Building a House in Australia

[OneTime]

As we are currently building our own pile of bricks, I just thought I would share some of our experiences of building a house in Melbourne (or Aus in general)... feel free to join in.

It seems to be a relatively easy process over here, if you go through the right builder. I must admit that like most South Africans I'm a bit sceptical of the way they build a single layer of bricks around a timber frame over here - especially when you're used to the bomb-shelter building styles of South Africa.

We bought our block of land in a brand new suburb (we'll only be the third house to go up in our immediate suburb) which, 3 years ago, would have been a cow poo covered meadow on a farm. A lot of that is happening in Melbourne - farmers and land owners on the outskirts of town are making a fortune by sub-dividing their land and selling it off as Melbourne spreads out and the demand for land increases. Our area, which is at the end of the suburban train line, has spread hugely.

Choosing a house design, builder and plans are very exciting, and a whole new experience. There are a wealth of builders to choose from, with some of the bigger ones being Metricon (http://www.metricon.com.au/), Porter Davis (http://www.porterdavis.com.au/), Burbank (http://www.burbankhomes.com.au/), AV Jennings, (http://www.avjennings.com.au/) Simonds (http://www.simonds.com.au/) to name a few... It's the norm for all companies to build various "display homes" to show off their designs. These display homes are set up as a proper house, fully furnished (well, some with fake props such as TV's) and you can walk around the house, sit on the furniture and just generally imagine yourself living in a similar house. It's a completely different experience to just having photos and plans and not actually knowing what your house is going to look like until it's completed. Usually, after a few months or years, and when the display houses become dated, they get sold as real houses and become a neighbourhood.

Some interesting differences in new Australian houses, compared to what I'm used to -


Generally, no barbed wire, no burglar guards, no iron security gates, but fly-screens are a necessity. (you do get fly screen doors that double up as flimsy security gates)



Big yards are no longer the rage, and small blocks of land are in - partly because we're all drought conscious and don't want to maintain a large, dead garden and partly because the more subdivisions they squeeze into a new suburb, the more money the developer can make. New houses are generally built close to the fence line, with a patch of garden at the back, and some at the front.



Many people have their master bedroom at the front of the house With their bedroom window facing the street. (?!) Something South Africans would find strange.



Toilets that have 2 flush functions are now standard - a half flush for number 1's and a full flush for number 2's. :laugh3:



Solar heating and rainwater tanks are getting more popular - one interesting (and brilliant) concept is houses that are fitted with a rainwater tank that is connected to the plumbing. All the rainwater from the roof is diverted to the tank. This is then used to flush the toilets. When the tank is empty, it switches over to mains water. Some rural houses run only on collected rainwater in storage tanks, so water is used sparingly.



MacMansions - it's a bit of an "Australian dream" concept to be able to afford a big mansion, no matter who you are. The outer suburbs are home to many large, double story family homes that have plenty of rooms, multiple living areas (theatre room, parents retreat, etc) and practically no gardens. With the stiff competition in builders, these types of homes have become comparatively affordable and are cheaply built (many with cheap building quality too...) but they cost a fortune to run. Not very poplular with those who are worried about Global warming!


That's it for now... we're at the stage where we've approved the interim plans, given the go ahead and settling on the land. The builders are now arranging soil testing and levels, permits and drawing up the plans... I'll update and add when building continues...

[ICE]

Sounds fascinating.

Keep us updated, so we can compare it with building in SA & UK....

[OneTime]

Permits, Permits, Permits, these are the order of the day. :bleh:

We should have expected it, being in Australia, the country of rules and permits.

Will update with an explanation this afternoon...

[LongJohnny]

We built our home 10 years ago through AV Jennings.

We found them very good value for money, and the guy who signed us up on the building contract was also our case manager trougout the project.

It is of course important to "shop around" as much as possible before you sign on the dotted line.

What overwhelmed us at th estart were all the diffrent packages and permutations like for X-Amount of Dollars you can have:

* a double car port and carpeting inside
OR
* an enclosed lock-up garage with no carpeting inside
OR
* no garage or car port but carpeting, Italian tiles and good light fittings inside

and so on...

The way they do house foundations (footings as its known over here) in South Australia is also different. No trenches as in South Africa, they throw a whole slab onto which the timber frame and brick shell is erected.

The main bedroom in the front of the house perplexed us as well. Apparently it is for privacy from the other bedrooms, because the inner walls are so thin, parents apparently don't want the kids to listen in when another brother/sister is under construction...:laugh3:

Something that probaly is on it's way out here in South Oz, is the notion of suburbian "English Country Gardens"
This is something that can be a sore point with a lot of people, that while we live in the driest state in the driest country in the world, and with a current dry spell in any case, you have people who try their utmost for a lush green garden, lawns well watered etc.

Luckily someone started to see sense and water-use is very restricted off late, and most people will probably start to organise their gardens to slot in with the climate. But I tell you, it was a bit over the top until the recent past to observe homeowners whose sprinklers literally ran day and night, so much so that excess water were running down the street gutters. (I'm ranting now, sorry!):whistle


Just a few thoughts,


LJ

[OneTime]

Thanks for the input, LJ. Good to hear another experience. :thumbs

Well, funny you should mention concrete slabs. The soil tests and engineering reports came back and seem to indicate that the block needs to be levelled and extra packing and concrete needs to be used for the foundations. The block looks pretty flat to me, but who am I to argue, it's all about the soil quality. Anyway, a few thousand bob on top of the building price because of the extra work involved.

They've now been farting around with permits, because the word from the council came back and said that the block is flood prone. Excuse me? What?! Anyway, as it turns out, the land USED to be flood prone back when it was farming land, but since being developed, the proper drainage and elevation has been dealt with, and the area is obviously no longer flood prone. (otherwise how would the developers have gotten permission to sell anyway?)

So the problem now is that the old records of the water board still state that the land is flood prone, even though the council admits that they know of some houses in the area that have had the same result come back - in other words, they know it's not flood prone, as it's old information BUT - the council is going to charge us $400 to for the priveledge of the "survey" that gives us this information. According to the developers, a few hundred new houses in the area have had the same problem, and been told the same thing. Because of the council (or water board) having out of date systems, Joe Bloggs is getting charged 400 smackers to go ahead with a permit.

You would think that they, after a couple of years and a few hundred houses going through the same thing, they would update their information? No way, why would they, they make $400 spondoolies off every poor sod that goes through the same thing. I'm going to write to them for an explanation, cos that just can't be right. :bounce

Anyway, the messing around has cost us valuable weeks (months?) and we're now being given an estimate of Mid July for completion. Funny how it was March / April when we paid the deposit and agreed to build with them?

Apparently Christmas inforced contractor downtime of 2 months. Who ever heard of a 2 month Christmas break? Anyway, that's where we stand.

More to follow.... :grin

[OneTime]

What overwhelmed us at th estart were all the diffrent packages and permutations like for X-Amount of Dollars you can have:

........

and so on...


Yes, quite strange that you get certain things "thrown in"


A lot of people get sucked in by the house price and believe the salesman when they say a house is worth X amount "complete". Usually a "complete" house does not include things like fences, driveways, concrete outside, sometimes tiles, carpets, stoves, heating, etc, and you end up forking out $20,000 more than the "complete" price.

A lot of the time the "display home" is the upgraded version of the standard, and would cost $30,000 to $50,000 more to build than the standard. Clever crooks.

One of the reasons we chose our builder, was because they included more things than the average builder in their price, such as colour-bond roof, decent stove, spa bath (yeah:grin) decent tiles, etc etc. As it turns out they're stinging us with the "levelling and extra foundations" so it works out the same anyway. We wouldn't know whether they're ripping us off or not - I'm not a foundations or soil expert. :bleh:

[LongJohnny]

Jaa, even here in Oz you really need to read the fineprint.

AV Jennings gave us a time-line for completion, but they sais that they could at the time because we signed the contract early (around February) in th eyear.

It's amazing about the down-time in the building industry, it not good for the industry or ther economy in general, i think.

That $400 payment for the flood survey is a blatant hidden tax thingie. One should get onto the newspapers and see if they can make a wave with it especially now that it is an election year, but then, you have already paid.

It's a pity Homesart operates in South Oz only, they are a very good home loan institution. Thans to them we would be able to pay off our loan in about 12 years instead of 20.
They have systems in-built in their mortgages, e.g. if you pay fortnightly in stead of monthly, your loan goes down faster.

Cheers,


LJ

[OneTime]

Jaa, even here in Oz you really need to read the fineprint.

AV Jennings gave us a time-line for completion, but they sais that they could at the time because we signed the contract early (around February) in th eyear.

It's amazing about the down-time in the building industry, it not good for the industry or ther economy in general, i think.

That $400 payment for the flood survey is a blatant hidden tax thingie. One should get onto the newspapers and see if they can make a wave with it especially now that it is an election year, but then, you have already paid.

It's a pity Homesart operates in South Oz only, they are a very good home loan institution. Thans to them we would be able to pay off our loan in about 12 years instead of 20.
They have systems in-built in their mortgages, e.g. if you pay fortnightly in stead of monthly, your loan goes down faster.

Cheers,


LJ

Nope, we've not paid the $400 yet, LJ, we're going to fight it, and as you say, start bringing the media into it. It's just ridiculous.

We also pay our mortgage fortnightly. I think people who have the option to and don't are crazy because it really saves you a fortune in interest. :thumbs

[LongJohnny]

Also if you pay an extra amount each fortnight. we pay about 15% extra and that makes a difference as well.

I know another guy who paid 33% extra each fortnight and he paid his house off within 7 years.

He had a hard time keeping it up but in th eend he is smiling all the way to the bank if not all the extra cash in his wallet.

Jaaaa, 15% is just about what we can manage at Casa la LJ :)


Cheers,

LJ

[OneTime]

So after chasing the council around and ringing them daily, it seems that the old flood prone label will be removed in the next couple of weeks. Paperwork that sits on somebody's desk doesn't do itself you know, these things take time. :blahblah


We've received the building contracts from the builders, and surprise surprise - the actual building time is 230 days. that's nearly 2 months longer than what they quoted us when we signed up. If we raise that as a point, they just shrug it off. Man I hate being mis-sold information. :angry2:

Anyway, we've got our appointment to choose colours, bricks, tiles, carpets, etc next weekend. Straight after the world cup final. I might just have to leave the choosing completely up to the wife because I'll be useless by that time. :D

[LongJohnny]

Anyway, we've got our appointment to choose colours, bricks, tiles, carpets, etc next weekend. Straight after the world cup final. I might just have to leave the choosing completely up to the wife because I'll be useless by that time. :D

And that can take quite a while.. I'd rather postpone it a few day then.

I supose either way if the Bokke win or lose, i'll have to take a "sickie" on Monday after the match.

If the Bokke wins, I'll probably need a week-long "sickie"...

Haak Hom, Haak Hom Blokkies! Haak hulle bolletjie nou!

Cheers,

LJ

[LongJohnny]

Something else I would like to add is about tap fittings in the bathrooms, laundry, kitchen etc.

Avoid the brand name Caroma, it is not of good quality and it is not compatable to other brands in use on the market.

We have it in our house, and when we want to install new taps e.g. a new design, then we have to pull out the recessed fixtures as well, which can be quite a job for an amateur plumber like me.


Cheers,

LJ

[OneTime]

FINALLY we've sorted out all the issues and signed the building contract today. The "flood prone" inundation will, by the sounds of things, be removed by the council and in the next couple of weeks, we'll get our elusive building permit.

As soon as the permit has been granted, the building time will be 210 days. So we should be sitting on our back stoep sipping champagne but the end of July or beginning of August 2008.

The end is in sight. (well, sort of...:D)

[OneTime]

Well slap me in the face with a wet fish - we are actually about to see some building action starting.

The contractors are now back from their national holiday (it seems every single person who's a whiff of a builder or contractor in Australia is on holiday from mid January until late December) and they are apparently going to start on Monday.

This means we need to get down to our block of land over the weekend and slash the vines, chop down the weed forests, chase away the snakes and evict the Amazonian tribe that have probably taken residence in the overgrown jungle in the last couple of months. :D

Wish us luck.

Oh by the way, we actually do have infrastructure on the land now - we officially have a garden tap! (With running water!!). That being said, the council are the ones who put in that piece of equipment, not the builders.

Can't wait. Somehow this house seems to be a mythical creature that only exists on plans. Or so most of our friends and family probably think. :D

[LongJohnny]

Keep us posted.

Won't the builders clear the block? The clearing operation was included in our building contract, as our block is sloped and they needed to dig out a level area for the slab foundations.

I actualy like the slab-foundation (footing) method that they use here in Adelaide. Our house is standing 10 years now with no signs of any cracks.

Cheers,

LJ

[OneTime]

Seemingly we just have to cut the grass and weeds.

(which have now grown into bush and foliage):laugh3:

We don't have to clear it or anything, I think just cut it enough to let them get their equipment in there in order to start.

[OneTime]

Wheyhey!

Building has finally started! Only about 6 months later, but we have pegs in the ground. Seem's they've been down to the block and started marking out the area...:notworthy:

[ColRow]

Whooop Whooop
Cause for a celebration I say! :grin

[LongJohnny]

Good to see there's movement. All of the best!


LJ

[OneTime]

It's been a while since I've bored you with my updates - figured it was about time.

We reached "lock up" stage yesterday - which means the walls, bricks, roof, windows and doors are ready so that the house is... able to be locked up, I guess.

Still have the interior to go, so I think another 2 months are in order.

The house is really looking great from the oustide, and from what we've seen so far we think the gamble we took with combining certain colours has paid off. (couldn't have turned out horrible!)

I suppose some photos are due - I'll post some when I get a chance.

Can't wait to move in!!!

[ColRow]

Can´t wait to stay there with you..............:haha2: So have you got my room sorted yet?

[OneTime]

Of course! :grin I'll hold you to that!

[OneTime]

Just an update on the house building...




Still have the interior to go, so I think another 2 months are in order.



How wrong could I have been, I posted this in May, thinking we'd be done by June, but nope. The last couple of months have been as slow as anything.

Looks like we'll have at least another month to go, which is rather annoying, because houses in the neighbourhood that started waaaay after us already have people moved in.

All we need now is carpets, tiles, paint, fittings such as lights and electrical sockets, a driveway and garage door and we'll be pretty much set.

I'm not even going to bother estimating a time frame.

Our project manager retired two weeks ago - WITHOUT TELLING US. The first we heard of it was when he was gone and somebody else picked up his phone. We were a bit annoyed because he'd spoken about meeting up with us for a walk around. Retirement is not usually something that creeps up on you, so I'm annoyed that he didn't have the decency to tell us.

The quest continues. Still need to post those photos I keep promising.

Don't build a house! Ever! :D

[Nyala]

My cousin built a house here in Albury and they had a deal with the contractor that they would get refunded $1000 for every week they were over schedule. I think they managed to knock about $12k off their bond in the end.

[OneTime]

Wow, they were lucky, $1000 a week is great! The penalty rates we have agreed to are considerably less, but still, if they go over the time limit (which is next month) and start paying us penalties, it will still be enough to cover our monthly rent if we were to go out and rent.

I don't think it will come to that though - they just can't afford to start paying us penalties as they're already so worried about their profit margins.

[Nyala]

Thats exactly what happened with my cousin. They sold their house based on when the built one should be ready. As it wasn't the penalty paid for rent etc until they were in the new house.

[Wannabe]

Just an update on the house building...

Don't build a house! Ever! :D

OT, you sound like a lot of our friends. :laugh3:There's this saying that if a marriage can survive a building project or studies by one of the partners, you're good for keeps.:whistle

We are a bit strange - we LOVE building. :bounce We may build our 4th house next year if we can't sell the land before that. I gathered that one cannot build your own house in Oz, if you're not a registered builder. Is that true? What's the qualifications for a builder/contractor?

[OneTime]

We are a bit strange - we LOVE building. :bounce We may build our 4th house next year if we can't sell the land before that. I gathered that one cannot build your own house in Oz, if you're not a registered builder. Is that true? What's the qualifications for a builder/contractor?


I'm not sure on the specific qualifications, but yes, that's true, you need to be a registered builder to be able to build your own house. Just about every structure over here needs council planning approval (including a lapha, decking, etc).

The country of over-regulation at work again, but that's part of the parcel I guess.

[OneTime]

The ongoing saga that is our house building is actually finally almost coming to an end. One year and one month after settling on the land. :grin


We managed to break a second project manager, who left after 3 weeks on the job, so now we're on to our third. :D

But I am happy to report, that, besides a few finishing touches, the house is complete. The certificate of occupancy is ready and we're looking at moving in next weekend.

I can't believe I'm typing these words. :grin

6 weeks to go till the Mrs is due, so it's a hell of a relief, I tell you!

(will post a little pic later today!)

[Wannabe]

Congrats :thumbs and best of luck with the moving as well as the big event in 6 weeks!!!!:bounce:bounce:bounce
Hope you're gonna make the move as easy as possible for the missus, hmmm?:whistle

[Nyala]

WooHoo..Weyhey!! It's been a long, long time. I bet you're itching to move in. So does the new house have all new furniture to go with it? Congrats, OT, I am very happy for you both.

[OneTime]

Congrats :thumbs and best of luck with the moving as well as the big event in 6 weeks!!!!:bounce:bounce:bounce
Hope you're gonna make the move as easy as possible for the missus, hmmm?:whistle

Thanks Wannabe, yep, I've been planning to send her away for the day so that I can get on with it and not let her work too hard, but she just can't help herself and won't miss it for the world. I'm going to have to keep shouting at her to put stuff down! :blahblah


WooHoo..Weyhey!! It's been a long, long time. I bet you're itching to move in. So does the new house have all new furniture to go with it? Congrats, OT, I am very happy for you both.

Thanks Nyala - we've got most of the stuff we need now, after nearly a 2 year buying spree, a couple of rooms will be empty for now, but we've got everything we need to live. :grin

[OneTime]

Here's the pic I promised. It's a view from the side of the house. As you can see, no garden yet.

[Joan]

Looks life a lovely large house One Time, hope you will spend many happy years in it!

[LongJohnny]

An great house! Hope you are going to be very happy there. Enjoy th esettling in, and all of the best with the garden.

So, you were in House-Building mode for more than a year, that is quite long. I think we were lucky with AV Jennings about 10 years ago. We signed for the house-land package at the end of February 1998 and on 4 November 1998 we moved in.


Cheers,

LJ

[OneTime]

Thanks LJ!

We actually bought the land first and then chose a builder after that, so that lead to the longer time, and there were a few issues with the council/building permit and site costs that we had to iron out first.

Having said that - actual building time went from January to September, which is a bit ridiculous when these days the average is about six months. We should have been in the house in June or July.

(they went over their 210 days building time as agreed in the contract, so accordingly we're claming compensation which they've agreed to)

[Nyala]

It looks like you'll have a fairly decent compensation there, OT. Enough to buy everything you're going to need for BabyOT.

I really like the look of your house - have you got any ideas on what you're going to do for the garden? Our house had an established garden when we moved in so I've just kept it up. It's ultra low-maintenance, succulents and native plants with pebble-stone beds. It's so easy to care for and looks really good all year round.

[OneTime]

Hmm, unfortunately not as much compensation as we'd like - they've agreed to two weeks worth, which is sort of about right. The contract says 210 days, and they finished in about 230 or so. On face value it seems that they're not that late, but if you consider that the contracted time frame is there as an "absolute worst case" date if there's bad weather, a tsunami and other things, whereas in our case there was none of that - just crap management.

In terms of garden, we're not too sure yet. We've bought a bumber of plants already, and have gone with a mixture of natives and South African plants :Grin

So far we've got a Jacaranda, Japanese Maple, Dwarf Apple tree, Boronias, Proteas, a Yakka or two, some ...erm... and a few other things I can't pronounce or remember. We've saved all the topsoil from the build, so we'll spread that and use some of it to build some features, maybe a retaining wall or two with the left-over bricks. A rock feature in one corner. We've got limestone/sandstone paving that's ready to lay for the outside area, and will build a pergola closer to summer. I'm also planning to build a brick braai with the rest of the leftover bricks.

Lets just say it's going to be one hell of a learning experience!

[Nyala]

It sounds awesome. I think I'm going have to come and help you dedicate the braai when it's done. Remember to post pics, OT, I might fleece some ideas off you as we are planning an overhaul of our back garden too.

[OneTime]

Oh for sure!! You're most welcome to come and help us break in the braai!

I'm not sure that you want to take gardening tips from us though - we've novices. :D

Unfortunately, I think we're going to take quite a while to get the garden sorted because it's too late in the year to plant grass - we'd need to water the lawn all summer if we did, and as you know that's not allowed in these times.

So we'll probably only plant grass in March or so, and have a lawn by next summer. Pity.

That being said, I love my braai's and we'll have the patio/pergola/braai area up and running faster than you can say "sizzling steak"... :grin

[Joytjie]

One Time - your house looks great! Well done :)