Wondering if perhaps members who are SA based can help me with some recommendations of builders in Adelaide who are reputable? Want to build a couple of townhouses there (have land) but I'm from VIC so don't know which builders there are the right size and have a good reputation and some good examples of their work. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!
What area is it in? The target audience will determine what spec is required, then find a builder to suit. Or if you read Bradys recent development thread, he used a building broker to get builders to bid on it.
Depending on the target area and demographic, a number of volume builders down here have duplex and townhouse/row house options now, which can make building vs a bespoke builder much cheaper. Just do internal finishes after handover
Thanks DT. It's in Port Adelaide. I found Brady's thread, but how do I find a "building broker"? DaveM, thank you. Do you know which volume builders these are that do townhouses? Other than me just googling "Adelaide builders" and making a heap of phone calls i'm not sure where to start to find someone.
There are a number of townhouse display homes at Lightsview. For a decent quality build, Rossdale have a number of options to get some design ideas from Terraces | Rossdale Homes | Rossdale Homes - Adelaide, South Australia | Award Winning Builder | Custom Design Houses / Investment Property / House & Land
I didn't end up proceeding with the building broker - I was able to achieve better results on my own. Rossdale were in the upper end of my costings. I used Metro Development - happy to pass on details if you need. Sales guy dealt with was great, he's a developer himself - backend staff wasn't that good. Project Manager I orginally had was terrible during - literally zero communication with me. During the build he left and new project manager came on board, he was excellent. Have collegues who have used Eastern Building Group - they were also pretty reasonable on price. Another is dealing with them now. What stage are you @Posnow and what are you looking for the builder to assist with. Best result I see are if you have everything done sorted and you're literally just getting builders to quote on apples v apples - if you haven't selected everything, you're expecting the builder to assist with different things like drawings, timber/steele calculation, engineering etc then no point trying to tender might as well just pick one builder.
Thanks, good info. Out of interest, what are the ballpark build costs per/m2 in Adelaide. Is it around $2,000/m2 for single story - medium-finish? I'm trying to work out costs for a 1 to 3 row. I was in Adelaide several months ago, looking at a 1 to 2, but was looking at off the plan designs - hard to compare. cheers
I'd say a fair bit cheaper than that 1250 - 1500 maybe, depending on a few things. Mine was about 1100 but I diy'd some stuff at the end.
I've used Weeks and Macklin a few times (large project home builder) my most recent contract Sep 2016 came in at $217,000 (all I need to after hand over is install letterbox/clothesline/ curtains/garden beds and lawn) for single story 181m sq total build, perfectly flat block, typical soil for Adelaide (600mm deep footings) and medium level specs; stone benchtop in kitchen, 2.7m ceiling height, robes, auto rollerdoor, aircon, concrete footpaths/driveway, plain brick face with portico/alfresco, and used myown design rather than a 'off the shelf one' to fit an odd shaped block. For some reason they get you arrange your own soil removal from the trenches after footings are dug, so add $3k to the budget, beats me why they don't just quote it and add it to the contract as standard procedure? Lucky I got a friend with a loader and tipper So budget something around $1250 per m square overall and you'll get a nice house out of it.
thanks@Erica. Very helpful, plus around what the finish costs were. Did you use a Weeks and Macklin design? If so, do ppl only need an architect if they're using a smaller builder who builds to spec - say on funny/non-standard blocks?
No architect needed, I just sketched for them my ideas with rough dimensions, and their sales consultant converted it into useable drawings.
Best bet is to get some quotations based on what you actually need - I've generally found when financing clients build/developments that generally Statesman + Fairmont come in towards the most afforable $/sqm, Weeks Macklin mid range, Disctinctive upper end for comparative investment quality single storey stock. I like working with Statesman, find their pricing, product and end values in general stack up nicely.
Hi @John Graham , thanks for the recommendation. Would you mind elaborate more on the builder? Why do you think they are good? Many thanks!
New to the forum first two posts have been recommending the same builder :| 1st post makes sense. Looking at their website they look bit more like 'regional/country' The building broker I didn't proceed with was https://www.adelaidebuildassist.com.au/ They were good, just that I wanted to be more involved and at the time had the time to be hands on.
