How come you cannot provide me a $ Square metre ($m2) rate price from the start?

Individual design

As a ‘Custom Home’ builder each of our homes is likely an individual design that has never been priced before.

We need to factor in the approximately 10,000 different items that are used in each house to give an accurate price.

Some of these factors include

– material selections

– labour costs

– site conditions (if your block on a steep slope, or hard to access street etc.)

– specific details required by the engineer, draftsperson/architect & energy rater

– area specific requirements (are you in a bush fire zone, termite area, high wind category area etc.)

– does the builder need to have a full-time site supervisor on your job

– what is the ‘soil classification’ of your land

– plus many more

Based on experience

of past projects we can give an estimate on what the price range may be, but a set price is not possible from the start.

An excellent building contract price should have as few optional extras or variable items (referred to as Prime Costs & Provincial Sums in contracts) as possible.

Or if you do require decisions that cannot be made before signing a contract, make sure your contract accurately has calculated a price for the works that are similar to the choice you are to make.

For example, if your contract has a ‘Provisional Sum’ of $20k for the kitchen allowance, but your kitchen tastes are more in the $50k range, this means you will have to find an extra $30k from somewhere during the build to accommodate your preference, or otherwise be left with a kitchen that that you will never be happy with.

And don’t forget on these ‘extra’ costs, you also have to pay the builder their ‘builders margin’ you agreed to on your contract, so this $30K extra is now somewhere around a $40k extra!

We also recommend being aware of builders who do advertise a $m2 rate,

as it can be a sales ploy to get you in the door, before they add on all the ‘extras’ you thought would be included.

Sometime not telling you about these extras until after you have signed your contract.

Even the exact same house built in the same city will likely vary in price. Factors such as councils, developers, planning permits, soil classification, bush fire zone & a host of other variable all need to be considered & allowed for in the price.