I'm currently looking at building a house and I'm finding the process annoying because everything is so over priced. I've got no experience in building a house and I'm inclined to subcontract a majority of it out and try and reduce costs. If I had it my way, I would sub contract the whole build out… does this reduce costs?
Should I build my own house or get Metricon to do the hard work?
leighjames on 30/04/2016 - 15:42
Comments
I have a few houses in my street being built. Some privately, some with builders, and a few by metricon (funnily enough).
One of the private establishments has been going on for ~14 months with very slow progress. I suspect this is because they are having their cousins doing half-rate work in their spare time (at full rate prices no doubt) and they don't have enough money to build the grand palace that they are building.
The others are going fine.. But all the metricon projects are really slow. Like at half the pace. If it were one single house, maybe funding is an issue. But it's all 4 of them. It gives me the feeling that they are taking on too many jobs and don't have enough subbies for them all. No real evidence to support the theory, just observations over 18 months.
Please look at decisions of the VCAT and Supreme Court in Victoria (last month) regarding a family who had Metricon build a house for them at Melton a few years ago. The house literally began to collapse because of what is called 'slab heave' within weeks and months.
Metricon denied and denied it had anything to do with them. The insurance company obviously refused to pay for any remedial work because it was a brand new dwelling. Metricon actually tried to blame the problem of cracked interior and exterior walls, separating cornices, lifting skirting boards, etc. etc. on the poor owners for installing a small pebble garden. The VCAT actually ordered that Metricon REFUND the $200,000 odd that the owners paid them to build this residence. Metricon is the 5th largest builder in Aust. and make huge profits. Yet off to the Vic. Supreme Court they went and appealed. Thankfully the Supreme Court in March upheld the decision and again ordered they pay back the full cost of the house plus legal costs.
The Herald Sun newspaper wrote much about this fiasco which Metricon with all their money created great misery and heartache for 2-3 years for the family concerned. The newspaper reported that Metricon had built many new homes in estates around Melton that were all showing cracks and defects. Buyer Beware! This is a huge company who will take the money you have borrowed from the bank, build you a defective residence, and when all the problems begin will walk and deny any responsibility. This is what they did to this family at Melton. The Warranty they provide apparently is not worth the paper it is written on and there is virtually no consumer legislation that will protect the home purchaser. You will get a 7 year warranty on a $15000 car but new home owners incredibly in some states will spend a fortune and have not one cent of protection.
Definitely build your own house. Being a structural engineer, I am always asked to go inspect homes getting built for family and friends. The problems usually go from the ground up. Every time i have gone to inspect, the slab is usually the first problem. From wrong reinforcement to the actual slab design for that particular soil and areas with no reinforcement what so ever!. Timber ceiling joists/rafters/struts is usually a big problem over time. If you go to homes you can see the ceiling joists sag after 5-10years etc. I feel a lot of people do the bare minimum.
If I was making/designing my own house. I would consider foundation most critical, followed by load bearing beams/walls, and then maybe what direction the kitchen/lounge faces.
Foundation: Whatever slab type you choose (most likely Raft Slab..check out - Australian Standards 2870-2011 Residential slabs and footings) I would PILE for piece of mind. Pile concrete piers into the ground until you hit some decent bearing pressure - ideally shale.
Load bearing beams - Im not a timber fan when it comes to critical members being susceptible to degradation over time. Use Steel beams for main areas.
Kitchen/Lounge Direction - Face North-East to get the most sun during winter. Eaves may need to be a bit bigger to block out the summer sun.
Hope that helps :)
Friends on OzBargains push the relationship?Man of wisdom!
Ahaha happy to help anyone in need.
We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone. :P
This is amazing advice.
Bulk builders like M produce lots of houses at the cheapest possible price, they mean more people can 'afford' their own house but you will pay in the long term (~10 years) with poor quality workmanship requiring remedial work and cheap arse fittings that degrade easily and need replacing. My house is built by a similar bulk builder and is a piece of shit, I just wish I had spent more money at the time and built with a decent builder and got it right the first time. You live and learn, unfortunately its an expensive lesson…
Getting a loan might be an issue if you subcontract the work to tradies. Subcontracting will definitely save you money but you will need to have a fair bit of understanding about building a house and plenty of time to manage the build. I find building a house through a project builder is less of a hassle and I normally ensure quality by appointing a building inspector to check the quality at all stages of the build process.
thanks for the advice. didn't know you can appoint a building inspector to inspect at each stage. I am planning to build with Metricon ( hopefully) as i don't have time and energy for subcontracting.
tomorrow I'm visiting my friend who is a Metricon site manager.
from previous discussions with him -as I was considering building, his view was that it can be cheaper or better in terms of: metricon site managers will contract each part of the job out to tradies. normally the site manager knows the tradies from previous jobs. The tradies like working for metricon as their contractors as it's steady work for them. The ensures some level of quality and professionalism from the tradies as they want to be hired for the future jobs (i.e. the tradies have a good reputation for quality work and that what keeps them being hired). the contractors are given a set time and a set price for the work they do - so no "going over budget".
materials are also bought at bulk rates. thus reducing cost.
At least that's what my friend says. he's been a site manager for over 12 years. he's a qualified builder. etc.
If you have any further questions then let me know and ill ask him.