Battle axe or side by side.

[Doovalacky]

I have been looking at land and older houses coming up for sale for a few months.
As per another post I put in a low offer on some land that was coded r30.
While there was some negotiation I was firm to the original offer on the basis there was a 30m brick with metal picket inlay fence to be constructed along one side.
Mid week the offer was accepted just as I had given up on it.

So its 30m square. One side adjoins a public green area/park.
Have DAP approvals for up to a triplex in principal. However this has all 3 facing the park with a long driveway up the far side.
I was talking to an acquaintance who used to be the town planner and he has made the suggestion that since I am just planning on a townhouse/duplex arrangement I arrange them side by side facing the road.

As I see it the battleaxe arrangement will probably have a slightly better rent return with both facing the park.
The side by side probably would have a better resale value if I ever sell since no common area etc. But might be a difficult process getting approvals.

Given the location with a major refinery about 40mins away and a expanding desalination plant I probably be keeping it for at least 6 years.
Any suggestions for/against either layout?

 

[veseli]

Face them North.

That's more important than park views, if its possible.

Check with your local Council if there is any easements on site, and also does the land have a fall towards the street for storm water run off? If not this could be costly.

A lot of times these 'potential' sites have many problems and Agents wont tell you anything.

 

[Doovalacky]

Park is NE. Road is NW.
No easements, closest is sewage and that is through the park.
Block is basically level, about 0.75m above street level with the slope in the first 2m. Sand as well so soakwells work well.

Edit:
There is some covenants on the block with setbacks, building style, fencing style, minimum floor space and heights.
For a triplex it would be difficult probably requiring loft style bedrooms to meet the minimum floor space requirements which is why I am going duplex/townhouse.
Also dual use path way will put through at some point along front so have to make sure driveway is the right level for that.

 

[pennyk]

i would prefer side by side, with both having own access direct from the road.
I think no common areas will give you better rental and better resale value

 

[Doovalacky]

Moving along slowly.
The side by side option got denied and I decided not to try getting it changed.
Duplex plan selected, basically 2 separate houses with a parapet wall.
Waiting on final plans and survey.

Evaluations on 2 properties for the loan done.
PPOR, 280k which means a tiny amount of CG over 2 years. Place needs a bit of a facelift honestly.
One IP with the lowest loan, 380k which hurt. Think a couple recent fire sales have dragged that down. However have the equity needed to proceed.

Floorplan U1

 

[MangoMadness]

Wow, 4 bed + study and home theatre

 

[Doovalacky]

Since it was not practical to go the triplex option I went with a duplex.
This opened up a range of options and I decided to spend a fraction more to go with a bigger plan.

While I am not counting on it I already have tentative interest to rent both via the one company as temporary accommodation.

 

[Doovalacky]

Had my 1st cost blowout and not something I had even thought of.
Eleven 1.2m x 1.2m soakwells required by council!
3 to be under the driveway. 50m2 roof/driveway per 1.4m3 of soakwell.

Had planned on 12 0.6m units that I could install myself.

Chasing up confirmation that a mistake has not been made.

 

[Doovalacky]

Some progress finally.
Still waiting for the shire to approve the building licence, was knocked back once due to store room being 30mm too small in one dimension.
Council required retaining wall installed and soakwells being put in currently.

There is 7 of these going in, 4 1.5x1.2m and 3 1.2x1.2m. The bigger ones actually worked out cheaper than having 11 at 1.2m.

I have also now got 2 ton of tiles stacked up behind my couch

Currently spending $167k per duplex plus 15k allowed for provisional sums.

Additional costs allowed for:
Carpet U1 $3000
Carpet U2 $3200
Tiles $2990
Lay tiles $2700
Lay tiles $2700
Driveway concrete $14000
Retain fence $7650
Soak Wells $4780
Water Corp $6837
Fence Back and middle $4584
Fence Pool style Side and Front $7801
Limestone fence $4600
Limestone piers $1350
Paint U1+U2 $9900
Blinds U1 $2000
Blinds U2 $2000
Landscaping u1 $3000
Landscaping u2 $3000

$86092
$435092​

There is a number of the above cost I intend to reduce by getting additional quotes or doing it myself. ie painting.

 

[Doovalacky]

Well what a saga this build has become.

Builder stuffed up the main gas line paperwork, then waited nearly 6 months to tell me there was an issue. Delayed completion by a month.
So 9 months after the slab down I get the keys finally and things are being done at literally the last minute as I inspect it due to bad organisation by builder superviser.

First weekend I find a number of issues such as:
U1 WC door removed completely from site since inspection.
U1/U2 exhaust fan ducts (6 total) thrown up into the ceiling space out of sight and not installed. No vents in roof installed.
Plumber or cabinet installer was drunk or needs to learn to read a tape measure, multiple cabinets with extra holes.
"Handy man" that installed several locks and catch's needs to be shot. Out of line, split timber and so forth.

Fail a council inspection due to a missing vent, and the WC missing a door has standard hinges not lift off. Easy solved until the "handy idiot" takes a grinder to the frame without a drop sheet and burns over 30 tiles with the sparks.

I could add a another page of ongoing issues but the kicker was measuring the back fence location and it not lining up. Short story the builder has built the units 400mm closer to each other than per plan. This is still not 100% resolved but it looks like council will let it pass.

Finally a certain fence supplier in the Bunbury area appears to have packed up shop and taken my deposit with him. Waiting for the Magistrate court to give me a date for a hearing.

Gallery

 

[westminster]

Ouch on the issues. The cabinet maker might have been re-using base cabinets from another job which had different plumbing pipe requirements.

I would be pretty unhappy with the slapdash finishing tactics.

Stick to your guns over getting everything fixed before giving them their practical completion payment.

 

[mattnz]

Thanks for sharing, sorry to hear about the difficulties you are having. Are you project managing the build, or did you have a head contractor responsible for everything?

 

[Doovalacky]

Due to time constraints of myself working a 5 to 6 day a week, 12hr shift currently the actual build was by a project builder.
I just organized the interior and exterior finishings.

While issues like the tiles have been fixed by the builder I have had to step in and fix a lot of the minor stuff to get it complete so I could try to get some rent coming in.
Partly because I did not want the handy idiot on site again and also because they are so slow. For example more than 30 days after it was reported I am still waiting on a drain to be unblocked that they installed. In a few more days I will be sending a letter of demand if its not done.