Aldinga? Am sure there are others too, I just dont know of them!!

 

Mandy

[Guest parko]

i get you a number tomorow my brother in law is in thaat game you can speak to himhe is australian

 

Dean

[Andrew from Vista Financial]

Hey Cara.

 

A good starting point is to go and visit some new estates due to be built. Not sure where you are based but for example there is one in Northgate, the development is called Lightsview, you may have seen it advertised on TV.

 

You don't have to be looking at buying land on that particular development but there is a large range of Builders there, about 10 each showing between 2 -4 homes. They open at 1pm on a Saturday and you can go and have a look around and have a chat to the Builders. Each have different offerings, some throw in free Aircon, some give $5,000 extra on purchase and so on.

 

This should give you a good idea of what type of house you would like and you can also get an idea of the true cost, don't just take the cost of the house on face value, talk to the builder about the extras, quite a big difference!

 

When you have decided on the house you like, you then have an idea how big the land will need to be to fit that house. You can then add on what size garden you want and start looking around at prices for that size plot of land.

 

Hope this helps a little.

 

Andy

[Guest rich]

My wife and I have bought land at Flagstaff Pines and are building a house there. It should commence building in ten weeks or so which is good. We went through Hickinbotham and they have been excellent. It was quite easy to arrange, although as we're in England choosing the finish of the house is hard without being there to physically see things. You have to decide everything from the colour of the gutter fascia to the twiddly bits in the inlay of your internal door.

 

Doing it from afar is hard though but they are good insofar as Hickinbotham actually fought the council on an issue when they were being difficult and won for us. That was good to see as you do feel a bit helpless!

 

It takes a set amount of time to complete once they've laid the slab which is more or less guaranteed to take 20weeks or something and that's encouraging.

 

I'd recommend it. The sum of theindividual parts (land and house) can sometimes be cheaper than shelling out for something new, and then you get to add to the finish and spend however much you like, but you have to be prepared to work and pester the home builders if you feel they're being slow on stuff.

 

Rich

[Guest mandmick]

Hi

 

Just been reading your post about building house.

We've made an offer on some land and hope to build with Hickenbotham too..

You seem to be having a good service from them, which sounds good.

What are extra costs approximately to add onto the cost of one of their houses?

Any tips for what to avoid?!!

Is it all worth the trouble?!

We have bought a house there but would really like to build our dream home but most Aussies don't seem very enthusiastic about building!

[Rachiegarlo]

Cos the cost of building doesn't mean the back garden gets landscaped or finished, although now usually the boundry fences are included, they used to be extra. Plus curtains and flooring etc....it all adds on to the build, plus people may not have the time but a lot of Aussies still build and probably more will do so in the coming years.

[andy and lindsey]

Hi there

 

We have been living in our newly built house now for 6 weeks. Initially following the build which toward the end got rather stressful, I vowed I would never do it again but now the dust has begun to settle I definately would - we built with AV Jennings . I would do what Andrew suggested and go to one of the show villages and have a look round, lay your cards on the table and I am sure when they find out that you have land that they will be happy to talk to you - entice you with various offers.

 

The major compalaint that I have heard from most people who have built and certainly ours is the lack of communication. A friend built with Homestead and she seems to have had the best experience of everyone I know who has built! The quality of what Jennings has built is good. A good tip that we had was to get a surveyor to look over the build after it got to lock up stage and snag it. If you have an eye for this then you could do it yourself, but my hubby and I are both nurses so we paid someone - $250 - 300! He did a report for us and took photographs of everything that he considered to be incorrect or done poorly, in all honesty there was very little.

 

I had two friends that built with a popular builder and didn't have the best experience, a surveyor snagged theirs and stopped the build as the main joist on the house wasn't actually attached to anything - just balancing on top. The floor had to be dug up as it was so uneven, and the brickwork was horrendous.

 

Our build in total took about 22 weeks, which at the time felt like forever. Remember that the price you get from the builder wont include things like footings (although they may factor in an allowance for this - you wont know the exact amount until the soil report is done), aircon, carpets,fencing, landscaping, pergolas (unless you have built in alfresco), curtains, blinds, light fittings, flooring (other than in the wet areas), paving around the house, stormwater and rainwater tank, fitting of the actual ariel, connecting of the telephone ($200). We upgraded somethings like - we had security screen doors put on all the doors (patio, front and laundry room), screens are included as standard on all windows but not doors. We had some extra plug sockets and tv ariel points put in, upgraded the kitchen, and window locks too. The builder did our aircon (it was an offer they had at the time) and our flooring (its not something that we could have done ourselves and we wanted a house that we could really go and put our furniture down and live in). We bought our blinds from the plans - from Freedom, a couple a month - when they were on special, we used the sizes on the plan and they have all fitted and look great.

 

The guy that we used for our mortgage was great and really held our hand through the whole process and went out to bat for us (with the builder) when we waiting for handover - Andrew Thompson from the Loan Arranger - Tel 0402 269 314 , I have written a recommendation on here before for him! Quite a few of my friends have used him too. Another friend laybyed some floating floor during their build and had it fitted when they got the keys, her floor looks fabulous and I have the name of the fitter if anyone needs it. We used Sean Chandler for paving and stormwater (he does retaining walls, and concreting too), great guy, came when he said he would and was the cheapest of all the quotes and it looks great too Tel 0412 376 624. We used Lochness Fencing (John Cassidy), again highly recommended, did all our neighbours fencing too, again his was the cheapest quote Tel 0409 322 414. Paul Mearis painted some feature walls for us the day we moved in - very reasonably priced, fantastic job - no mess anywhere and then helped us move some furniture, what more could you ask for (I'm going to get him back to do more!) Tel 0405 098 760.

 

I struggled to find tradesmen that would come when they said they would, then actually send you a quote and I wouldn't hesitate at recommending any of the above!

 

Hope that this helps!

 

 

Lindsey

[julie-ruth]

If you go to one of the Display villages that have lots of different building agents, we are up the road from you and we went to The Bridges at Mawson Lakes, you will get lots of Idea of different types of houses its worth talking to the agents they said to us if we find a plot we like they would come and inspect the plot at no additional cost (if you buy one of their plans) they can also design properties for you, its worth looking at lots of different agents as their costs vary, its worth having this done because your footing's might cost a lot extra some have said up to an extra $50000 on the price of the property if you have a lot of rock on the plot you like or if its swamp land they may have to do a bit of backfilling until the ground have settled, or drains on the property the agents produce properties that their builders build so you get an idea of the expense of a type of property built each agent are slightly different in what they offer.

 

They have brocures with pricelist for their properties.

 

Haven't actually built a property just activily looking at the pro's and cons of building or buying an estabished house at the moment. Its all interesting though.

 

Julie

[Guest nishman]

Lots to think about and research - not least, the "gap analysis" of what you see in the show home and what the builder's price includes. Stormwater, paving, driveways, "selections" (upgrades), AC, floor coverings, curtains, lights, fencing, telephone, antenna, "landscaping", retaining, extra excavation/soil removal are all things that may not be included, but would need to be budgetted. Rental costs too. Note that the build time of 20-26 weeks is from slab - the time it takes to get to slab may be longer than this due to communication problems, approval issues etc... Check whether the land is approved for development by the council too, as this could add more time to the schedule.

Our build took 2 years from signing for various reasons - stormwater/paving/driveway next on the list before winter sets in! Character building for us and we leart a lot for the next time (LOL)! Although we are generally happy with the finished product.

I've attached a link to a similar thread that may be useful:

http://www.pomsinadelaide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8975

[andy and lindsey]

Hi just thought I would add we signed for our land in Jan 08 and moved into completed house March 09!

 

Lindsey