Building Process - first timer

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone could recommend some of their most favourite websites, resources or hints and tricks for the buying their first land through to the building process for the first time. There's a lot of odd advice out there but I'm trying to locate more detailed, indepth guides given my limited time outside of work hours.

Wisdom and painful lessons learnt from your prior forays would be much appreciated. Any builders to avoid (Perth region) or recommend?

Some areas/examples I'm looking for:

1) Tricks and tips i.e. paint yourself, use an external party for air cond and certain building functions to minimise costs and improve quality, landscaping yourself? Keeping in mind I've never done all of this before - so assuming these can be done with relative hard work for a first timer?

2) Any good resources explaining the detailed building process so I know what to monitor, look out for etc.

3) Anything else relevant to improving ones knowledge about designing and maximising investment potential and return from a design.

4) Everything and anything else you wish you knew your first time around. Must knows, mistakes to avoid. Legal or regulatory obligations to note.

5) Happy to cover related processes such as financing need to knows etc.

I've selected a 398 m2 lot already, 15m frontage. Thinking a 4 x 2. Need to have finance sorted by mid June.

Regards,
Saber

Building - first timer

Hi all. A shortened version of a prior thread in order to garner better responses...

First time building - bought a 400~ m2 block, 15m~ frontage...

Would appreciate any hints, tips and tricks, things you wish you knew or would like to impart, or any great resources one could recommend that really goes in detail from start to finish in the process (i.e. from block selection and considerations through to financing and the building/design process etc).

Focusing on a medium build quality and price to potentially rent out or flexibility to live in should Perth market/economy worsen.

1) Viewing display homes and trying to ask as many questions as I can but feel I still lack a more detailed education/understanding to bring to the design table. Any suggestions or good resources?

2) Would you avoid sales representatives without a drafting or design/architecture background? I feel more biased that these would better provide input and wisdom in the design/costing process?

3) Tips/advice on 'must do's and 'must avoids'. I.e. painting yourself for the first time?

Pros/cons of using external parties for say flooring, air cond, landscaping, window treatments? Anything else?

4) Advice on understanding building contracts and the build process/stages. How to monitor and avoid being taken for a ride or overlooking things?

5) How does one from a non-tradie or building background decipher the many (and often similarly flaunted) specs, furnishings and brands advertised by each company? How do you assess a builder's potential internal structure quality and build i.e. bricks, steel , slabs and other materials vs another builder?

6) Any other advice would be much appreciated, or pointing me in the right educational resources direction.

7) Any feedback on builders and your experiences? I get conflicting things i.e. Redink being scott park backed and good quality, yet others saying the opposite. I understand there will always be both positive and negative reviews for all builders. But surely some have more overall positive experiences, and others very clear 'stay clear' signs.

Many thanks,
Saber.

You've already found the best resource for property related information. Everything you've mentioned has been covered on this forum many times over by people who have done it.

From a finance perspective if you're building my advice is simple. Don't do it yourself, engage a builder. Keep everything inside the fixed price building contract if you want to get finance for it; otherwise you'll be paying cash.

If you try to do parts of the build yourself, the banks will look at the contract and see there's things missing and will be reluctant to finance any part of it. They don't want security over a property that's not finished.

If you say you're going to do all the simple little things yourself, they'll classify this as owner builder projects and again my not fund any part of the project, or won't fund those components yet make your life difficult.

One of my clients is a professional plaster. He wanted to do his own plastering and painting of his new house. There's no doubt he'd do a better job than the builder. Despite this the bank made things very difficult as it was outside of the building contract, which did not show that the house would be completed. Eventually the plastering was done within the building contract, but the builder agreed to sub-contract the work out to the guy.

Peter_Tersteeg said:

...From a finance perspective if you're building my advice is simple. Don't do it yourself, engage a builder. Keep everything inside the fixed price building contract if you want to get finance for it; otherwise you'll be paying cash.

If you try to do parts of the build yourself, the banks will look at the contract and see there's things missing and will be reluctant to finance any part of it. They don't want security over a property that's not finished.

If you say you're going to do all the simple little things yourself, they'll classify this as owner builder projects and again my not fund any part of the project, or won't fund those components yet make your life difficult.

One of my clients is a professional plaster. He wanted to do his own plastering and painting of his new house. There's no doubt he'd do a better job than the builder. Despite this the bank made things very difficult as it was outside of the building contract, which did not show that the house would be completed. Eventually the plastering was done within the building contract, but the builder agreed to sub-contract the work out to the guy.

Click to expand...

True, but there is wiggle room.

Had a house built by a (incredibly un-)professional builder.
- Took out painting during construction because of gouging builder going against contract and trying to jack up price on agreed number of colours and dark/light colours: we did it ourselves.
- Took out tiling before construction and bank ok with separation between tiler and builder. Shonky builder tried to ban tiler during construction despite written agreements for access: lawyers eventually pursuaded him.
- We found the concrete polisher as builder apparently unable to use internet, and phone simply beyond him: bank ok.

So it's possible... we did use a broker though, which was much better.

Apologies appears my segregation of threads were amalgamated into one and hence the two opening posts. I thought I'd seperate info request to building process but i guess the mods prefer to amalgamate.

Peter, thanks for your responses. This is the sort of information those who've been down the road before can provide and exactly what in looking for - i.e. interaction of financing with the build process. I wouldn't have the tradie skills to plaster myself but i thought landscaping the backyard yourself, painting yourself etc were acceptably financable. Obviously you know better as a broker and perhaps when i locate a good broker to work with they should be able to advise on these matters?

It seemed comon with one builder who mentioned he never included painting in his client designs for exactly the reasons of diy is ridiculously cheaper.

I'll admit I've never painted before. I know it's tough work but surely any common person can roll paint ( as back breaking as may be) and make it look like a professionally decent job. Or am i underestimating the skill professional painters employ to get a better l looking finished product?

Apart from provisional site works figures all building contacts are generallly agreed upon as a fixed price? Are there variable contracts employed?

As mcarthur mentioned is there wiggle room to list in the fixed building contract items which you eventually diy to appease the bank?

Will owner building finance versus the alternative of a full builder finance have a materially averse affect on the interest rate and terms offered? Or more eligibility?

I agree somersoft is great. I was just asking for peoples favourite or detailed resources to cut through the waffle due to my limited time. At times people have known knowledge and so there threads feel like good piece of gems and advice, but i was looking for a start to finish resource that really helps one with a detailed process timeline. Once this base knowledge is set i feel like the bits and pieces in each somersoft.thread will work better as supplementary knowledge, but for now seem to fly over my head more without my solid base.

Or is this how you all started?

It really depends if you need the items financed or not. As Peter says if you want it all financed then you need the Builder to do it.

Otherwise you are free to engage all the turnkey items yourself and avoid the builder's markup. HOWEVER I have found that often the builders price including markup can be cheaper than what I can get OR is more timely for the builder to do it as the house was ready for renting quicker and they were able to line up trades better than I can.

You can paint a house but a 4 x 2 is a pretty big job. I know I can do a room but a whole house of that size is beyond me - let alone all the equipment that you'd need to buy to do the job and ensure that you protect everything.

Many builders throw in turnkey items as an upgrade at very reasonable prices and my best suggestion would be to get the builder to price up doing everything themselves then see if you can beat it and decide then how much your time is worth. There is no hard and fast rule about who will be cheaper and it will vary between builder so get it all quoted and decide then.

I have built many new houses (7) through builders in Perth over the last 12 years. My advice would be.

(1) Get a design you like and shop around with all the major builders to see how much they will charge to build it. (If copyright is an issue they can make slight changes to get over this).
(2) Most builders will include as standard a 900mm oven, cooktop and range hood as well as kitchen stone bench tops.
(3) Negotiate the price on all the upgrades you want to do before signing with the building company. It is a lot better to negotiate the price on these before signing rather than at prestart where they have you over a barrel.
(4) Be aware that what you see in a display home is not what you actually get.
(5) When builders say ample power points they mean 1 in every room (a double if you are lucky!). Allow for about $1,000.00 extra to actually have ample power points.
(6) Make sure the site costs charges are accurate. It is better to over estimate these than under estimate. While they are provisional to begin with over estimation is better than under estimation.
(7) Unfortunately, never trust a salesperson in a new home display. Get everything in writing.
(8) If a builder tells you they have $30,000.00 of extra's included it is complete b------t!.
(9) I never get the builder to do air conditioning, internal painting, flooring, window treatments or downlights. You save thousands and get a lot better quality by sourcing these yourself. When you are getting finance, get quotes for these and the bank will include them in the finance.
(10) I have often found cheaper builders have the same quality build as the more expensive ones as they use the same trades. For example Dale
Alcock, Celebration and Homebuyers are all part of the same building group.

Finally I understand the builders are starting to get quiet right now so deals can be done.