A different kind of build thread …

[ScottsGT]

2 hours ago, GusMac said:

Looking great Rog.

I take it it's your responsibility to get all the interior painting and decorating done? Over here that's all part of the package although that tends to mean you get everything painted in magnolia! I think that's maybe what Martin was meaning in his earlier post as well.

Ha!  House flippers here in the states paint everything gray.  The joke now is calling it “flipper gray”.  New homes 99% of the time get basic white everything.  

[Martinnfb]

Nice update, you must be getting excited. As Gus mentioned above, I had in mind walls sanded and painted. That is the standard here, the customer gets to choose the color and everything (trims, flames, walls) is painted before the flooring material is installed. 

As an electrician I like the horizontal receptacles , much smarter approach than vertical positioning of the outlets, when one is overlapping the other. It is funny that few of my friends ended up in Australia, but we never compared the notes

Almost there Rog . 🏠

 

[Artful69]

8 hours ago, ScottsGT said:

Interesting how the electrical outlets are horizontal compared to how the US does them vertically.  I bet your toilets flush in the wrong direction too!  
It’s looking great and coming along nicely.  

Lol ... not sure about the toilets ... as long as they flush in the general direction of AWAY, I'm happy!!  

2 hours ago, GusMac said:

Looking great Rog.

I take it it's your responsibility to get all the interior painting and decorating done? Over here that's all part of the package although that tends to mean you get everything painted in magnolia! I think that's maybe what Martin was meaning in his earlier post as well.

Well ... yes and it's by choice ... I'll fill you in with the details on my answer to Martin below 👇

43 minutes ago, ScottsGT said:

Ha!  House flippers here in the states paint everything gray.  The joke now is calling it “flipper gray”.  New homes 99% of the time get basic white everything.  

Choices have been limited here for about 15-20 years now. Doing inspections, I was able to see first hand when investors became the primary market driver here in Australia. Investors are 'coached' that any colours outside of what they term are 'neutral' are a bad idea for resale valuation purposes - as preference becomes an influence.

20 or so years ago you'd be likely to get blue, pink or apricot coloured tiles in the ensuite along with coloured cabinetry and in some more daring cases - coloured porcelain sinks and toilets! Slowly that sort of thing faded to neutral colours ... White, off white, cream, beige, brown and various greys. They still manage to get houses to look decent enough, with a little smudge of character, using things like wood grain finish etc.

The last middle finger at mediocrity that I saw was a run of styles during the era 2010-2015 where people would select a feature colour ... this colour would then be distributed around the house in a variety of ways ... a strip of tiles vertically down the shower well, a glass splash-back in the kitchen, a painted feature wall in a living area or a wall paper with a design featuring that colour as the main contrast. Some of these colours were subtle, some glaringly obvious. It dates the property now - but somehow it also still works when you walk into a property where it's been done.

15 minutes ago, Martinnfb said:

Nice update, you must be getting excited. As Gus mentioned above, I had in mind walls sanded and painted. That is the standard here, the customer gets to choose the color and everything (trims, flames, walls) is painted before the flooring material is installed. 

As an electrician I like the horizontal receptacles , much smarter approach than vertical positioning of the outlets, when one is overlapping the other. It is funny that few of my friends ended up in Australia, but we never compared the notes

Almost there Rog . 🏠

 

The short answer is ... I'm doing the paintwork although the builder could have.

To give you a better answer we have to go back to the beginning of the process ... The first stop in doing the whole house and land purchase/build thing -  is to the broker. Find out how much I can borrow in order to do this - then marry that up with what a house (that I can live with) will cost and find a block of land to build it on. Of course if the income stream will allow for a bigger plan than what I actually want, I can probably just go out and buy any large block of land available ... but when you're on a budget 🤷‍♂️ ...

So I work out what size of building the builders will build and with what inclusions I want to get a handle on pricing ... There's a bit of negotiating involved ... but there a LOT of investors out there with industry connections - so its not beyond the realm of possibility that a builder can just build a shell, ofttimes - with the purchaser hiring trades (on the side) to fill in the blanks, resulting in a much cheaper build.

With me ... I had to work out what jobs will cost if they are included vs not (here the sales rep will more often than not, point you in the right direction if they are are good) Alby told me right from the start, Painting, additional brick paving and landscape works is not something that the builder is 'interested' in doing. Meaning: if you include these you'll get screwed over! ... Compare the painting cost example below to 'additional' tiles I paid for in the wet areas ... Half height tiling cost me about $600 in the ensuite from memory ... certainly better that I could DIY or get an external quote on!

I buy all the paint and materials and DIY the job (which I'm relatively good at - just a bit slower than a skilled painter) and it costs me about $1500

I do the above and hire a skilled painter (if I can find one because we're in the middle of a property boom here) $3500-$4000

It's a similar exercise with brick paving.

I get the builder to include it in the build price of the house and it'll be $10-15K (because they'll have to pay premium prices for a painter also and then there's always the builders margin!) ... and you can quickly see that a build contract that has all the 'inclusions' that I want - sans wall painting, full brick paving and landscaping fills a budget that would have been about $50K more otherwise.

I've learned so many neat little tricks to building a home on a budget through this experience!

Rog

 

[CANicoll]

Rog,  Beautiful build and what a nice place.  I understand your last update about DIY vs builder vs hiring a trade on the side. Basically the same here - you always pay a premium when you get the builder to add it.  

Thanks for posting the pictures!  Fun to follow along...

[GusMac]

20 hours ago, Artful69 said:

Lol ... not sure about the toilets ... as long as they flush in the general direction of AWAY, I'm happy!!  

Well ... yes and it's by choice ... I'll fill you in with the details on my answer to Martin below 👇

Choices have been limited here for about 15-20 years now. Doing inspections, I was able to see first hand when investors became the primary market driver here in Australia. Investors are 'coached' that any colours outside of what they term are 'neutral' are a bad idea for resale valuation purposes - as preference becomes an influence.

20 or so years ago you'd be likely to get blue, pink or apricot coloured tiles in the ensuite along with coloured cabinetry and in some more daring cases - coloured porcelain sinks and toilets! Slowly that sort of thing faded to neutral colours ... White, off white, cream, beige, brown and various greys. They still manage to get houses to look decent enough, with a little smudge of character, using things like wood grain finish etc.

The last middle finger at mediocrity that I saw was a run of styles during the era 2010-2015 where people would select a feature colour ... this colour would then be distributed around the house in a variety of ways ... a strip of tiles vertically down the shower well, a glass splash-back in the kitchen, a painted feature wall in a living area or a wall paper with a design featuring that colour as the main contrast. Some of these colours were subtle, some glaringly obvious. It dates the property now - but somehow it also still works when you walk into a property where it's been done.

The short answer is ... I'm doing the paintwork although the builder could have.

To give you a better answer we have to go back to the beginning of the process ... The first stop in doing the whole house and land purchase/build thing -  is to the broker. Find out how much I can borrow in order to do this - then marry that up with what a house (that I can live with) will cost and find a block of land to build it on. Of course if the income stream will allow for a bigger plan than what I actually want, I can probably just go out and buy any large block of land available ... but when you're on a budget 🤷‍♂️ ...

So I work out what size of building the builders will build and with what inclusions I want to get a handle on pricing ... There's a bit of negotiating involved ... but there a LOT of investors out there with industry connections - so its not beyond the realm of possibility that a builder can just build a shell, ofttimes - with the purchaser hiring trades (on the side) to fill in the blanks, resulting in a much cheaper build.

With me ... I had to work out what jobs will cost if they are included vs not (here the sales rep will more often than not, point you in the right direction if they are are good) Alby told me right from the start, Painting, additional brick paving and landscape works is not something that the builder is 'interested' in doing. Meaning: if you include these you'll get screwed over! ... Compare the painting cost example below to 'additional' tiles I paid for in the wet areas ... Half height tiling cost me about $600 in the ensuite from memory ... certainly better that I could DIY or get an external quote on!

I buy all the paint and materials and DIY the job (which I'm relatively good at - just a bit slower than a skilled painter) and it costs me about $1500

I do the above and hire a skilled painter (if I can find one because we're in the middle of a property boom here) $3500-$4000

It's a similar exercise with brick paving.

I get the builder to include it in the build price of the house and it'll be $10-15K (because they'll have to pay premium prices for a painter also and then there's always the builders margin!) ... and you can quickly see that a build contract that has all the 'inclusions' that I want - sans wall painting, full brick paving and landscaping fills a budget that would have been about $50K more otherwise.

I've learned so many neat little tricks to building a home on a budget through this experience!

Rog

 

I totally get that Rog. Painting is one thing I really will only pay someone else to do as a last resort, or if it's too high. As you say, I reckon I can do just as neat a job, just slower.

When we got our house built my father and I did all the landscaping in the garden and all the splashback tiling in the bathrooms and en suite. There's definitely a satisfaction in knowing you've done things yourself.