Things to bear in mind
Know your budget
- How much can you borrow from the bank?
- How much deposit do you have?
- Have you covered the legal costs and bank fees?
- How much is the land?
- What about fencing, landscaping, clothesline, post-box, TV aerial?
Land choice criteria
- What direction is North? Living areas are better North or North East.
- Where are the views? Capture them from living, master suite, patio.
- Access – beware steep drives affecting garage access and road entry.
- A level site is best. A slight slope is OK. Beware – it’s always steeper than it looks.
- Watch out for retaining walls, They are expensive – check site covenants.
Builders
Comparing apples with apples. It can be difficult, and is sometimes deliberately made so, to the builders advantage. Sometimes unfinished product is offered at very low prices. This “base” price is an opening for the builder to later charge for site costs, finishing off, extras, etc. Areas often wrongly assumed to be part of the contract price may be floor coverings, patios, driveways, 2600 ceiling heights, light fittings, etc. Even the real size of a house can be presented in several ways. Of late it has become the custom of some builders to offer floor plans with an “under roof” total area – this in fact includes the 600mm area under the eaves and can add over 50 square meters to the “size of the house”. A secondary biproduct of this disinformation can be a claim that construction is costing $800 per square meter – when in fact it is costing over $1000!
Drafting Plans
Use builders with their own in-house drafting.
- As builders they understand better how a house goes together.
- They are familiar with most problems and know the solutions.
- They know the most economical way to produce a dwelling.
- Some of them are up to date with the latest techniques.
The Contract
Usually the builder will supply the contract. Points to look out for are:
- Is it a fixed price contract? (No rise and fall clause).
- Are the plans attached, showing all the changes you requested?
- Specifications must be included, fully specified and checked.
- Construction times should state the number of days or weeks and may give a start date, but only if you have finance approval and the land is in your name.
- Liquidated damages should be filled in as this is the amount per day the builder pays if he goes over time.
- Check the price against your written quote.
