Researching cost of building in perth on a narrow block.

I've recently purchased a block of land in perth, looking to build. Just trying to get an idea of what kind of pricing i might expect to get hit with on a block with a 8.1m frontage. I'm not sure if this is super narrow and would therefore incur higher costs? At the moment, i'm thinking of building something 150 - 200sqm internal, on a flat block with services provided, where previous older house was demolished.

I'm looking at places like Plunkett and Blueprint, and they are currently saying 475k for a 2 storey.. is this a realistic price? or just a best case scenario kind of pricing..?

 

Did you not think to look into this before buying a block??

What is the size of the block? Is it on a corner or are there any parapet walls with either neighbour? Is vehicle access from the front or ROW/side? What's the zoning? And, one of the most important questions, what's the blocks orientation like, ie where's north?

To answer your question, it is always more expensive to build a narrow long house than a squarish one of the exact same size, because the narrow one will have a larger perimeter. As a general rule, the perimeters of a build are a lot more expensive than the blank spaces inside. Also, depending on how close you wish to build to neighbours or sewer lines and potential overlooking issues or needing to overcome orientation issues, you can often end up with either extra structural costs (piling to allow you to.build closer to sewer line), construction costs on features to bring in more light etc or compliance costs in the form of screens to prevent overlooking etc.

You'll need to tighten your requirements a bit in order to get any even ballpark figure that's worth anything because 150-200sqm 2 storey is faaaaar too.open ended for any sales rep to able to provide you info that has a chance of being remotely accurate. Eg, how many bedrooms and bath, car parking in double.lock up garage or carport, secondary living area/tv room/study required? General spec level, eg do you want both floors to have 2700mm ceiling heights or just downstairs?

What area is it in? Will you be overcapitalising or undercapitalising at those levels?

Try looking around the area to see similar homes that are either under construction or newish and find out who built them etc and approach those companies to get ballpark etc, I'd recommend that as a first step in the right direction imo

 

Lastly, you can certainly achieve very livable homes on narrow blocks but mass market builders are unlikely to be rhe best way forward imo, due to the fact that you are going to need more thought put into it than the average blueprint build for example.

As an example, these 2 homes were a project i worked on going back to around 2008 I believe, with each one having 6m frontage and I think 244sqm blocks with ROW parking. As you can see a lot of home was packed in and it was bright and belied its size, but involved going to a building designer who specialised in such lots.

14 years ago, when generally a lot less emphasis was put into designs, there were a lot fewer options in terms of designers who would suit the brief but you now are blessed with a fair few options so make sure you choose wisely

38 Chapman Street, Perth, WA 6000 https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-house-wa-perth-108454986

 

There's plenty of areas now where 8m is standard so don't fret.

But it is generally not a great time to build still. Too many shortages.

Before Covid / incentives, you could get a double storey built with a 2 at the front. Now you are lucky not to see a 5. At least waits seem to have improved.

Nobody has a crystal ball, and yes spec will drive price (duh!) but if you can wait I would do that.

 

You should have done your due diligence.

Double stories are crazy expensive as very few builders want build them for various reasons.

Why did you just get like 12.5 by 30 block?

 

Im guessing infill suburb.

There are a few project builders (terrace housing) from memory doing with even 6m frontage. Single garage obviously and from memory was only 130-140m2 but you could possibly extend from these. Base price was only low - mid 200s

Im looking at similar as ive got a few lots coming that are 9m wide but am looking at 7.5m wide designs and most builders have something in that range

 

Thanks for the reply! Its a 8.1 x 39m R40 block in the western suburbs, and we felt that for the pricing it was a fairly reasonable price. Given the size, potentially even just doing a single story perhaps. At this stage, we were looking at a 3 by 2. We did actually see a house on the same street with the same specs, so we know its possible, but still trying to decide what we want given we felt something like 150sqm internal would be enough for a young couple.

 

yah i did actually stumble upon terrace, but the BGC branding was a bit scary for us. Potentially looking at a single garage since with proximity to the city we might only need one car. (for now) but mid 200s isnt too bad at all

 

I wouldnt budget that (just a starting price)
If single garage and building to boundaries is possible on both sides (well even if its a few 100mm off) maybe single storey is better off. 39m depth is a lot (ive only got 23.1)

 

Yeah I visited a couple of display houses and im starting to think a 3x2 with about 150 - 180sqm of space would be plenty. Given the area, we feel it might be better to just do a one storey with a court yard and maybe outdoor alfresco (not huge on gardens much). would do pretty nice for inner city living.

 

if mid 2s is the budget you might get away with if you can stick with a standard design

 

Just cautioning, don't undercapitalise given the location...

And definitely some average newsflow around Terrace

Perth family forced abroad to save costs amid trade shortage

 

Perthnow and someone who lists their job as Influencer probably aren't the most reliable sources.

 

Residential Attitudes have a couple of front loaded 9m wide designs that might give you some inspiration for something similar on your block. With 8.1m it's all about access to natural sunlight so a central or front courtyard could be winners for providing that.

 

Thanks haven't seen that design so far, but yep really loving the idea of a central courtyard to bring in northern lighting, and then leave the bedrooms out the east and western parts of the property.