Building a house. Guesstimates needed.

[Draffa]

G'Day all. I've been reading these forums for a week or two now, and there's plenty of good advice being thrown around (and ideas being formulated in my mind ). I was hoping for some guesstimates from those in the trade and people who've been through similar experiences for the house I plan on building.

I guess you'll need some info.

• House will be located just north of Brisbane.
• The land is a sloping block, with roughly 500mm of drop from west to east. This is the same direction of the long axis of the house. The house will be located at the 'pinch point' of the block, about 18.5m - 19m fence-to-fence (again, west to east).
• The house itself is fairly basic. I describe it as a 'box on stilts'. The ground floor will reguire a slab, but no walls etc will be required in the initial phase of building. Six months or a year down the track I plan to brick the ground floor in, but for now, I want the living area up (postponing the brick also has the advantage that I won't be paying for the floor area twice).
• Upstairs (internal staircase either to be added later via cutting a hole in the floor, or building with the upper floor and putting security doors on it) is divided equally into two main parts: lounge/dining/kitchen, and bedrooms/bathroom/toilet. There is to be a verendah 3m wide on the north and south sides of the house, and 2m wide on the eastern.
• Dimensions for the house itself are 10m x 12m (ex verandah, 12m side is angled east-west). With verandah they come to 16m x 14m.
• Floors are wood, no carpet etc.
• The ground floor will be a future two-car garage (under the bedrooms) and rumpus.

A basic floorplan is attatched

I've already had a meeting with one builder with quite a good reputation. Unfortunately, the quote he sent me almost made me fill my grundies in shock. I'm hoping he just padded it out massively because he has other things to do and doesn't want the job.

So. Anyone who could give a guesstimate, or rough price per sqM would be much appreciated. Independent asessments are always handy. Cheers.

[bitingmidge]

Draffa,

It doesn't matter what the estimate you've got is, it won't be enough to finish the job.

I don't want to be rude, but if you don't have the capability of accurately estimating yourself, you won't be able to build it for less than twice what you think it will be. That's just how the building industry works!

Why not get an estimate or two from a couple of other builders?

Don't fool yourself into thinking it's a small house because it's got verandahs. Verandahs, and timber floors are expensive items, so is scaffold for building a high set house, and floor insulation and all the other bits.

I'm not sure that "bricking in" later isn't going to prove to be a false economy as well, but again suggest you get a bit of advice from other builders.

Sorry to be so negative, all the best!
Cheers,

P

[squashedfrog1]

Have you had a look at any of the kit homes. Many of them will do erection to lock up. Steel frame home places could be an option too. You can pick one of their designs or they'll quote on yours. Google "kit homes". That should keep you busy all day!


sf

[pawnhead]

Cordells are the premium building cost estimators in Australia, but it's quite expensive.

If anyone here has a current copy or a subscription to Cordell, they may be able to give you a close approximation.

I haven't quoted any building works for quite some time, but someone here may have an idea based on a square metre rate, but bitingmidge has some good advice.

Whatever you think the cost may be,

double it. (at least)

Cheers

[silentC]

$248,316.97 + site costs

[Honorary Bloke]

$248,316.97 + site costs

That's the same number I came up with! Must be accurate.

[pawnhead]

That's the same number I came up with! Must be accurate.

You'd be amazed at the variation that you'll get when asking for quotes.
As Draffa has said, the bloke he got the quote from might not want the job, so he hasn't bothered to crunch the numbers, but instead he's just decided to load the quote up. I've made a bit of money in the past that way.
Others with a very cheap quote may have overlooked something, or may be intending to cut corners. This of course can lead to grief in the long run.

I'd advise you to get as many free quotes as you can. The median price should be around what it's actually worth, and be wary of any quotes that are extremelly low. I'd be asking a lot of questions from them before I'd sign anything.

PS Are you the same 'Draffa' from OCAU?

[silentC]

the bloke he got the quote from might not want the job, so he hasn't bothered to crunch the numbers

He didn't tell us what the quote was. It might be spot on and Draffa's expectations are too high

I'm not totally taking the p!ss. The number I put up is sq. metres * 1000 + 10% (OK I used the decimal places from your floor plan, just to make sure there were some odd cents in there), which is a very rough guide considering we know nothing about your site, or what materials you intend to build it with (except that you don't want carpet).

On top of that, you've got various other costs, including DA fees, architect/drafting fees, engineers fees, insurance, workers comp (if you are owner building), builder's long service levy (do they have that in QLD?).

Oddly enough, my place worked out to roughly 1000 per sq metre, so it works for me

[bitingmidge]

And here's the rub.

$1000 per square metre on a low-set, slab on ground house at Pambula beach has no relation whatsoever to a high-set block somewhere north of Brisbane.

If somewhere north of Brisbane is say on the outskirts of Kenilworth, it's going to cost a lot more because every tradie will have to drive for two hours to get there.

On the other hand, $1000 per square metre didn't get a concrete slab AND a suspended timber floor over the same area. Neither did it get a ground floor bracing structure to cope with higher winds.

Did it get a driveway?

Or a street cross-over?

Temporary power? (Yes I know it did ) but that's the sort of thing that gets left off and just keeps adding up the total.


What about permanent power? Does it need a property pole? Who knows, not enough information, and certainly not enough for anyone who hasn't visited the site to give any sensible figure.

Cheers,

P

[Draffa]

Why not get an estimate or two from a couple of other builders?

Doing that as we speak. Always planned to, but that first quote was a shock to the system.

Don't fool yourself into thinking it's a small house because it's got verandahs.

Well, I know it's not small, but it's not a McMansion either. It's about the same size (not including the verandah) as most other houses I've lived in, so I consider the plan to be 'normal'.

I'm not sure that "bricking in" later isn't going to prove to be a false economy as well,

I'm thinking in that direction only because, from conversations I've had, many builders seem to quote for everything inside the walls, regardless if there's one internal wall or twenty. (and high-set means twice the floor area). That might just be 'selection bias' though.

Sorry to be so negative, all the best!

Negative can be good. it deflates unrealistic expectations.

PS Are you the same 'Draffa' from OCAU?

Yep. But don't hold that against me.

He didn't tell us what the quote was.

It was high enough that I could almost buy another house and land around here for just a few thousand more.

(if you are owner building),

Oh god no, I have trouble building a bookcase

If somewhere north of Brisbane is say on the outskirts of Kenilworth,

No, not that far north. Halfway between Brissy and the Sunshine coast. About an hour in either direction.

Does it need a property pole?

Doubt it. The house, as 'planned', is about 20m from the nearest power pole. If it were a low-set, it might have trouble, but as a high-set, I doubt it (even the low-set I'm in atm has a cable run of about 15 meters). There's no trees in the way either (fortunately ).

[silentC]

Actually my block has a 3 metre fall from front wall to back wall and about 15,000 bricks under it, but I take your point

I think what I was trying to say in my rambling way was that no-one can give you a price over the internet. $12,000 to $15,000 per square is what builders bandy about down here, but of course it depends on a lot of variables.

$1000 per sq. metre lets you say that it will cost around 1/4 of a million for a basic house of that size, as opposed to say $150,000, which some project home ads might lead you to believe.

[eemgee]

If you were building in Tassie you would get quotes in a range of $235,000 to maybe $275,000 but I would imagine that a rural area north of Brisbane would probably be a bit higher. There should be some local builders in your area that could quote and would not need to travel.

[peter_sm]

At a guess I would say $240k

[Mahaylea]

I recently did/doing a double brick, double concrete slabs, 2 story 120 square mtr extention..Being 60 sq down, 60 up, basically a big box on a box LOL..What I did was got quotes, got prices, did lots of investigating..Hubby and I then changed our mind so we got more quotes and found the brickies at that time were charging about double what I paid for it by waiting..I had some rediculous concrete slab prices too, but I kept looking around and finally got onto some reasonable prices from reputable companies and they helped me by putting me in touch with other workers too..

Our house did not cost $1000 a square it was less because we owner built it, and we also did some of the labouring ouselves ie: moved ALL the bricks upstairs, lifted all roofing timbers upstairs, helped by labouring for the roofy, did cashy jobs, cut the hole in the roof of our existing house so the reno could be joined, we did alot of this side of it and that helped to save heaps..

So do some ringing around, get someone to work out how many bricks you will need then you can ring the brick company, someone in your area must have estimation of the site works, who did you buy the land from? They would have an estimation, you can also ring a concrete company, drop some plans off they will work out a quote for you for nothing..

Good luck

[Sir Stinkalot]

I've already had a meeting with one builder with quite a good reputation. Unfortunately, the quote he sent me almost made me fill my grundies in shock. I'm hoping he just padded it out massively because he has other things to do and doesn't want the job.

Sorry to be rude Draffa, especially to a new member, but is that the plan that you showed your builder? If it is the case then I can see why the price was padded out.

Presenting something like that would make the builder that you are just fishing for prices, why would they bother investing their time, and costs, in giving you a price which isn't even going to be close as there are no items to price. Get together some reasonable plans and a builder will give you a reasonable estimate.

Again just trying to add constructive imput.

Stinky.