Costs for New House Build

SmiTTy on 13/04/2021 - 00:57
Last edited 13/04/2021 - 00:59

Hi all

I'd like to explore the possibility of building my own house. I don't have a block of land, all I know is how much money I have to spend.

My question is, where do I get information enough to get a reasonably good understanding of how much it costs to build a house (and to therefore work out if it is a worthwhile pursuit, or at least one I can afford)

I've visited display homes (like masterton) but noone wants to have a serious conversation with me if I don't already own a block of land. They'll hand me a bunch of brochures and talk about high level costs. I've spoken to a tonne of people who've gone through the process and the consistent message is there are a whole heap of hidden costs that aren't included in the pricing provided by those builders.

I've looked through forums and people talk about $/sqm which is okay, but I still feel like there is too much uncertainty (eg is that price per sqm a turnkey price) .

I get there are a lot of factors (size of land, design, quality of materials, slope of land, soil quality, etc etc) but how do i go from saying "this is the rough design I want" to "this is realistically how much I need to budget for".

Ideally I'd love to be able to come up with something like this :

Design and Approvals 50k
Knockdown 25-50k
Site cost 50k
Construction 500k-550k
Flooring 10k-15k
Landscape 5k - 10k
Driveway 15k-20k
Misc 100k

Total estimated cost = 745k to 845k ish

Appreciate your guidance!

Home & Garden

Comments

  • whitelie on 13/04/2021 - 02:52
    +4

    It seems like your original question is different to your cost breakdowns.
    You're not going to have those kinds of costs involved in a vacant lot compared to already owning the house and land, knocking it down and rebuilding.
    It shouldn't cost you 800k to build a house unless it's a full custom architect design and build, high level finishings and very big. I'm not far off contraction with a "volume builder" and our house is costing us $285k for about 300sqm which includes shire approval, site allowances, floor and window coverings, driveway and crossover, reverse cycle AC, stone benchtops throughout, 30c ceilings with 38c to living and meals along with a heap of alterations……I think the 'base model' for our plan starts around 225k. We get front landscaping and fencing thrown in with our block as well as a 50% discount on rear landscaping.

    If it was on a vacant lot, you'd have the land cost, stamp duty and probably a couple of grands worth of fees.
    Then whatever the house is going to cost….Don't forget LMI if you don't have 20% of the house and land cost in a deposit for the mortgage (you can borrow this with some lenders but obviously factor it in to the repayments if that's the case).

    • vark on 13/04/2021 - 08:59

      $285k for 300sqm floor plan? that sounds cheap. Where are you building it? I am looking at some quotes in South East Queensland and got a quote of $253k for 182.6 m2. It is a brick veneer construction, has 2.7m ceiling height and ducted air con. Am I getting ripped off?

      • GourmetFoodie on 13/04/2021 - 09:38

        That does sound cheap but it's all in level of the finishes….quality of trades being used, things like "Stone benchtops" can mean many different things! It's very very hard to compare apples with apples in the building game.

      • whitelie on 13/04/2021 - 10:14

        Perth. Generally double brick over here.
        As I mentioned, base plan was $225k from memory and 280sqm I think. We made a lot of variations…The 30c ceilings, floor and window coverings, Silestone benchtops, undermount kitchen sink, ducted reverse cycle AC, 900mm cooktop with 900 or dual 600mm ovens were all included in a $2k promo which was a bargain. I think those kinds of deals have stopped since everything kicked off with the grants but we locked that in pretty early.

        The 38c to the living/meals cost about 9k. Moving rooms around, stacker doors, 1200mm front door, cabinetry and hobless showers are the main things I can think of that brought the cost up.

        Includes fixed site works costs as well as an allowance if we require a BAL rating - we didn't when we got the land so quite likely we'll get that taken off once we do prestart in a week or so. The initial quote was about 275k.

        List of specifications/standard inclusions was pretty normal for what we see over here. No idea if it's different to there.

        • carlJack on 13/04/2021 - 10:52

          Where in Perth? Whos the builder? We have been looking into building one.

          • whitelie on 13/04/2021 - 10:55

            @carlJack: We're building in Brabham but cost for the house itself is the same anywhere metro. Smart Homes who are owned by BGC. Content and Redink also do some nice stuff, otherwise speak to a building broker.

      • netjock on 13/04/2021 - 10:41

        If you have 1 bathroom, 1 kitchen and big rooms of just spaces then probably. $1k per square you can only do with massive scale.

        • whitelie on 13/04/2021 - 10:59

          4 bed, 2 bath, (freestanding bath and twin shower in the ensuite), study, theatre, skullery….280sqm for $285k. Obviously some finishing costs on top of that but my house and land wouldn't even come to $1500/sqm lol

    • TheBilly on 13/04/2021 - 17:30

      That is cheap. Is that a normal price for Perth? I’d love to read that quote to see if there is any hidden traps.

      • whitelie on 13/04/2021 - 17:43

        Our design is loosely based on this but with a 38c ceiling instead of the rake. I think the rake was an additional 25k or something but it didn't suit our block. "As displayed" is now $308k, was under 300 when we signed but it worked out cheaper to go off a different base design and make the variations to how we wanted it… there's always going to be some things missed but the bulk of it is there along with extras.

        The cheap/standard version starts at 220k.

        I'm surprised by how many people are saying it's cheap and you won't get anything under $2k/sqm. Must be crazy expensive to build over east?

        • Logical on 14/04/2021 - 21:35

          The house you link to has a base price of $308,00 for 280sq meters built in Perth.

          You may need to have a read of this: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/617071

          • whitelie on 14/04/2021 - 21:56

            @Logical: lol
            Do you think I'll only end up with half a house? The price is par for the course in Perth, I'm not sure why it costs so much over east to build? Is double brick that much cheaper than cladded frames?

  • Meho2026 on 13/04/2021 - 05:29
    +2

    This might help you understand why no one will give you the info you want until you own the land.
    https://buildinoz.com.au/how-to-avoid-expensive-site-costs-w…

  • Brick Tamland on 13/04/2021 - 08:28

    Ambiguity is part of the process. Take the high level advertised costs and budget for a bit extra and you should be fine.

    Site costs are unknown until someone actually takes samples from the block of land.

    Other costs like landscaping is entirely dependant on what you want. It can be cheap to very expensive but it generally it is surprisingly expensive.

    • iampoor on 13/04/2021 - 13:41

      New land estate with areas of significant engineered fill.

      Class M slab, one builder quoted over $60K and one builder at $18K.

      Crazy how the prices are so different, went with the $18K builder and the slab is one of the few things without problems…lol.

      Neighbor built with the builder who quoted over $60K, don't know what internal issues they have but external flashings have lifted, leaks down external wall have turned a part moldy and downpipe got blown away recently.

  • oscargamer on 13/04/2021 - 09:21

    $2000 per sq metre.

    • Logical on 14/04/2021 - 21:39

      what for? Lowest or Highset? Which area.. major city or outback? What specs?

  • boomramada on 13/04/2021 - 09:23

    $/sqm is a baseline figure, usually architects use that for detailing and costing.
    You haven't add:
    interior designer
    final building inspection cost
    double or triple glazed windows
    heated flooring
    italian tiling and fitting
    ducted air conditioner
    smart system
    curtains and blinds
    electrical fittings (lamp shades)
    miele kitchen appliances (upgrade)
    waterfall benchtop
    landscaping (how could you forget that?)
    solar panels + Tesla cells and Tesla car to goes with it.
    and once it all done, house warming party (you need to show it off)

  • GourmetFoodie on 13/04/2021 - 09:36
    +3

    The problem is your question is one of the "how long is a piece of string" questions.

    It depends on
    - state you live in
    - bulk builder or custom builder
    - suburb you are building in
    - size of house footprint
    - quality of finishes

    You can spend hundreds of thousands or multiple millions.

    Your best bet is probably looking at some display homes and on the ones your like, getting a ballpark figure for what you'd be looking at to build equivalent with that company. Add 20% to that number and you should be relatively safe.

    • GourmetFoodie on 13/04/2021 - 11:44

      Forgot to say I would expect that is the price for the build only.
      Permits, council fees, demolition, utilities etc all on top.

  • slow on 13/04/2021 - 09:58
    +2

    I built a project home that was listed as $390,000 on the builders website. By the time I had added in demolition, site costs, upgrades to make it really nice, driveway, landscaping etc etc etc it ended up around $600k

    • Logical on 14/04/2021 - 21:43

      so you didn't just build a project home… you demolished existing and added heaps of extras… for which you most likely overpaid. Driveways, landscaping etc can be done much cheaper directly through the subcontractor, same as demolition.

  • Darayus on 13/04/2021 - 10:26

    I called builder refred by my friend and asked whether he can come and view and give me option to build a new home for new land that will be coming up in QLD in a month or two.

    And you know what he said by sms. Mate we are currently booked out for next 3 years, so unfortunately we will not be taking any new projects.

    That the reason why builders are not even spending time to discuss with you something which you are not even propective customer since they are all booked out for another 36 months and they want to continue to earn $ 3K a day in this busy peak time.

  • netjock on 13/04/2021 - 10:40
    +1

    $2k - $3k per sqm. You probably won't be able to do anything for under $250k.

    Best way to compare is take the standard price from volume builders and divided total cost by total floor area. That would be lowest you would get.

  • holdenmg on 13/04/2021 - 10:55

    I'm surprised that OzB hasn't branched out into Land Development and Residential Building. :+)

  • JimmyF on 13/04/2021 - 10:59

    but noone wants to have a serious conversation with me if I don't already own a block of land. They'll hand me a bunch of brochures and talk about high level costs

    How long is a piece of string!? Of course they can't give you a 'serious' price without a block of land.

    I get there are a lot of factors (size of land, design, quality of materials, slope of land, soil quality, etc etc) but

    But what? Get a block of land and then a lot of these factors can be defined for costing.

    Ideally I'd love to be able to come up with something like this :

    Your total for costing should be ok, but you haven't said what type of house you're building.

    Single story are cheaper than double, 3 bedrooms and cheaper to build that 5 bedrooms.

    Cheap fit outs are cheaper to build that high end and so on.

  • tightpike on 13/04/2021 - 20:57

    sounds like your in NSW. Masterton should have a price on the display home. prob about 300k for a single storey. add your land on top. shouldn't cost too much more on a standard block, not on a hill, easy access, standard ground (not rock)

  • Fever4shakin on 15/04/2021 - 15:34

    Ask builders for the base price of the design you like and add at least 100k to that, you could also ask for approx. build price. Once you've chosen a design you can also find out what size of land you'll need for it as there are building requirements to consider. This doesn't mean you have to build exactly to the design but it is a good starting point. Prices will obviously rise if you have a sloping block, or if the soil quality is no good. This will come down to the land you buy, and depending on what land sales are like in your chosen area this information may not be readily available before you commit to buy.

    To give you a bit of an idea, the difference between our listed house base price and the approx. build price we were given was 80k. Then after adding custom changes to the design, accommodating a split level design and deepened edge beams due our sloping block, plus adding in flooring, internal selections, and window coverings, it is another 100k on top of the approx. build price. All up a 180k difference between the base price and our construction loan amount.

    • SmiTTy on 15/04/2021 - 19:39

      This is helpful, thanks!

  • Trying2SaveABuck on 21/04/2021 - 11:06

    TO answer your question A LOT OF MONEY

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