What To Know Before You Start To Build A Home

To build a home is one of those exiting things in life most of us only do once or twice.  Many never even experience this feeling as they prefer to buy existing homes.  

If you have never before build a house, then pause for a moment and consider a few things before you rush into it.

Building Your Own House - Then read This

If you will be building your own house make sure to consider and inform yourselves about the following:

• When buying land
  • Find out about flood levels
  • Find out about bushfires
  • What is the slope across the land
  • What is the soil type
  • Which direction will your living areas be facing

• Covenants
  • What covenants are in place
  • How lenient are the developer - will you be able to build the house of your dreams
  • What minimum size houses do the developer specify
  • How long do you have before you have to start building
• Finance
  • Have you contacted a Financial Broker / Advisor
  •  Do you have to pay mortgage insurance
  • Can you absorb "surprises" (extra expenses) that may arise during construction
• Security
  • What is the crime rate like in the area you consider
• Access
  • Do you have access to public transport
  • How far are you from schools, shops and medical facilities
• Builder
  • What type of builder are you going to employ
    • Custom Builder
    • Project Builder
• Timeframe
  • New buildings rarely finish on time.  Have you made arrangements for accommodation should it not happen as expected
• Quotes
  • Getting quotes sound easy.  In reality it hardly ever is.  Builders often quote on their own designs meaning you cannot compare apples with apples.
• Insurance
  • What risk should you be covered for when you buy land and build a house
• Some "hidden Costs"
  • Adding up all the "hidden costs" often surprises people.  Make sure you understand what costs are applicable in your case.  Some of the possible costs include
    • Stamp duty
    • Transfer duty
    • Loan establishment Cost
    • Mortgage Insurance
    • Conveyance cost
    • Clearance, excavation, retaining cost
    • New connections for electricity, gas, phones, television etc.

The above points may not all apply to you.  It is by no means a complete list but rather an attempt to get you thinking.  Most of these will have a financial effect.  Some of these will affect the value of your new house and it is therefore important to spend time before rushing into making a decision.

Look At Brand New Homes For Ideas

When you first start to think about building, make sure to look at brand new homes for ideas.  Not only will you learn all about the latest trends and ideas, but you will also see what designs and plans are popular. 

It will also help you develop a feeling and understanding for what type of house to look for before you start to build a home.

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List of construction activities for home designer

•  Site cleaning
  
• Bore well digging
  • Bore
  • Bore Well vendors
• Temporary Shed construction
• Site Marking
• Sump construction
  •  Soil digging for sump
  •  Sump Construction
• Foundation digging
  •  Soil digging for Pillars
  •  Soil digging for foundation [OR] Paya
• Start carpenter work — for window frames and door frames
• Footing [OR] Pillar base
• Pillars until Plinths
• Stone Foundation [OR] paya
• Plinth beam
• Fill soil inside Plinths.
• Filling cement and 40 MM Jelly on top of Soil — this will be done inside plingth area
• Setting up main door frame and other room door frames
• Wall construction until window frame base
• Setup all window frames based on its sizes until 7 feet from the floor
• Setup lintel and saja
• Wall construction until beams
• Setup kitchen ventilator and bathroom ventilators
• Sheet centring for beams and also roof
  •  Fix sheets based on water level
  •  Apply plaster for the gaps between sheets
  •  Apply oil for sheets
• Bar bending work for beams and roof
  •  Inverter beams
• Electric pipes setup inside roof
• Molding
• Storing water on top of the roof
• After 18 days remove sheet centring
• Hocking for the roof
• Electric pipes
  •  Clear any blockage in the roof pipes
  •  Laying electric pipes in the walls and setup electric boxes
• Plumbing work for kitchen and bathroom
  •  Setup water pipes and sewage pipes till outside of the wall
  •  Setup Indian latrine if you are going with this option
  •  Water proofing for bathrooms
  •  Close all water and sewage pipes with temporary caps
• Setup kitchen platform and sink
• Tiles laying in bathroom and kitchen for walls
• Plastering of roof and walls inside
• Plastering of outside walls
• Applying putty for window frames
• Fixing window frames
• Granite Lying
• Granite tiles Laying in bathroom if you are going with this option
• Fixing bathroom fittings
• Finishing outside plumbing work and tank
• House Elevation
• Painting
• Electric work
  •  Electrical wiring
  •  Dummy plate fixing/ electrical holders
  •  Electrical switches setup
• Apply paint coating outside
• Laying electric service wire from pole to meter board
• Fixing meters in panel board.
• Digging pit for power earth
• Digging pit
• Motor & connection to tank
• Parking tiles
• Compound wall
• Sewage lines to pit

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Construction Costs Are Often Expressed As The Building Cost Per Square Meter

 To build a house involves many different trades, materials and other services.

The builder acts as project manager to coordinate all these activities and to keep everything on track, from a time perspective but also cost perspective.

Comparing different building projects are not that straight forward.  Each one has its own mix of services, materials and trades.  We often use the term "compare apples with apples".

Now, to try and compare apples with apples is not easy when it comes to building.  A measure called the "building cost per square meter" was introduced to help make it easier. 

"Building Cost Per Square Meter" - What Does It Mean?

An over simplified explanation would be as follow:

When all the construction costs are added up and then divided by the total number of square meters of your house, then you get the building cost per square meter.

Many builders will actually go further and specify different costs per square meter depending what type of structure you build.  The patio, alfresco, garage type areas are obviously not as expensive as bathrooms and kitchens, areas that can really push the average cost per square meter up.

How To Calculate Square Meters

Most people will have to look for some old school handbooks for the answer or might remember the formula for area is:

Area = Length x Width or ab

These measurements are normally done in meters and the answer will therefore be in square meters.

That means that if you house is 20m x 10m, the area would be 200 square meters or 200m².

Perimeter = 2 x (Lenght x Width)  or 2(a + b)

In reality, houses are not square blocks.  They have some sections that are longer than others and to complicate it more, double storey homes may have open areas over staircases etc. which makes the calculation a bit trickier.  It is however possible to calculate it manually, but fortunately, many software packages will do it for us.  Your draftsman or architect will put these figures on the plans they put together.  A breakdown of different areas is usually given.

How The Design Of Your House Affect The Building Cost Per Square Meter

It is logic that the more material we use the higher the cost.  That is why an understanding the relationship between design, and cost should be understood.

The following example is purely for illustration purposes.

Let's assume Person A and Person B both builds 225 m² houses.

Person A build a house 15m x 15m.

Person B on the other hand build a house of 1.5m x 150m  (Just to illustrate the point).

Both have the same area, but there is a big difference.  When we look at the length of walls needed to enclose Person A's house, we find it is 4 x 15m = 60m.

Do the same calculation for Person B and you find it to be 1.5 + 150 + 1.5 + 150 = 303m

That is 5 times more wall length than in the first example.  Now, I realize there are things like internal walls etc. which will reduce this margin, but hopefully you get my point.

The design of your house will have an impact on the building cost per square meter.

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