Stage timing

G'day all,

A question on schedule for house construction, actually the timing of the 5 stages : Base, Frame, Lock-up, Fixing, Completion.
Assuming completion is at 285 days where would the others fit in ?

day 000 : Start
day ? : Base
day ? : Frame
day ? : Lock-Up
day ? : Fixing
day 285 : Completion

I realise there are many factors that can delay or put the whole schedule out, but here I'm just after the overall plan.
All input welcome.
 
Patosan,

Had the benefit of doing this twice in past couple years. Based on my record of the progress payments paid dates.

Stage 1 - Base 1 week
Stage 2 - Frame 3 weeks
Stage 3 - Lock-Up 3 weeks
Stage 4 - Fixing 3 weeks
Stage 5 - Completion 20 weeks (was a long delay! it rained, blder's holidays, availability of tradies/supplies etc etc :mad: )

Stage 1 - Base 1 week
Stage 2 - Frame 4 weeks
Stage 3 - Lock-Up 3 weeks
Stage 4 - Fixing 1 week
Stage 5 - Completion 7 weeks


Cheers

Danny D.
 
When we built our PPOR, the banker did not know the stages. We had a loan to lockup- when lockup came, they would not release the money until we moved in. We only survived by using the builder's overdraft.
 
Thanks guys,

Wow dwyerfarm 30 weeks then 16 weeks ,,, what a difference !
Even the longer is shorter than I had expected, but that 16 week build must've flown along. I have a question on the longer one; how did rain affect the completion stage since basically the structure is up ?

Several peole have casually commented to me about how houses seem to zoom along to lock-up stage, then take forever to complete. Is this observation a false impression or a reality ? If it's common why is it so ?

My contract works on 285 days, or 41 weeks, or 9.5 months. Based on dwyerfarm's experiences there would seem to be heaps of trouble absorbing time.
Though it did take my guys 8 weeks for base stage ... in a Melb when it rained only twice in that 2 months. Frame is said to be finished ... so that's about 2 weeks ... quick. Overall a slow start but will hopefully be finshed by Xmas.
 
Patosan,

The first one was where I wanted "all the finishes" as stated in the contact. That is, a complete package which required turfing the whole property, concrete driveway and paths, install a covered pergola, erect the fence and gates, a letterbox, TV antenna and floor coverings etc. It was to be similar to a "turnkey" package. The rain at the time kept delaying these "outside" items, which was beyond the builder's control. The builder also had three weeks holidays in that period and as well as public holidays. All this could have reduced the final stage by about 12 to 14 weeks. The builder has all sorts of clauses in the contract to cover for almost of the delays.

The second time around, we left out of the contract some of these finishes (turf, fence/gates, letterbox etc). Now, this second one has taken me almost 18 months to complete, from start to finish. That is, from the day the land was purchased (the day I signed the contract) to hand over of the completed house. There were delays on my part in getting my finances sorted, delays in the preparation of plans to be submit to the local council (builder had been extra busy at time), delays with the council's extra requirements/permits (in my case, I was required to get a permit/approval to "build over sewage line") and getting the site level etc.

As for the speed, well, in good old days (80's and 90's?), I think it took them about 12 weeks (3 mths) to knock up a standard house. Nowadays, it is approx. 16 weeks (4 mths), as per my contract. I guess it also depends on how high quality finish you want the house to be. My two houses are just the standard low set brick house, nothing fancy.

Danny D.

(NB: I like your typo re my forum name - from dwyerfam to dwyerfarm)
 
Hi to all,

Just finished completion of 2 homes through builders.

Single storey took 110 days from start to finish, and double storery took
270 days.

Contract states the builder has 170 days days to complete the single, and
270 days to complete double.
So as you can see the single came in well ahead of schedule and the double
right on time.
Double should have been finished earlier, but we had the Dec/ Jan break, April Easter break and
then due to problems with management at the time, house was at a standstill
for 5 weeks.

break up of payment schedule is

single (15.5 weeks)
base 1 week
frame 2.5 weeks
lockup 7 weeks ( xmas break)
fixing 2 weeks
completion 3 weeks



double (38.5 weeks)
base 1 week
frame 8 weeks (easter )
lockup 9 weeks ( mgmnt probs)
fixing 9 weeks
completion 11.5 weeks (xmas)


King regards
Marina.
 
a friend and her husband were building a block of townhouses a few years back - they got the brickwork up to flooring level then it rained and rained and rained.

i remember them going down every few days to pump the water out of the foundation (the brickwork was trapping it).

all up i think the project took them an extra 3 months because of this. so, i guess, a lot depends on the weather - and goodness knows the farmers need the rain. but as we are about to build an ip, and the dams at newcastle are at 97% i hope it pours inland for the farmers and stays dry here for a couple of months. :D
 
There would seem to be a lot of variance in build times.
I can sorta see why, with mine some guys come and do something for 2 days, then the site is idle for a week(s).
Sub-contractors scheduling would be the main reason I guess.

My contract states 285 days which is even longer than Marina's double storey.
That should take us to 2nd Jan 2006 though hopefully they'll finish before then.
Marina's single storey took not much longer than 3 months, so I guess we could use it as rough benchmark for "achieveable but not necessarily expected". Taking an average of the 4 from Marina & Danny D. and excluding Danny D's disasterous comletion stage the rough averages are :

base 1 wks
frame 4 wks
lock-up 5 wks
fixing 4 wks
completion 5 wks = total 19 weeks (133 days)

With the recently dry Melb weather there shouldn't be any major delays
... which means I better get all that cash I need to pay for all the extras.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top