- Budget
Budget should really be the first item on the home design agenda, but why spoil the vision and the dream with the boring financial necessities?
The sensible and the aspirational are always hard to reconcile; herein lies the compromise.
In general, people are quite reticent about revealing their budget. This is usually due to one reason.
They are embarrassed to say because they have not done enough homework on the costs of building.
They feel, whatever they say will be giving away some sort of secret leaving them vulnerable to the unscrupulous builder.
At risk of repetition, the more builders or quantity surveyors you question about costs the better your understanding of building prices and how builders charge.
Most builders give you their best price straight off because they know they have to be competitive. They know most clients look for comparative prices in a competitive market.
Also when you receive a number of quotes check them forensically; make sure the cheaper ones are not excluding items the more expensive ones have included.
So how much does building a new home or extension cost?
This is a little bit like asking ‘how long is a piece of string’ or ‘how much does a car cost’?
Builders are always reluctant to declare prices without knowing the exact situation.
Also, as a design evolves so do the cost centres. Add a few square meters add a few more thousand and so on.
Bearing all this in mind, here are some indicative, ball park numbers which can hopefully be of some guidance.
- The average extension is going to start around $150K to $200K
- Larger extensions can range from $250K to $400K
- It is not unusual for a large extension and major renovation to come in over $600K; and
- some period or architectural mansions can run into the millions!
Project builders (display homes builders) can still provide a basic new home for around $1100.00 per square metre but read the fine print. Usually services, slope, design changes, difficult soil types, double glazing and a whole lot of other things won’t be included in that price.
Also (as previously discussed in The Idea) the orientation will not be designed for the block.
So your average 26 square display home (250m2 approx. incl. garage no frills) will most likely start around $300K.
For an individually designed home (same size) with correct orientation, sustainable features, quality windows, eaves, some undercover outdoor entertaining and some basic landscaping – the price will come in more like $450 to $500K.
These prices are purely ball-park and intended to be a guide only.
*Prices are indicative of Melbourne 2016
