Increasing the Ceiling height Or going for stone bench top

R

rajmegamind

Morning All,

last year bought a 428 m2 land in Beaumont hills in north western sydney . Now i'm planning to put up a house . Being a first home owner i have been tied to budget of 2,05,000 for the whole house. So i went with Project builder and here is the break up.

house - 155000 (210 sq m)
site cost - 30000
Basix + compliance -10000
Extra ( stone benchtop (4000)& Electrical( 3000)) - 7000

So here is my dilemma, We initially thought to go with casear stone bench top at 4000 and since we added the ceiling fan to all bedroom/living area . And now thinking that high ceiling would be good for that.
Builder charges 5000 + 1000( redraw fee) to increase from normal 2400 mm to 2600 .
* Does it worth it to swap from the benchtop ( 4000) to ceiling high on longer run.
* Can i do this benchtop may be latter stage ? after 4 year ?.

Cheers.
 
I would go the higher ceiling to make the house seem more spacious. Bench top can be swapped for another any time.
 
Builder has 2600 instead of 2750 that others offer . And charges 5k to increase 2600. I was told that 2750 is still more expensive.
Thinking of the cost does 6k ( including the redraw) makes up for the increase of 20 Cms ?. Does it makes sense ?.
one of my Mates , who has gone with premium builder White designs says 2600 is not a high ceiling. Their builder has 2750 has standard high ceiling.
Am i wasting 6K for 200 mm ?
 
You can always change the benchtop easily... increasing height, not so much.
Also i would see how much more they charge for 2.7 ~ 2.75. Higher is always better :)
 
Is that price for raising the whole house?

Get your builder to quote on

31 course ceilings for living areas (this is 3 courses higher than the standard 28)
28 courses for the bedrooms/bathrooms/laundries every where else.

if you want to save some money. You get the best of both worlds

What is the $3000 electrical extras for?
 
westminster said:
Is that price for raising the whole house?

Get your builder to quote on

31 course ceilings for living areas (this is 3 courses higher than the standard 28)
28 courses for the bedrooms/bathrooms/laundries every where else.

if you want to save some money. You get the best of both worlds

What is the $3000 electrical extras for?
Click to expand...

Is the "course" a WA thing?
Because I've only ever heard wall height being referenced in meters only for Sydney builds.
 
overwhelming verdict in favour of the ceiling height than the caeserstone benchtop.

checked with the project builder. He says there is no separate living area heights.So i would have to with 2.6 meters for whole house.

Will let you how much these housing mob charges extra for 2750 . And regarding the electrical extra, the layout which the builder gives is very basic (such as 1 powerpoint with one ceiling light per bedroom). Definitely living area the single ceiling is a far cry. Added fan provision and a/c provision to the house.

Builder just told me that extra for H class slab, since the engineer report recommended H class . And have to put a drop edge beam for the fill per the council ..:mad::mad::mad::mad:. Just bumped the additional cost extra 10K plus.
 
rajmegamind said:
overwhelming verdict in favour of the ceiling height than the caeserstone benchtop.

checked with the project builder. He says there is no separate living area heights.So i would have to with 2.6 meters for whole house.

Will let you how much these housing mob charges extra for 2750 . And regarding the electrical extra, the layout which the builder gives is very basic (such as 1 powerpoint with one ceiling light per bedroom). Definitely living area the single ceiling is a far cry. Added fan provision and a/c provision to the house.

Builder just told me that extra for H class slab, since the engineer report recommended H class . And have to put a drop edge beam for the fill per the council ..:mad::mad::mad::mad:. Just bumped the additional cost extra 10K plus.
Click to expand...

These little extras hurt, but it is the price of building on a refilled site
 
How much did you shop around for with builders?

Most should be able to price up similar from the get go rather than slugging you down the track

If you went to 5 builders and compared their specification level then said 'how much to do 2750 ceilings to living areas, stone bench tops, ceiling fans and double GPOs to all outlets.
 
Being a FHOG builder and PPOR . Shopped around for the cheapest in Sydney. Finalised on Beechwood and A Builder . Went with A builder since we liked the design and 10K lesser.

The Drop edge beam was due to objection filed by neighbour. We though could do with the retaining wall. But cheapest is not always the best opinion.

A worth was cheaper by 10K than beechwood . But with H class and drop edge added to cost its now more than 10K :). BTW Beechwood gives H Class slab ( through Slab not a waffle pod like a builder /others) in their standard Tender..


Any meantime i did pass my 150 day tender period. Since due to council objection and variation to DCP. So my builder lost one month due to Christmas & pricing issue delayed for 20 days and then council now delayed by a month . Builder says now he would pass on two price rise that was given in time after I paid my deposit.

Builder says they would look at pricing one my DA is approved. How much i can negotiate for same price and outline the delay on their part. What are my options here. What are the past experience if the contract period is expired and its not a client fault ?.
 
Higher ceiling without a doubt, but that sounds a bit high to be honest. 6k?

We recently did increased height ceilings from 2400 to 2550 on a 180m2 place for about 2.5k. I'd see if the builder can do it any cheaper as that sounds like a bit of a **** take to me.

Ouch H class is a pain in the a*se.
 
rajmegamind said:
Any meantime i did pass my 150 day tender period. Since due to council objection and variation to DCP. So my builder lost one month due to Christmas & pricing issue delayed for 20 days and then council now delayed by a month . Builder says now he would pass on two price rise that was given in time after I paid my deposit.

Builder says they would look at pricing one my DA is approved. How much i can negotiate for same price and outline the delay on their part. What are my options here. What are the past experience if the contract period is expired and its not a client fault ?.
Click to expand...

Being a FHOG you wouldn't know that the contract is very carefully written for the builder to be able to hit you up for more money and them have NO penalties for it. In futire contracts you can ammend that.

However stand firm and don't even listen to it. Unless of course it goes down - yeah right! Deal with anyone you can who is higher up than the flunkie dealing with you. Someone has the power to not charge you and you keep saying 'no that is not acceptable' until someone agrees to it.
 
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