Reno Confusion + Are These Costs Normal? - Gold Coast

Cave Fire on 12/08/2019 - 20:38
Last edited 14/08/2019 - 20:26

My parents are planning on doing a renovation on a house built in the sixties. Confused as to whether we have asbestos or not? Removal people seem pretty chilled and there is brown dust everywhere. They didn't use masks the last time. I have read that it is better to get lab testing than use a removal person as they can be biased. The first person that confirmed it was a removal person as well. Anyway my parents are looking at 100k or so for all of the work. They are going to extend the front lounge, build a carport and a new section at the back. We had bad soil so are looking at 27K for concreting and 14 screw piers over 60m squared.

Our other costs are:
Concreting 60 sqm 20k Updated 14k
14 screw piers @ 2.5m $7k (probably more)
Link to slab plan
Frame and trusses 20k,
Plumbing + electrical 11k, updated 7k
Carpenter 10k (he's helping to organise most of this),
Bricklayer 12k,
Bathroom 10k,
certification and engineering 10k
Doors, locks, Skirting and architraves 4K
Flooring 7k
Plaster and paint 8k
Render + materials 5k
Termi mesh 5k
Removal 2k
Skip 2.5K,
Excavation : 1.5k

Total: 136K or 112K going off the carpenters figures. Going through everything, they do seem about right, but I would be interested in how to bring costs down + feedback on the asbestos issue. Updated: Added the slab plan. new costs==125k

Home & Garden

Comments

  • donga100 on 12/08/2019 - 21:03
    +1

    Have they thought about building a new house instead? Seems about the same price from a brief search I did:

    https://onproperty.com.au/build-a-house/

    • Cave Fire on 12/08/2019 - 21:12

      yep they were doing that at one stage but decided not to go ahead. Would have been 200k build plus 50k demolition.

  • BertieBrown on 12/08/2019 - 21:40
    +3

    Would definitely suggest getting the house tested for asbestos. Seeing as the house was built ~60's, it's likely there will be some asbestos, somewhere. Asbestos isn't radioactive so it won't cause damage as long as it isn't disturbed, which is to say that the fibres contained within the cement sheeting are not released into the air. Asbestos is dangerous but it won't leech radiation such as you might find from a nuclear containment breach.

    One thing I would say about renovations is that prices usually increase, depending on what is found during works. I'd also add to donga100's suggestion, and consider that at least with a new-build, I'd suggest you'd be more likely to have a guaranteed cost, whereas the cost of renovations may be more than what is being quoted?

    Without seeing exactly what's involved I suppose it's a little hard to know whether the quoted prices are reasonable, but overall, if more or less the entire house is basically being gutted I don't think that the prices seem too outrageous. But, if there is a lot of asbestos remediation needed than that could potentially add to the cost substantially I would think.

    If it were me I'd really consider a new build as opposed to the headaches of what sounds like a pretty major renovation seeing as there are almost always hidden nasties people don't account for.

    • Cave Fire on 12/08/2019 - 22:19

      yeah the screw piers were the first hidden nasty I guess. We have had some issues with leaky taps and a shower leak so next surprise is probably the old plumbing. Still got to do a gut/remodel/decorating after the reno, they have put 12k in so far to get approval and completed some minor works. We did get someone to do the testing but also does removals so not sure if he was biased.

  • elgrande on 12/08/2019 - 23:01

    The skirting and architraves cost seems excessive.

    • Cave Fire on 12/08/2019 - 23:06

      Ok that should probably be doors, locks, architraves etc (finishing materials). There is a 3k sliding door. Will keep it in mind though, just in case.

    • brad1-8tsi on 13/08/2019 - 07:54

      That price looked OK to me.

  • hawkeye on 13/08/2019 - 03:33

    Concrete is around $200 a metre 100mm X 60metres + peirs 10 metres + pump mesh labour comes to about 6k +- bobcat/escavator.
    That sort of variation from 20k quoted you could work it out off the plan. This would be enough to second guess the rest of the job he's priced

    Say your perimeter is 32 meters 10x6 termimesh is $156 meter??? yeah right

    • Cave Fire on 13/08/2019 - 10:49

      Ok, I'm going to let my parents know, this is the biggest cost. Spoke to him today before seeing this and he said our concrete would have been $6.5k if we didn't have bad soil. I have put the slab plan here https://imgur.com/a/68q79nh

  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 13/08/2019 - 08:35
    +3

    What's the land value like?

    Unless they are like really really attached to the place you'd definitely want to consider doing a basic reno and sell to cash in to build or buy elsewhere.

    If the land value is sky high then you'd definitely want to consider spending the extra for a knock down rebuild.

    These sort of renos are ripe for things to get delayed/go wrong so they really should budget for 1.5 times this quote. If there's asbestos (very popular back then on GC) then prices can definitely increase further again getting the specialists in. At the end of the day you still have an old place that's been fixed up - and this is what buyers will think as well in the future.

  • subywagon on 18/09/2019 - 12:14

    How much was it to get it designed, the plans made etc? Thanks

    • Cave Fire on 18/09/2019 - 14:56

      It's going to vary on your requirements and legal requirements. Just to draw the plan was under 2k. Engineering was 7k in our case. The plan needed to be submitted and approved. So maybe another $3k? You can just draw the plans and sit on them. We had an offer of $150k for everything included from a renovation company and this was good value. We would have had more certainty and less hassle.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join