Our Requirements

We decided to focus on the Project Builders due to the higher cost associated with a custom build. Due to my disability the house needed to be single story only, have no step-down to the garage, and have an en-suite design suitable to accommodate a wheelchair. 

The nature of our block also imposed some constraints. The house needed to be less than 12.5m in width, have the garage on the left hand side (so the head lights from cars approaching from Solsbury Crescent would be an issue) and ideally living areas to the north (on the garage side). Having some space between the house and the boundary on the north side would also be an advantage as we would see more of the winter sun.

Project or Custom ?

There are a large number of builders who were willing and able to build us a house on our land in Keysborough. The problem then, was to narrow down this large field of candidates to a manageable shortlist. The first step in this process was to decide whether to use an off-the-shelf house design or create your own design.

The additional cost of building a custom designed house, all else being equal, is around 30%. This additional impost provided us strong encouragement to focus on the off-the-shelf option first. We also learned early on the project builders seemed quite amenable to adjusting their house designs to meet the clients. Although for some reason removal of the garage step-down proved a problem for some.

Soil Tests another 3-4 Weeks Away

On Monday, I chased up the builders for the results of the soil tests. They told me that the tests had been ordered but they hadn’t yet received the results. On Wednesday, I was forwarded an email from the surveyor which said : “We were on site today but it is still 3-4 weeks from being ready to survey. Drainage works still being done. A lot of spoil to be spread which will change levels significantly. We'll try again mid to late June.”

Whilst this is obviously not the best news, it was good to get an expert’s assessment about the progress of the development.

One day all This will be Ours

As stated in the previous post, I took a drive out to Solsbury Field this afternoon. There were no signs or barriers preventing me from driving down the newly laid part of Red Brush Road. So I drove down this section of road and parked in Solsbury Crescent at the Top of the T intersection opposite Lot 30 and took the following photograph.

The Prediction and the Forecast

On Friday we received a copy of a letter dated 20 May 2015, from the developer’s lawyers advising that “At this stage it is anticipated that a Statement of Compliance will be issued shortly and that the Plan will be lodged for registration around the end of the month”.

I went for a drive to Solsbury Field today to find that the top layer of the road is not laid, and the footpaths and driveway cross overs are still to be poured. The weather forecast for next week predicts rain Wednesday to Friday. I believe the chances of registration around the end of the month appear somewhat slim.

The Bank wants to Cancel the Loan

Got a letter from the bank last week. Apparently we are taking too long to draw down on the funds they agreed to lend us. We had applied for the loan in December and it had been approved in early January. The letter stated that unless we responded within the month with a “funding date” that the loan would be cancelled. Furthermore, if the “funding date” was more than a month away suitable evidence would need to be provided in support of the funding date.

A day or so later I received an email from the mortgage broker who had learned of the bank’s “cancellation letter” and wanted to assist in formulating a response. I guess she could see her commission disappearing off over the horizon. Anyway, she wrote an email to developer’s real estate agent asking for guidance on a settlement date. He responded that he wished he was able to provide a firm date but with the weather and not knowing the exact time frame for registration and titles it was hard to say. He thought that it should be settled or settling by the end of June. So I responded to the bank nominating June 30 as the “funding date” with a copy of the agent’s response as “evidence”. Worse case we will have to apply for the loan again.

What is missing from the Inclusions ?

Only a few builders include the base cost of their houses on their websites. Perhaps they do not want to include this key piece of information to discourage you from making a comparison simply on price. Indeed performing a comparison using base price only would indeed be misleading. At the very least you would need to consult the list of inclusions which tells you what you will actually get for you base price. 

Of course this varies from builder to builder. When analysing a list if inclusions it important to understand what has been left out. This is not as simple as it first appears. A classic example is the brickwork above windows and doors. The cheaper alternative to this brickwork is to use fibre-cement sheeting above the windows and doors. However, often the builders who include this brickwork in their base price don’t state this in their list of inclusions – forcing you to ask the question of them.