Buying Property For Dummies Read online

  Assessing a block of land

  The ideal block of land is relatively level, thinly wooded and not subject to flooding. The block should preferably already have connections to water, power, telephone and sewerage. Ideally, the block is in a regular shape and is easily accessible for construction vehicles.

  You may get a bargain price on a steep, heavily forested block of land, or one that is miles from any sealed roads, let alone sewerage or power connections. However, you need to remember that it may cost you more in the long run when you have to deal with the inevitable problems caused by lack of services.

  The following are some factors you should consider:

  Easements: In already established areas, parts of a block of land may be set aside so that essential services such as water and sewerage pipes can be connected throughout the suburb. These areas are called easements and are generally buried well below the ground. However, you’re restricted in how you can build over or near them.

  Position: Is there a view from your block that influences your decision on where you want to build? Are there trees or buildings that may cut out your sunlight? Ideally, you want to position your home so that you capture the winter sun for warmth and have shelter from the summer heat, and it is easier to achieve this if your block has a north–south alignment. You can, though, design your home so it is aligned to the north even if it is on an east–west configuration.

  Soil type: Some types of soil are easier to build on than others. Sand is easier to excavate than clay, but may require side support. Rocky soil can be expensive to excavate. Clay soil is prone to subsidence and the installation of stiffened slabs or deep strip footings to avoid soil movement may cost a lot.

  Pole positions

  Some amazing homes have been built in Australia to adapt to difficult conditions. One of the more famous is the pole house on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, which is set entirely on an enormous pillar that rises up from the land for 30 metres and is reached by a walkway across the crevasse. Other houses around the country are built into the sides of hills, or are set on stilts above flood plains.

  Working with a less-than-great block of land

  What if your block of land is steep or swampy or has awkward access? You can deal with all these problems, for a price.

  Getting around these flaws in a block of land requires a certain amount of ingenuity and usually a lot of money, due to the cost of engineering, materials and specialist architects. You need to balance out the lower cost of buying a less-than-appealing block of land with the higher cost of building on it. You may also be motivated by the attractions of owning land in a particular area. An interesting and innovative property, built well and designed to overcome the challenges its site presented, may command as good a price down the track as a more conventional property on a standard block.

  Designing Your Dream Home

  If you buy a house-and-land package or a project home, you may be able to make a few changes here or there, but generally you have to stick fairly closely to a given home design. When you design your own ‘custom-built’ home, you get to decide for yourself what it is going to look like and how it is going to meet your family’s needs. You also have input into other design considerations, such as energy efficiency, water recycling and use of natural light.

  Other design issues may include

  Building around trees or other natural features

  Creating cool, shaded areas for outdoor living in summer

  Including extra-large entertaining areas for extra-social families

  Making the best use of views

  Providing storage space such as wardrobes, cupboards and shelving

  Finding someone to turn your vision into reality

  Unless you’re a trained designer, you need to find someone who can turn your ideas into professionally drawn-up plans for submission to your local council’s planning department, to builders and to any other tradespeople who are working on your new home.

  Depending on how much input you personally want to make into the process, you can

  Engage an architect to convert your ideas and aspirations into their vision.

  Hire a building designer to take a more practical view of your ideas.

  Get a draftsperson to draw up your fairly well-formed designs.

  Harnessing an architect’s vision

  Architects combine an in-depth knowledge of the building process with a creative and holistic approach to designing your home — thinking about issues like the best way to use your land, how the building is to be oriented to the sun, how to maximise natural light, how to plan for space and traffic flow, privacy, climate control and environmental factors.

  Architects can help you with the following:

  Choosing a builder

  Designing and planning

  Designing the interior

  Landscaping the surrounding ground

  Managing the building budget

  Selecting a site

  Selecting and managing the project team

  Undertaking feasibility studies

  Architects in Australia need to complete a six-year degree course in order to belong to their professional body, the Royal Australian Institute of Architects. Architects are held to a strict code of professional conduct and are required to undertake continuing education to keep them up to date with current professional standards.

  Hiring an architect to design and manage the construction of your new home adds between 10 and 15 per cent to the cost of an average construction project. While you may baulk at adding that extra cost to an already expensive construction job, it may well be more than compensated for by the architect’s ability to make the whole building process run more smoothly. An architect may also add more value to your property in the longer run, by creating a building that is well-designed, energy-efficient and of a high construction quality.

  Homes that can be advertised as ‘architect designed’ can sometimes command a higher price than volume-built homes when selling time comes.

  You can find a great deal of information on how to find and work with architects if you go to the website of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) at www.architecture.com.au and click on ‘Community’, or go straight to www.findanarchitect.com.au. Also, check out the link on that website to the RAIA’s building advisory service, Archicentre, at www.archicentre.com.au. Recommendations from friends are another good way to find an architect.

  Deciding on a building designer

  Building designers are usually less highly qualified than architects, having completed a two-year diploma or less to be entitled to practice. However, they do have to register with their state or territory building practitioners’ board and are subject to codes of professional conduct.

  Building designers may be more inclined than architects to design homes from the client’s point of view and to take a more practical approach to their task. Most are also less costly than architects. You may not always get cutting edge design (though some are just as innovative as architects), but they may be perfect for less complex projects.

  The Building Designers Association of Australia has a website set up to help people find a designer in New South Wales, the ACT, Tasmania and South Australia (www.findadesigner.com.au). Look for Victorian building designers on the website of the Building Designers Association of Victoria (www.bdav.org.au), and those in Queensland and the Northern Territory at the website of the Building Designers Association of Queensland (www.findabuildingdesigner.com.au). While the website of the Building Designers Association of Western Australia (www.bdawa.com.au) doesn’t offer a ‘find a designer’ service, it does provide phone numbers you can contact to find a designer in your area. You can also find a building designer in your area through the Yellow Pages under ‘building designer’. Friends are another good source of referrals to building designers.

  Getting a draftsperson to draw your design

  You hire a draftsperson if you don’t require any external
design input at all. While a draftsperson has tertiary qualifications in drafting plans to paper, their knowledge and design abilities are much less than those of an architect. The rates charged are consequently much cheaper than those of a building designer or architect. You can find a draftsperson in the Yellow Pages or in your local newspaper.

  Given how crucial the design is to the success of a building project — not just aesthetically, but also in terms of its structural and functional quality — skimping on paying forgood design at this stage doesn’t pay off in the long term. A good architect or building designer can also help navigate you through the planning process and any dealings you have with local government bodies.

  Choosing an architect or building designer

  When you reach the stage where you’re ready to engage a professional to design your home, ask yourself a few questions when you’re assessing their suitability:

  Does the architect/designer suit your project or, more likely, does your project suit the architect/designer? Architects and building designers have specialties. Some are interested in very contemporary projects where they’re allowed to make an artistic statement with the building; that may not suit you. Others are specialists in higher-density dwellings, while some may not be interested in working on anything other than large-scale homes. Ensure that whoever you engage is comfortable to work within your budget and won’t pressure you into spending more than you can afford.

  What is the architect/designer’s other work like? Seeing other projects that the architect or designer has worked on can give you a feel for their style and for the quality of the work they have supervised. You should also ask them for contact details of previous clients. If previous clients were happy with the experience, they’re sure to tell you — and you’re sure to get a fair idea if they weren’t.

  Is the architect/designer available? Good architects and designers are usually busy, which means they may not be available for a while to work on your particular project. How long should you be kept waiting? If they’re so busy they can’t fit you in for months, they may also have trouble keeping their focus on your project.

  Do you get on? When you’re building the house of your dreams, you want to work with someone who has a similar approach as you to homes and lifestyle, or who can at least empathise with you. You’re likely to be spending quite a lot of time together and going through what can often be quite an ordeal together. So find someone you feel you can talk to and that you feel you share something with.

  Other questions of a more practical, tangible nature include the following:

  Does the architect/designer have the appropriate licence or professional registration?

  Does the architect/designer provide services other than preparing the design and working drawings, such as

  • Site inspections (to ensure characteristics of the block and its environment are fully considered)?

  • Sketches of the elevations (three-dimensional side views of the house as it is to look when the work is completed)?

  • Preparation of tender documents (if the job is to go to tender)?

  • Preparation and lodgement of documents (including plans) for local government approval?

  • Checking for easements and the location of utilities (such as sewerage pipes) that could affect the siting and design of any renovations?

  Does the architect/designer use a standard contract? If so, obtain a copy and read it carefully before signing.

  How much deposit does the architect/designer require before they commence work?

  How is the architect/designer’s fee calculated (for example, is it a percentage of the project’s budget, a flat fee or an hourly fee)?

  What procedures/costs apply if you wish to vary the plans after they’re completed?

  A good architect or building designer gets you to talk about what you and your family need for your home to function effectively. They should also find out what you like aesthetically. Here are some ways you can help the process:

  Think ahead to your family’s future needs and build in some flexibility.

  Don’t be too fixed in your ideas. It may be more useful to talk in terms of what you’re aiming for rather than volunteering your own fully formed ideas.

  Do be upfront about your budget. What you can afford to spend determines what kinds of concepts and schemes your architect or designer can come up with.

  Moving from Concept to Contract

  You’ve made all the necessary checks on skills, experience and work quality and have engaged the services of an architect or building designer. Following your initial interview, you have detailed discussions with her which lead to plans being drawn up, which in time are finalised.

  Drawing up the concept plans

  Your architect or designer comes back to you with concept plans based on your input and their survey of your site. These initial sketches might include a floor plan and drawings that show how the finished building is going to look from various angles (known as elevation drawings).

  During these discussions, you get a sense of whether your architect or designer has listened clearly to your initial brief and responded to it creatively and functionally. You can talk through changes at this point, or if you’re really unhappy with the approach, you can reconsider your choice of architect or designer. To brief more than one architect or designer to prepare concept plans before you’re confident to engage them for the project isn’t unusual.

  Developing the design

  When you’re happy with the concept plans, your architect or designer works up more developed designs that go into further detail about the materials and fittings you want to use, and that can thus be used to get a more accurate idea of budget. Sometimes you can use a quantity surveyor to estimate the costs of the project.

  Finalising the plans

  The final plans are the blueprint for the construction of your house. They’re the plans that are submitted to your local council in order to obtain building approval and are used by the builder and contractors who work on your house. The final plans are also used in the tendering process to get accurate quotes from contractors, subcontractors and quantity surveyors.

  Signing contracts and project managing

  If you’ve hired an architect or designer, you may also have asked him to supervise the construction of your home. Getting an architect or building designer to project-manage adds to your costs, but it can also save you a great deal of stress and even money in the long run.

  Whether you or your architect does the project management, you have to agree to and sign the builder’s contract. The builder’s contract is the agreement between you and the builder that covers in detail the work the builder is to carry out, the building timetable and information about materials and fittings. The contract also sets out what you need to pay at different stages of the construction.

  You can negotiate with the builder what you would like to add or remove from the contract. Some people write in a clause that penalises the builder if they don’t finish the job on schedule. The builder may also specify the mechanism to deal with any variations to the plans; for example, if you decide to add a window after construction starts.

  Given that a contract is a legal document that becomes binding as soon as you sign it, if you have no previous experience of building contracts, you may want to get your solicitor to review it beforehand.

  For more information on choosing a builder and managing the project yourself, refer to Chapter 7.

  Building a Home of Your Own

  If you have some expertise in building yourself, you have contacts in the building industry and have the skills and confidence to organise other tradespeople, building your own home may be a viable proposition. Whether doing it yourself works out cheaper than getting a builder in to do the job for you is another question.

  Some of the things you need to consider are the following:

  Tradespeople are expensive and you can save money by doing much of the work yourself,
especially tasks that don’t need specific skills such as tiling, laying wooden floors, bricklaying, painting and plastering. (Plumbing and electrical work can only be done by a licensed tradesperson.)