It’s a great question… and it differs from builder to builder.

Here at Tas Homes, our Tasmania home builders explain to each of our clients that building site costs are split into two categories – site infrastructure and site costs.

Types of Building Site Costs

Site infrastructure covers the costs for all the things that we require before we can commence work on site, such as:

• Building permits and fees, issued by your local council
• Builders construction and warranty insurance
• Engineers site and soil test reports
• Temporary security fencing
• Scaffolding
• Onsite portable toilet
• Silt run off protection
• Concrete pump hire and crane hire

Site costs differ in that they are the practical, physical things that enable us to complete the build smoothly, allowing us to deliver your new house keys in the timeline set out in your contract. These include:

• Land fall over 300mm over the building area
• Slab upgrades due to fall, fill and soil conditions
• Root barriers
• Retaining walls
• Agricultural drains
• Additional soil/fill over slab area
• Excess soil removal
• Rock extraction and removal
• Fire attack measures
• Installation of services such as water, gas or sewer
• Extra runs of services over our standard distance allowances
• Heritage overlays
• Land estate covenants
• Local authority such as council, water, gas
• Requirement class as set out by Australian building codes

While we’re not going to bore you with all the fine details of the laws, requirements and costs involved, as you can see from the lists, they’re quite considerable.

More About Building Site Costs

When entering into a building contract, there are the site infrastructure and site costs that are charged in addition to the base price for building your new federation home. However, as we’ve previously mentioned, some less reputable builders in Melbourne will seemingly lower their base price by loading up the building site costs.

For example, over the years, we’ve heard a number of of stories where clients have been charged upwards of $4500 for concrete pump hire, when in reality the cost should be closer to $1700. Another example are costs involved with complying with building star ratings, such as water tanks, solar hot water and grey water – while these should be included in the base price, they are often included in the building site costs.

The problem for many home owners is that these building site costs only come to light AFTER they’ve signed a contract and in some cases can add up to tens of thousands of dollars.

So, how do you know what to look out for? We recommend that you ask your potential house builder to visit your site with you to establish a preliminary estimate of costs. If they don’t, then that should set the alarm bells ringing!

We offer you a free, no obligation site appraisal for a piece of land that you have bought, or are considering buying. You should always have a registered and qualified builder carry out a pre-purchase inspection in order to get an idea of what your building site costs are likely to be.

Building your own home should be a time of excitement, so don’t let an unreputable builder spoil that for you.

At Romeo Homes we believe that the building experience is an adventure to be enjoyed by both the client and the builder. Let us take that adventure with you.

We’d love to hear from you about your ideas and dreams for a beautiful new home, so give our friendly team a call on 044 8737 470!