H & L Packages within 10km of Adelaide CBD

[Futurefund]

Hi Folks,
I'm looking at buying our 2nd IP somewhere around the Enfield / Clearview / Northfield areas (perhaps). Trying to find something around the 330K mark that is a new(ish) villa - I'm interstate and my question for anyone who might know or have any experiences with H & L packages in these areas:

Are there any to particularly avoid (or any that may be recommended). I
see a lot of "World Concept Homes" and "Hickinbotham" advertised...any
thoughts?
Thanks,
Greg

 

[cgw]

My PPOR is an ex display home built by Ian Wood homes. Since then when I have had tradies measure the windows and doors, they are surprised that they are actually square.
I cannot comment on the other builders, but be careful, as my friend rented a new villa built on a redeveloped block and within 6 months there was heaps of probs with the house itself.
Hopefully someone else can give more opions for you.

 

[Gools]

Greg, just take care with what is included in the house and land packages. Footings can cost a fortune ($30k+) for a courtyard home in some parts of those suburbs you mentioned.

Might be better to buy an established home if your budget is $330k or the costs may blow out well past that figure.

Gools

 

[Futurefund]

Thanks Gools,
If I understand correctly, you're saying that the cost of footings can be (or is) additional to the advertised cost of a H & L package? Or perhaps there's a certain amount allowed which may increase depending on the circumstances of the particular property in question - is that right?
Cheers, Greg

 

[Gools]

Hi Greg,

I'm of the understanding that there is a certain allowance (most often $10k) for the footings in the H&L packages. Differs between builders etc though so just double check when they provide the list of inclusions.

The soil varies a lot an it is not possible to say a bad street let alone suburb so if they only have a small allowance then you would want to see a soil report for the block before you proceed. (that goes for everywhere else other than Adelaide NE too.)

There are lots of other things to consider when building/H&L purchasing. I'll try and get a list together and post it over the weekend.

Andrew

 

[LynnH]

I'm of the understanding that there is a certain allowance (most often $10k) for the footings in the H&L packages.

If you can be on site to do your own inspection before the footings and/or piers are poured, you'd be amazed at what goes on!

In one build (country NSW) a few years back, the concrete piering wasn't deep enough in a couple of places - hubby pointed this out to the Council building inspector - who new nothing about the sewerage pipe along the boundary (which is why the piering was required). More digging needed.

Then .....

Hubby measured the piers before the pour, and drew a diagram with all the details - concreter copied the info from hubby's diagram (as he didn't see any sense in repeating what hubby had done - and he'd watched hubby to make sure it was done properly) .....

And in due course, we received a bill from the builder for almost 20 metres more in piering than had been poured.

So I got on the phone, told the builder what had happened, including the fact that the concreter had copied hubby's diagram/measurements ..... long silence. Gotcha!!! Instead of paying the $870 they demanded, it was reduced to $346 (this was 1988) ..... didn't get an apology, though.

But that's OK - I hit them with a couple more 'gotchas' before the build was finished. They were glad to see the end of that one!

It pays to watch them like a hawk!

Cheers
LynnH

 

[Gools]

Thanks for the story Lynn. Reminds me of the good old trick.
- Footings dug
- steel reinforcing put down
- Council Inspector checks all to measurement and leaves
- half the reinforcing removed
- concrete poured

The steel then gets used at the next job site and a hand sum saved by the builder. Tell me it doesn't happen these days, please!!