Hi all,
I am planning on building a double story house in Perth with a construction cost of $400,000.
Can anyone help me or give me some suggestions on what to look out for or ask each builder?
There are so many and I am finding it difficult to compare each one.
Any advice would be great, even if just on general comments not in regards to WA builders, but builders in general.
Thanks
John
We wanted similar to what you are asking for.
In the end after much searching, we selected Ben Trager Homes for their style, price, and construction style. We felt they provided the best class of house and I believe they also have a (profanity) amazing deal for construction included extras at the moment. Be aware that Ben Trager does Insulated Panel upstairs rather than Double Brick up and down like traditional ones. People tend to lose their (profanity) minds over this because its not what has been done for the last 50 years+ but it is actually a better building/insulation material and cuts down on construction time as well. It also allows BT to be slightly cheaper because of all that. Ben Trager also had similar issues when we asked for newer construction materials for our floors such as Luxury Vinyl Plank or a Smart Lock Front Door because people get scared about new things. In the end, you need to do a lot of research yourself.
We paid $340k for Benchmark specification custom designed home (base price), and on top of this we got around $60-70K "worth" in extras which we are paying around $30K for. They had really good base designs but nothing exactly what we wanted so we got in touch with the an absolutely amazing building consultant who really put his time and effort to get what we wanted. If you want I can give his name.
Pre Sales - 8/10
Building Consultant - 10/10
Prestart Consultant - 3/10 - We got a real dud. I contacted Ben Trager himself after numerous issues and they supplied an overseer to help us sort our issues and provided an interior design consultant to help correct any design issues.
Construction Consultant - 8/10 - Very capable helpful and answering all our questions.
Bricks only going up this week so I cant comment much beyond this stage but overall I am quite happy. I would build with them again but hopefully I never have to :D
I spent a lot of time on https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewforum.php?f=31. I did a lot of research. About everything because you want your head up when accepting certain things. Ventura Homes was the other one we considered but didnt appeal as much as BTH. 101 Residential after speaking to them was crossed out but that was due to the sales consultant basically yelling at me for considering anything other than double brick top and bottom.
IS this a knock down and rebuild? Or new on vacant land?
What is a Prestart Consultant?
Also not sure Double Brick with today's insulation techniques would NOT be better than insulated panels. I mean maybe heat wise you could be OK, but noise wise you'll think you are living in a weatherboard house.
New on Vacant Land.
Prestart Consultant was the lady who went through all our options selections such as tapware, flooring, cupboards, tiles. All the extra little stuff.
Not really going to get into it regarding Double Brick. People are really set in stone in this one and the measurement of thermal insulation doesnt back up their claims. Do your own research. Dont necessarily follow the herd or just because its been done for 100 years. People will just shit on you because they did it differently.
BTs Marketing Page about it.
https://www.bentragerhomes.com.au/about-us/construction-meth…
I'm aware of these type of construction methods. Agree that it is 1) cheaper to build 2) comparable on thermal insulation for sure 3) concrete floor is really the savior of this type of build for sound insulation/acoustics and with that type of floor, you really can't have a double brick upper level without a lot of structural support.
I guess my issue as stated above is the sound insulation. Upstairs will sound like you live in a weatherboard house, downstairs will be brilliant though. If you live in a noisy area (like I do) you will go bonkers (my neighbours regret the build in this style for that reason and being in their house I can believe them, but hey, they got to do 3 townhouses on their block for the same amount of money that they wanted to build their double brick dream home with, so when they finally sell them all off at a sizable profit that will be someone elses problem, not theirs!)
@serpserpserp: I grew up in weatherboard houses. I've seen around 6 of BTs Double Storey display homes. I really disagree with the assertion of sounds like weatherboard.
Maybe your neighbours had a slightly different construction method?
@steelau: Could be slightly different, not the same builders obviously so could def be different. But all I can see it follows the same build principles and all I can say is the downstairs area is a lot quieter than upstairs.
Homeone is a great resource as quality of builders can change over time (we built in '12 so won't recommend as it's been too long). Look for what people say about their construction supervisor and prestart consultant too as the best sales staff don't necessarily reflect on the team influencing your build. When I was actively on there, I worked out our area had a great supervisor whereas south of the river had a shocker. And our great supervisor was a pleasure to work with.
Make sure you get an independent building inspector for each inspection stage - a good one is worth their weight in gold. Much easier to get things fixed before final handover.
Also, go through this website in detail: http://www.yourhome.gov.au
The advice here is spot on and will save you so much in the long-term with heating and cooling, as so much of the stuff is easy to do up front. You'll learn interesting things too like double brick is a poor insulation material as isn't much better then a window… I've been in places that both followed the advice on the site down to a tee as well as missed the mark, and the difference is literally more than half the power bill with barely any difference in the seasons.
Yeah YourHome was also a useful source of inspiration for good methods.
Knock down and rebuild?
Not sure you'd get a house for 400k in the eastern states built!