Beware if it’s cheap!

You just bought your dream block for a great price... saved thousands of dollars on it. All that money saved can go on a bigger and better house right?... wrong!

There’s no such thing as a cheap block. What you might have saved on the ticket price for the land you will almost certainly have to spend elsewhere getting up to a standard you can build on.

It could be a 1200m² block, you’re thinking of subdividing, but find out after you’ve bought it that the block is too steep, retaining walls would cost around $70,000 and the local council have placed restrictions on it. The restrictions prevent you from even building a regular home and are asking for the external walls to be 32c instead of the regular 25c, eaves to be wider than normal and an undesired verandah which has to be half the width of the of the front of the house. Not to mention your house now has a steep winding driveway and takes 30mins in what feels like driving up Col De Turini Mountain. Your cheap block now not so cheap.

Col De Turini

You could opt to buy a massive block near the coast with huge potential and room even for a horse!

Then find out the local council has an odour problem and are preventing you from building on 70-80% of your block... what a bargain! You have an odd shaped home but a lovely big back yard. Don’t forget to leave some spare pegs by the back door for when you leave the home.

Here’s another really cheap block you could buy. This once big block has been subdivided into 3 smaller blocks saving you the cost of upkeep on a big block. All the work has been done and the block is flat! What could possibly be wrong with it?

Well the retaining certainly gives you an elevated view of the lake, and the neighbours won’t block your view.

So, why so cheap?

See that shadow? That is the shadow of a 2.1m high retaining wall. Yes to the front of your garden.

Views? Yes
Access? No

So please do your homework before buying a block of land.

If the land is cheap find out why. Do your sums.

Cheap isn’t cheap!

Introduction

Hello and welcome.

This is my first post of what I hope will become a useful resource tool, for anyone thinking about building their own home, either through a builder or as an owner builder.

I have been involved in the building industry for several years and love the daily challenges. The biggest reward I get is from passing on a little bit of knowledge to others and seeing it help them achieve their happiness in building their own home.
 
A lot of my knowledge comes from having worked in local council as a Building Surveyor and more recently managing a compliance team for a project builder, as well as running a private building surveying company.
 
I hope to share my thoughts, ideas, frustrations and inspirations.
 
So sit back and enjoy the ride.