Has anyone had any experience sub-dividing with a builder just lately. We have been waiting 3 1/2 months just for them to put a spec home on a block of land behind our IP. It is an easy site, the existing house is to the front and to the side allowing plenty of room to build at rear, no trees and very flat. We told them our budget was low and to recommend a house to put on the block.
They have drawn up a 4×2 $124,000 house on the block 1.5M from an easement. The salesman told us the costings would follow shortly but 2 1/2 months later after I had complained about the time it was taking, he has come up with an estimate of $65,000 site costs as we may need piles because we are within 3M of easement and retaining as the soil is clay. This seems excessive to me!! Anyone had any experience in this area? Would love to hear what you think!
Regards Anita
Anita,do you mean experience with piling?
Tools
Hi Tools
Yes I mean experience with piling and site costs. Are these costs normal for such a low cost house and why could it cost so much?
Regards Anita
Seems extremely excessive to me. Clay is unstable but a floating slab should fix that and I cant see why you would need piles because of an easement. You aren’t even building two storey. I would definitely get another couple of opinions. I built 900mm from an easement on clay soil with just a slab. Did this money include all the subdivision costs, plans, driveway in or what?
Fern
They may be saying that you need piles because of what is called “the angle of repose”.If you have a pipe in the easement that is say 3 metres deep,the angle of repose is a 45 degree line taken from the bottom of the pipe towards your footing,and the footing needs to be below that line.So your footing would need to be founded at least 3 metres from the pipe,or be founded deeper, which is what the pile do.
$65,000 would buy a hell of a lot of piles.There are basically three types of piles.There are bored piers which mean drilling a hole to founding depth, putting in reo and filling with concrete.This would be the most expensive method.Then there are driven piles which can be timber or concrete,but for a ouse would more than likely be timber.They are just driven in tot he ground and the slab beams poured over them.The third type are screw piles.They are just like a big screw that are screwed in tot he ground with an excavator..These are the quickest ,easiest and cheapest way.I just had some done on a commercial project I am doing,and for around 140 piles we paid about $22,000,plus some re-engineering on the slab($800) and some additional rep in the slab ($12000).But remember that this is for a large commercial building,which is a little more heavy duty than a house.
Tools
Hi, same thing’s happening to me. One and a half years down the track, finally the demolition’s done. Costs are 20% more than initially estimated.
Site works cost $75000 in my case. But spread over 4 homes, it’s not so bad. This doesn’t include landscaping.
I tried throwing a major tantrum & it worked! Prices came down $20K right away.
I’m praying right now.
Good luck to you.
Kum YinHi Fernfurn
These costs include:
Headworks at approx $6000
Repeg survey, setout & contour feature survey $1000
Earthworks (higher floor to create fall) $10,000
Side access track $1000Retaining Walls approx 54sqm Concrete $7200
Engineers soil Inspection Class “S3” $7000
Sewer cut in and connect $4000
Pile footings & sewer diversion $7000Water service, cut in to mains and
Stormwater connect plus 3 Soakwells $6000W.Power connect fee & u/ground cable etc $4200
Temporary Fencing $1850
Block Paving 6M driveway & crossover $6000
Rubbish Bins 350I have rounded these figures but the estimate for site costs are $65,546. The house we are building is ony 130sqm . Would this be about right or are we being taken for a ride?
Regards
AnitaI would definitely be asking another builder to give you a quote on this. Certain figures seem excessive and even not called for depending on site but you said it was a flat block. My partner is into construction and I asked him to take a look also. What is headworks?, why would you need a retaining wall on a flat block, why do you need to create a fall on a flat block, is this for seweage to run, this quote seems excessive. Soil tests should only be a few hundred dollars, does this engineers $ include all the engineering drawings, they should have been included in the house quote. Stormwater connect, pile footings and soakwells seem overkill, is this because of the clay. We never needed it at our place. I would be finding out a lot more about this quote and the requirements for any of this.
Fern
Thanks for your reply Fernfurn
The headworks are the statutory water authority costs so I think they are fixed.
However we did go to see the salesman re this quote and went through afew things with him. The retaining is for the sewerage to fall. We also checked with the council and the water authority and they said we could build 1.5M away from the easement (which however is not on our block but next door) which would eliminate the piles and if we repositioned the garage also.
I am just amazed that the salesman doesn’t do this before he starts finding a house to put on the block!! They are going to re-do the quote and come up with a more realistic figure but I am going to get some ideas from other builders also. Apparently the soil is sandy and clay and if you don’t retain the soil can move underneath causing cracking in the walls. I will keep you informed.
Thanks for your replys
Anita
I think you may be better off doing the subdivision with a surveyor rather than a builder. Get everything in place and then approach several builders for a quote to build a house. Give them specific to work to (eg 3BR 1BR, 110m2, etc) and ask for a fixed quote. Make sure they do not leave any loopholes for extra digging/foundation costs. This is sometimes hard if they can strike rock, which does not seem the case with you.
It is often easier to go for standard designs shown in display homes. Alternatively you can get a custom made plan that you shop around with, but it will probably be more expensive.
And don’t be afraid to haggle and play one against the other. The more competent you appear, the less b..ls..t you will have to put up with. And being a woman, makes it a lot harder, because most tradesmen do not take them serious. This can be very frustrating. So if you have a male friend who knows a bit about building, it may help your case to go together. But you may get overlooked completely.
Good luck [xmas]you should get your own development consultant for the subdivision component. I have been doing the same thing and my builder has helped out with some aspects for works related to him. My builder isn’t doing all the works. eg. when i got a quote for the stormwater and sewer works from my builder (spec home builder) they wanted $20k. the actual cost has been under $8k
spec builders just want to build the house, they only want the extras with massive margin. becuase they’re fixed price contracts also, they MUST ensure they meet their costs so there is a big margin in those works.
good luck with it all.
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