Buying Land to Build a Home?

[humwill]

Hi All

Thinking of buying a piece of land on the Gold Coast to build a house. I'm sure some of you must have gone through this already!! Any tips for what to look out for when purchasing the land and any recommendations of building company's to use? The agent who has the land for sell for the developer says there's no negotiating on the list price !!!! ??

Looking forward to hearing about some of your do's and don'ts

[Rhino1]

Looking forward to responses on this one as I have the same idea in mind. The layout of the typical Australian house doesn't work for me. Anyhow, suppose I have to get a job first or I may end up in the caravan park...

[Jordy]

Looking forward to responses on this one as I have the same idea in mind. The layout of the typical Australian house doesn't work for me. Anyhow, suppose I have to get a job first or I may end up in the caravan park...

I dont how much this applies: When I buying a new car, I wanted a manual cause that is what we had in South Africa. The dealer said to me, "Sure I can order one in for you, but you will struggle to sell it, cause Aussies want automatics."

My point is, it is all very well designing a house that was what you had in South Africa, but will it sell one day or will Aussies see it as a 'funny design' and be turned off buying it.

Maybe houses are different to cars?

[Mara]

What do you want to know guys? We have built two homes in Melbourne! Thus far!

[Rhino1]

Good point Jordy, perhaps I should have qualified my statement. The one thing that I don't like is the scattering of bedrooms in many house designs instead of grouping functional areas. For instance: a bedroom straight from the lounge, or walking through the kitchen to go through the laundry to get to the toilet. I can live with the main bed near the entrance. The 'problem' designs seems to be for older homes though. If you look at the latest pre-designed offerings the designs seems to be more practical with well defined living zones. Another aspect, and I suppose this is largely a cost factor, is the small stand sizes. I like my privacy and don't want to hear my neighbour farting. In my case, planning our move to Adelaide, we can find good size stands above 1000m squares in the Hills for $200000-$300000 which I will fund from my RSA house sale.Another $300000 and you have a decent home. Sorry, I am perhaps just dreaming and making plans but reality will dictate once we are there though. So, please advise ;-)

[humwill]

Hi Mara

We like the Aussie house designs and have narrowed our choice down to 2 options, the questions we have are, do you use one of the big building firms such as Metricon or use a smaller owner operated one. How much more was the total cost than the initial quote. The quote we have includes the driveway but no fencing or landscaping.

Thanks

[HansaPlease]

I'm still not sure whether the bigger volume builders are better, or the smaller, more specialist types. Most of them sub-contract out the actual building, so your quality or tradespeople can vary from one house to the other.

We went with a smaller builder that had better quality homes. In the end we were happy with the house, but their project managers were useless. We went through three of them.

If I could give any advice, it would be:

- keep on top of the builders. Bug them! If you see your house going up and the brick is the wrong colour, call them immediately! Our bricklayer started with the wrong pattern and we got on to him within the first day - he changed it.

- if there is a snagging list of outstanding items once the house has been handed over - hound them until they are complete, otherwise they will hope you just go away

- the hot water systems that volume builders usually put on their houses are rubbish. Try to find out the make/model of the system and consider paying more for a decent one. Dux is absolute rubbish and will break within 2 years. It's actually quite amazing - everybody we knew who had a house built had either their solar hot water leak, or their thermostat on their hot water system go within the first year. All you have to do is google the name and "reviews" and you'll see what is considered well regarded. Did I mention that Dux was rubbish?

- even though they may tell you that the final price includes "everything" you will still need to budget a lot for extras. A pergola/afdak will set you back $10,000. It's surprising how quickly things like toilet roll holders, towell racks, fly screens add up. I'd say we spent about $70,000 in our house after it was built to get it up to scratch. Maybe more when I include aircon and landscaping...

- they never give you enough power points and light fittings. There are usually a certain amount included in the price. Consider spending more at first to save headaches later

Just some of our experiences.

Edited August 12, 2014 by HansaPlease

[humwill]

Thanks Hansa it's still hard as each person does something different - our quote does say it includes the "deluxe package" but will have to go and see what exactly what they call "deluxe" - I suppose the big question is "would you do it again??"

[HansaPlease]

No.

Ok, just kidding. It was a pain in the backside, but we would do it again.

We loved our end result.

We wouldn't do it again to make money. We would do it to build our dream house. The days of cheap land in growth areas are pretty much gone, so I think it's more cost effective to buy a house in an established area.

Edited August 12, 2014 by HansaPlease

[Sibella]

We recently bought a house in an established area. It's around 12 years old and in reasonably good condition although the blue kitchen needs to go at some point. But it's a double storey house with all the bedrooms and a playroom upstairs which I like.

We really struggled with the deciding whether to build or not. In the end we were in a rush as we our rental periods wasn't extended.

So even though we lost out on the first time home buyers grant (only for new builds) I felt that the extras we got in this house made up for it. For example we have a huge shed with built in shelves, lights &plugs, a landscaped garden, curtains and blinds in all rooms, ducted vacuum, speakers inside and out (not sure how to use them though!). If we had to put all these things in extra it would've cost us a fortune and it's also a big hassle after the huge hassle of actually having the house built.

So if you are looking at an established area it would probably be better financially to buy an established home, while in a newer area area building might be better.

[Bronwyn&Co]

I suggest those of you interested in building, take a look on 'Whirlpool' as there are heaps of threads and discussions you can tap into.

Edited August 13, 2014 by Bronwyn&Co

[Mara]

Sorry guys, I have not come back to this, I under pressure, big celebrations this weekend, it is our 40th anniversary. I will get back to this post on Monday.

[Mara]

Right the partying is over, so here I am, as promised. Please remember, my experience was in Melbourne, that is where both our homes were built. It could also work for other areas, as it is pretty general. Many people will have differing opinions, this is just what we experienced.

Advice for building your own home, what type of builder to use:

1. We used an individual contractor. We were not impressed, had a hard time with him and if it has not been for an excellent lawyer, we would have been in serious trouble. Not sure if he was just crappy or if this is the norm. We did go and look at homes that he had built and they all looked fine, but what did we know, this was our first ever home build.
2. We used Dennis Family Homes, excellent service, excellent feedback, and they were happy to incorporate the spread sheet system I was using into our contract. This was part of the reason why our 2^nd build went so smoothly. By choice, we would go with a big builder if we were to build again.

What are my recommendations:

1. Visit as many show homes or look at as many plans as you can. Walking through a show home is better, it gives you the size and layout so that you can decide if this will be okay for you. If you have bulky furniture which you wish to incorporate, then try and work out what size room you will need for it and ensure the room size will be correct. If you can find a plan to which you have to only make very minimal changes, then go for that, it is very costly to change plans.
2. Please ask questions, remember, the show home you are looking at probably has thousands of dollars of upgrades in it, this is not the home you will get. The only thing about it will be the size. So if there are particular things in the house that you like, then ask them what the cost would be to have those included in your plan.
3. If you are wise, as you start your negotiations, keep a spread sheet for each room in the proposed house, list everything for that room, make sure you have maker names, sizes, part numbers, descriptions, everything! This then leaves no room for error, and if they will incorporate your spread sheets into the contract, then that is the builder I would go with.
4. The big builders are usually willing to make some changes, as long as the footprint of the home does not change, however, they do not like moving the wet areas or redesigning them too much.
5. A simple change like changing windows from sliding to awning is usually not a problem, and for us it was no question, as sliding windows are very easy to lift out of their frames. The awning windows are lockable and have a chain system that winds in and out, much more secure.
6. Try to ensure that the west side of your new home does not have windows. If you can put your garage on that side, that would be excellent. Remember that in summer the sun only goes down at around 9pm and it has then been shining on your western walls for around 9 hours, imagine how hot they will be.
7. Make sure your new home has eaves, it is amazing how much that helps for the sun.
8. Make sure you put excellent insulation in all the walls, may cost a bit more at this stage but it will definitely pay you back over the years with heating and cooling. Upgrade, upgrade, upgrade, that is my mantra!
9. If you have a short driveway, try and use brick paving rather than cement, with the shifting that happens with clay soil, the cement will probably end up cracking and then it does not look good.
10. If you have a good size kitchen walk in pantry then you can get away with lesser cupboard space in the kitchen.
11. If they are not already offered, ensure that you have fly screens for the windows added to your contract. When it comes to the doors, I would go for the stainless steel mesh doors, better security and if you have pets you will not have to replace the screen all the time.

Builders I would use:

1. Dennis family homes – http://www.dennisfamily.com.au/
2. Porter Davis Homes – http://www.porterdavis.com.au/
3. Simonds Homes - http://www.simonds.com.au/

Builders I would NOT use:

1. Henley Properties - http://www.henley.com.au/

[Cranzy]

I suggest those of you interested in building, take a look on 'Whirlpool' as there are heaps of threads and discussions you can tap into.

Also look at http://forum.homeone.com.au/

[Garrick]

My profile has a link to our blog of our house that we built in Eynesbury. That was with Urban Edge Homes.

-G

[humwill]

Hi Mara and everyone

Thanks for the advice, its a big decision but we are going to go for it. Will keep you guys informed.

Regards

[Bronwyn&Co]

Don't forget about places like Paal homes and Ezy homes if you are interested in a self build kit home. I've been in a Paal home & couldn't tell it was a kit ??