With a build cost of $624K I'm curious to know what these would have cost if you were building for a client?
We are hoping to put on four townhouses in Brisbane (build two, refinance, build another two). We have a builder in mind, but until we go for council pre lodgement meeting, I'm not getting too ahead of myself as far as what style, what materials, cost etc (but would aim for two storey 3 x 2).
The other thing I'm very unsure of is how annoying it would be if we asked for certain jobs to be removed from the quote because we believe we can get a better price, e.g. painting. We have a tenant who is a painter and I believe he would do a better price. I guess if we ask that the painting be specified and we can ask our painter if he wants the job, and his price, and make that decision before signing the contract with the builder.
I'd also love to hear from you (with your builder's hat on) whether we should either ask our builder to project manage the other parts of the whole job for an extra fee or should we pay a project manager?
We've project managed some large renovations, getting trades there in good time and in correct order, but we've never had a "whole house" built where anything we might miss can mean our builder is held up, costing us money and creating tension.
For this reason, I'm inclined to think it would run more smoothly (but cost more) if the builder himself takes on the project management of the whole "job" and not just look after the actual building of the first two townhouses. The builder we hope to use does townhouse projects for his own family, so he could project manage the whole thing.
I'm thinking other things we (or a project manager) need to manage, i.e. temporary power to the site to actually do the build and permanent power supply once they are built., organising driveway from street into the battle-axe, and at what stage (probably after the build?), organising sewer and stormwater issues at correct times before/during the build, probably lots of other things I've not even thought about yet.
Our plan would be to hold all four and turn a large block with two dwellings (both must stay) into a large block with six dwellings. Rent from two dwellings doesn't cover the interest, but rent from six dwellings would cover the total of the current loan plus the loan to build. This would mean this block stands on its own feet and we don't need to contribute to it going forward.
Here is a thread I started.
http://somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97211
I'd love to hear your thoughts, both with your developer hat on and just your builder hat on, when you have time. We are not even to the pre lodgement meeting stage, so there is no rush. Take a holiday first if you like