Your builder has given you a handover date . . . so you need to organise property insurance to start on that day.
How Much House Insurance Will You Need ?
Well you have only just finished building so isn’t the price you have just paid the right amount?
I think you need to add 30%-50% to the build cost.
Why Do You Need Extra Property Insurance?
Well building on a new development is cheaper and an entirely different proposition to having a house replaced when it is surrounded by other houses.
Here are some of the reasons for extra costs:
Demolition and removal of material from the site;
Once fences are built around the site and perhaps trees planted on the nature strip builders may consider the site ‘Restricted‘;
Gardens, and paths, which may have been excluded from the initial construction cost will have to be replaced;
The original builder may not offer the standard house you had previously built meaning architects may need to be engaged. (Even though you had a project house built you may find yourself up for a cost structure of a custom house)
Building regulations may change.
All these extras make it important to make sure you don’t under insure.
The costs of possibly over insuring are small, compared with having to deal with the trauma of loosing your home. . . . Then having a bill of tens, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, to replace the house.
Sarking is the sheet material which can be put over the roof trusses before the final roof covering is installed.
It’s normally standard on a metal roof as it prevents condensation on the underside of a roof from dropping onto the ceiling below.
In the case of a tiled roof it helps with weatherproofing and keeps dust out of the roof space.
In bushfire zones it is mandatory for a tiled roof to have sarking.
The reflective sarking (installed reflective side facing down) does help in reducing summer heat being radiated into the roof space and can help to keep the house warmer in winter. (See Reflective Finishes for more information)
In addition to plain sarking you can get an insulation blanket with sarking attached. This offering some sound insulation, for rainfall, and extra thermal insulation.
These days all the builders provide, at our cost, a 1.8m high ‘Security Fence’ around the site.
When you ask them “Why is it there? “. . . They say “Its for Occupational Health and Safety and/or to prevent theft. ”
If those are the reasons why do less than 1% have a padlock?
For most of them the highest security level is a piece of wire twisted around a couple of times!
The only positive thing I can say about all this is the lack of security makes it easier for me to access the site in the evening to check whats happened during the day!
For more posts about your new home build see Construction
If you are new to thinking about having a new house built you may have heard the term ‘Project Home Builder’ and wondered what it means.
Project Home Builders base their business on building large numbers of houses using a limited range of designs.
By cutting down on the proportion of individual design input on each house, and the ability to negotiate bulk discounts, they can build houses at a significantly lower cost than would be otherwise possible.
Because of the cost they are a very popular way of having a house in Australia. I have even heard self builders say they couldn’t build a house as cheaply as a ‘Project Builder’.
Customisation
Although Project builders work on a limited number of designs there is still a fair amount of Customisation possible.
Externally customisation options include:
Different facades (Most builders offer at least 2 facades styles for each design)
Choice of bricks or render
Choice of different Roof Tiles or Metal Roof
Handing (Building a mirror image)
Changing window sizes
Internally it is normally possible to make some modifications to floor plans such as enclosing rooms, adding doors and making some rooms bigger by making others smaller. Some Project Builders are more accommodating than others when it comes to making internal changes.
Drawbacks.
As each builders offer you a limited set of home plans you may get good reports about a builder.. . . but if you don’t like their range of plans…you’ll need to go elsewhere.
Project Home Builder’s designs are mainly suitable for flat, rectangular blocks. If your block slopes, or is an awkward shape the costs can quickly escalate. For really awkward sites many Project Home Builders may even refuse to build.
Finding a Project Builder
Just visit one or more local ‘Display Villages’ and you will find several project builders. Just understand when you go around the houses that each ‘Display House’ has lots of expensive extras not included the standard priced house.
Control of costs is really important if you don’t want to run over budget on your new home.
One of the key areas in controlling costs is understanding the specification of the house.
One of the traps that many people fall into is paying a deposit based on an initial specification, They are then hit with major costs down the track to upgrade to the standard they want.
There are really 3 stages to the Specification of a New House.
Basic Stage
This covers the building of the main structure of the house and includes:
Floor Plans
External Elevations (what the house will look like)
Foundations
Construction (eg Brick Veneer , Double Brick. timber clad, etc)
Windows
Basic Insulation
Detailed Design Stage
This is when the things like fittings are detailed such as:
Kitchen cupboards and counters
Cooktops and Ovens
Bathroom Fittings
Tiles
Electrical Fit out
Watch out for the builder including Prime Cost Allowances
There are extensive checklists in the Guide to Selection that will help you through this stage.
Finishing
These are the finihing touches which may be included by the builder, but are usually done by the homeowner after the move. These typically include:
Driveways
Paths
Gardens
Pergolas
Pools
Outdoor Kitchens
If these are the things that you want included in your new house you need to be aware of the likely cost and make sure that you have enough left in your budget.
It’s actually known as the ‘Black Desert House’, built in the desert near the Joshua Tree National Park in California.
The house is built around a central courtyard, which is set to a backdrop of black walls, midnight quartz, high-gloss anthracite and darkened steel.
For more photos see enpundit.com
For more Unusual House Photos, and Fails, have a look at: What the………………….?
