HBRAD321 Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 Hoping for some advice. Does anyone have any experience of buying land and having a house built? Good and Bad experiences? Not sure which route to take.. very early days but just exploring all options.. Thinking Brisbane possibly? Average cost etc Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest26012 Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Hi, we're just in the early stages of building our second house here. What specifically, do you want info on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Yes, we did - not a 'home and land' package, bought the land privately and then researched builders. My advice would be avoid the big names, they overstretch themselves and the build can take a year or more and the mortgage payments are staged so you can end up paying most of your mortgage and still renting for quite some time. Our build took just 6 months from the day they started clearing the site to the day we got the keys. One thing to watch out for is the final finish of a new build in Australia is nothing like a new build in the UK where it is more or less ready to move into, unless you opt for what they refer to as 'turn key' - it cost us another $50k to 'finish' our house and that was with my OH doing as much as he could. The other thing to watch for is the 'allowances' in the building contract, if they are not enough you can end up with a big bill at the end the mortgage doesn't cover. There was someone on here who had to sell up immediately as the house build cost had gone over budget by 30k and they didn't have it. For us overall it was a good experience but you have to manage the costs carefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HBRAD321 Posted February 23, 2013 Author Share Posted February 23, 2013 Thanks for your replies. Just wanted advice on where to start really.. How much likely to cost in total.. Just weighing up our options on whether to buy land and build or if we should just to buy a house/bungalow already built.. Jules2409 thanks for your info re: avoiding the big names, initially who we have been looking at so useful to know to avoid them.. Many Thanks Hayley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicF Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Hi, we are about to start building a house. We bought a block of land in October and are now trying to get our plans through planning approval. It doesn't have to take this long but we are highly customising our build. We are using one of the large builders and here in SA most builders will garauntee a 20 week build time once the slab is down. Our next door neighbours house, which has been built by the same builder we are using, went up in just over 20 weeks, inlcuding the slab and that was over the xmas period. A lot of the builders here are struggling to get work as the new build industry is very quiet at the moment so things can move quite quick once they get started. There have been a few builders go bust as well, so you need to make sure the company you choose is financially stable. As far as cost goes, well it varies greatly depending on what you are building and where you are building it. Our land cost $252k and the house is going to cost $250k then there will be about $50k in lanscaping and finishing off type things. However land can be cheaper or more expensive and the house can be a lot less if you go for a basic small plan with no upgrades, or a lot more if you build a large house with lots of upgrades. To me the main advantage of building is we can get the layout we want in the area we want rather than buying an existing house and then making loads of changes to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pennypol Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 Hi I would like to buy some land & then buy a kit house as they appear to be cheaper not sure about hiding planning cost & any extras that I would have to pay any advice please on this . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 Building contracts are a minefield and need to be looked over by a solicitor in my opinion. If you buy the house and the land with the same mortgage also be aware that the Bank/Lender will not provide the full amount of the land at the settlement of the land. I have seen a few clients get into difficulties with this one. Banks never lend fully on land, so you need money up your sleeve for this part of the deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzzy--bee Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 Hi I would like to buy some land & then buy a kit house as they appear to be cheaper not sure about hiding planning cost & any extras that I would have to pay any advice please on this . Hi, I lecture on Owner Building among other things. In some states you can become an owner-builder just by paying a rego fee, in others you have to take a course. For your kit house, you might well go as an OB. Have a look at http://www.buildingcentre.com.au for some more info. BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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