jatkins Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 Hi All, We've been looking at the various ads for new homes in Melbourne/Brisbane and keep coming across the property measured in squares. I thought this related to square metres, but it doesn't seem to? What's a square??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northshorepom Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 Here ya go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_(unit) There are 10.8 square feet in a square metre, for comparison. So 1 "building square" = 9.3 square metres Makes building costs look quite cheap, doesn't it? Just make sure you price in all the extras, as the "base build" is usually pretty ropey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jatkins Posted September 3, 2012 Author Share Posted September 3, 2012 Thanks great, thanks for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Ropey HOFF Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 [h=2]Australian houses second largest in the world.[/h] Average Home Sizes Around the World If you're traveling the world at all this summer, chances are you'll come across homes smaller than your average U.S. house. We found the above chart at the BBC (love its Josef Albers-esque aesthetics) and we converted to square feet after the jump: The article we read is about home sizes in the UK. The Brits' homes are actually the smallest, on average, for all of Europe! Here's the conversion for the chart above, alongside an Albers just for fun (remember, these are averages and reflect new homes constructed since 2003): US: 2,300sf Australia: 2,217sf Denmark: 1,475sf France: 1,216sf Spain: 1,044sf Ireland: 947sf UK: 818sf Australian houses are nearly three times bigger than UK houses on average. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rammygirl Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 Yeah average is a bit skewed because of so many terraced properties in UK and now flats compared to Oz. New houses in Oz are getting smaller as blocks of land are getting smaller and they still prefer single storey properties. You often find that on new estates people build on most of the plot leaving tiny gardens. Bedroom windows end up 3 feet away from a tin fence! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Ropey HOFF Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 Yeah average is a bit skewed because of so many terraced properties in UK and now flats compared to Oz. New houses in Oz are getting smaller as blocks of land are getting smaller and they still prefer single storey properties. You often find that on new estates people build on most of the plot leaving tiny gardens. Bedroom windows end up 3 feet away from a tin fence! Still massive compared to the UK, we liken the new builds here to ...... Chicken hutches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jatkins Posted September 4, 2012 Author Share Posted September 4, 2012 I don't get the whole metal fence thing! On the various moving to Oz programmes the garden which looks like it's fenced off the corrugated metal crowd control fencing, bit weird if you ask me. And I don't get the gardens, they all look sooooooo tiny. I guess they're not bit gardeners. Building up two storey's and leaving some room for a garden seems like a good idea to me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jatkins Posted September 4, 2012 Author Share Posted September 4, 2012 I don't get the whole metal fence thing! On the various moving to Oz programmes the garden which looks like it's fenced off the corrugated metal crowd control fencing, bit weird if you ask me. And I don't get the gardens, they all look sooooooo tiny. I guess they're not big gardeners. Building up two storey's and leaving some room for a garden seems like a good idea to me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chardy Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Trouble is 2 storey houses in Oz are stupid money and I can't fathom it out as in the UK bungalows are proportionately more expensive to build than a 2 storey as the biggest cost is in the foundations !???????????????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest littlesarah Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Not all Aussie homes have metal fencing, it depends on what the owners preference is. Colourbond is about the same price as timber, but it has the advantage of being completely termite and sun -proof. We got timber, partly because it fits in better with our surroundings, and partly because colourbond tends to heat up more in the sun (which can damage plants if you have some close to the fence). Block size varies depending on where you are and the age of property you're considering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northshorepom Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Trouble is 2 storey houses in Oz are stupid money and I can't fathom it out as in the UK bungalows are proportionately more expensive to build than a 2 storey as the biggest cost is in the foundations !???????????????? Historically there's good sense in building single storey with high ceilings and large-ish loft spaces with hip roofs and overhanging eaves - upper storeys would get very warm in summer heat, particularly if the sun's beating on a gable end wall or a window to heat up the fabric of the house. I think this has then become the traditional way people expect houses to look, if you see what I mean Nowadays there's no particular reason why you'd need to avoid double storey, provided you adopt modern methods to limit the heat getting in to the building in the first place and with the much greater prevalence of air conditioning. But the habit is still for single storey ones and that's what people are comfortable with. In the areas where the default method of construction is stick-built timber frame - certainly Sydney and possibly most of the east coast - then making your house single storey also means you can get away with a lighter, and therefore much cheaper, frame than if you were asking it to hold up an upper storey as well. Particularly if you have a lightweight steel roof. I think that has a lot to do with it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valespark Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Beaware that the advertised "square number" eg 20SQ, will include covered alfresco areas, porches, and garages. Therefore the internal living space could be 14SQ out of a 20SQ build. I remember doing some calcs that an average new build 4 bed detached home in the UK is around 1400sq ft or 14SQ excluding garages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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