NewBuild.co.nz?

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Shindig

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#116498 1-May-2013 08:32

I have been looking at buying a house for a while now, but get very deflated with the price of houses.

We had the crazy idea of buying a section and doing a new build. I did some search online and came across this website.

www.newbuild.co.nz , who seem to finance & project manager the whole er..project.

Now it almost sounds to good to be true, or I am being over cautious and its these kind of companies that are making a new build more possible.

Has anyone dealt, or is going through a new build project with newbuild.co.nz?

Anyone have past experience of undertaking, buying a section, designing a house and having it built?

cheers

[Moderator edit (MF): moved to correct forum]

The little things make the biggest difference.

Oriphix

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#809354 1-May-2013 08:49

Wow that actually does sound to good to be true. Would be interested in seeing if anyone has used them before and how does it compare in price wise as appose to a used house. (If its to cheap then you start to wonder what type of materials etc they used)

xpd

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#809355 1-May-2013 08:54

These guys are right next door to my work apparently, dont remember seeing any signage, but then, I havent looked either :)

XPD / Gavin

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surfisup1000

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#809358 1-May-2013 09:03

Shindig: I have been looking at buying a house for a while now, but get very deflated with the price of houses.

We had the crazy idea of buying a section and doing a new build. I did some search online and came across this website.

www.newbuild.co.nz , who seem to finance & project manager the whole er..project.

Now it almost sounds to good to be true, or I am being over cautious and its these kind of companies that are making a new build more possible.

Has anyone dealt, or is going through a new build project with newbuild.co.nz?

Anyone have past experience of undertaking, buying a section, designing a house and having it built?

cheers

[Moderator edit (MF): moved to correct forum]

I built but not via newbuild.

Purchased section, got architect to design , costed the project, hired a builder, and away you go.

And, allow for a 30% budget blowout :)

If cost accuracy is a huge concern, I recommend a fixed price contract. Otherwise, a cost+10% is more flexible and you don't waste time mucking around with contract variations.

In hindsight, I wouldn't build. It took more of my time than expected and with the 30% budget blowout I could have bought a house I liked anyway.

And, regarding house prices. NZ has some of the most expensive prices in the world so I think there is a very good chance of a large downward correction when economic shock hits (it will, but when is the question).

reven

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#809389 1-May-2013 10:03

ive recently built a house via Generation Homes (been living in new house for 1 month now). I believe they work with newbuild and does make the process easier. I went through a bank and required 20% deposit (normally 5% is enough, but new builds are a PITA).

took longer than expected, ages to get through council, I signed the original contract in August and moved in end of March (28th).

was nice having them take care of everything, but they also dropped the ball on a lot, were a PITA to deal with at times (I installed network cables throughout my entire house, did in wall/ceiling speakers, got my sparky to do a couple of extra things).

its nice having a brand new house no one has lived in before, but theres stuff like placement on light switches, direction doors open etc they kinda stuffed up and should have had more knowledge on (since theyve built many houses they should know where to best place certain things and all the little stuff you dont really think of but need to live with). eg i have a double door from the kitchen opening to the side where i have rubbish/recycling bins, this door opens on the right so when the door opens it blocks the bins, if the left door was the door that opened it would be fine.

just so much little things you need to think about...

nate

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#809393 1-May-2013 10:10

reven: just so much little things you need to think about...

When my folks built their place some years back, this is what really surprised them - the sheer volume of decisions you need to make.

They also had issues with the architect putting windows and other things in the wrong places, because the builders would call Dad telling him they had the pre-nailed trusses up, and stuff was overlapping.

Also if your female, don't expect tradies to talk to you. My mum had terrible trouble getting anything done, tradespeople are such an old boys club.

Stan

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#809394 1-May-2013 10:14

Might be able to help here
I am currently building my first house though them and it is nearing completion. I went in with 5% deposit and got what I was after. They deal with sovereign for the mortgage. They handled the build very well so far. they do inspections to make sure the work has been completed and handle that side of things. You do have a limited amount of building company's they can deal with however. Where abouts are you?

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#809410 1-May-2013 10:48

As far as price goes I was looking at buying in an old house in Hamilton however I could not justify the price as it would be in a bad area 243k I got a house and land with a driveway in a new subdivision in ngaruawahia. Might have a bad stigma attached to the town but after consulting with my police friend and a few people I knew living in the town my opinion changed.
After going through the whole build process I would definitely do it again i played with designs for hours on my pc with various design software was good fun i didn't blow out my budget i am doing the landscaping and fencing myself. Just make sure the price is completely fixed.

Shindig

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#809412 1-May-2013 10:55

I am currently based in Akl and looking to build out west.

Thanks for the replies, esp Stan. That has given me some extra confidence.
We have been talking numbers this morning with a guy at new build. It does seem achievable.

I do like newbuild approach and how they oversee everything, appreciate there is a cost with that but it inst an massive amount (around $1500)

The little things make the biggest difference.

gzt

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#811119 4-May-2013 10:24

reven: ive recently built a house via Generation Homes [...] its nice having a brand new house no one has lived in before, but theres stuff like placement on light switches, direction doors open etc they kinda stuffed up and should have had more knowledge on (since theyve built many houses they should know where to best place certain things and all the little stuff you dont really think of but need to live with). eg i have a double door from the kitchen opening to the side where i have rubbish/recycling bins, this door opens on the right so when the door opens it blocks the bins, if the left door was the door that opened it would be fine.

There is a lot of room for a Steve Jobs of residential architecture emerge. Where is he/she?

Stan

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#845827 26-Jun-2013 23:36

Hello

Just thought I would post an update on how the finalisation and everything went with newbuild

So my situation was this:

I am a first home buyer working in lower end management in retail and was 25 years old I had saved up a bit of a deposit through Kiwisaver and savings. Also I had cleared 100% of my debt before I went in to apply

Always wanted to build a new house as I work in the industry and have seen and talked to 100s of new home buyers as well as specing and supplying a decent amount of our local residential building industry with all sorts of installed heating/water heating/ventilation.

Found a cheap plot of land outside my local city of Hamilton that was with in what I had budgeted for and started talking to banks none of them were terribly interested to help a mid low wage earner build a first house rather than buy one ready done ( I had got approval for this already). I got a tad frustrated with this however after talking to a local building firm who recommended new build I went to check them out it took a few days to get approval but to my surprise it went through without any issues.

At this time I had decided on my house plan after playing with around 100s of them on my PC and found my building company who I wanted to get it built through. However they were not on new builds official list of builders who they normally dealt with. This soon got worked out however so long as I got a higher end master builders guarantee costing around $500 extra.

From there new build took my plans got them valued once all the legals were sorted work started and from then there was really not much to say it was all ridiculously easy. The builders were happy because they got paid much faster than with a normal build loan. I just watched the build and waited for what seemed like an eternity for it to be finished

Once it was finished it took a few days to get all the paperwork sorted but once newbuild had everything they finalised the loan. I got a good chunk of money back after I everything was finished because of the reserves they had set up for interest and contingencies that I had never used.
The next week the broker who has set up the loan popped over to see that house and chat about locking in various interest rates.

I went through New build in the waikato but dealt with the head office a fair bit too they were always fast at answering my emails and fantastic to work with. The only slight niggle was they tried to push insurance on me but once I said no it was not an issue.

I used Branderson Homes to build my house they have also been excellent.

House and land cost me 245kish

Attached photos

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4r88r8z0nriiv67/sbbtcq6Xns

mattwnz

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#845830 27-Jun-2013 00:07

Not a bad price, and thanks for sharing. Just a few query, who did the design? Looking at your plans, nearly a 1/3 of the floor area is the garage, and some of the rooms especially bedrooms are tiny, and no master bedroom with ensuite. Just thinking as someone looking to buy a family home, and what I would look for. Personally I would have turned the space for a garage into other rooms, or made the other rooms larger. Then had the garage separately, maybe of cheaper construction, as it is just a garage.

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#845835 27-Jun-2013 00:42

Great thanks for the update Stan. Well done for your efforts and congratulations on your new home. May it bring you and your family many years of safe and happy living.

Shindig

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#845846 27-Jun-2013 07:27

Thank you very much for the update.
What an exciting time!

I am still hunting for land!

The little things make the biggest difference.

Stan

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#846416 27-Jun-2013 20:29

mattwnz: Not a bad price, and thanks for sharing. Just a few query, who did the design? Looking at your plans, nearly a 1/3 of the floor area is the garage, and some of the rooms especially bedrooms are tiny, and no master bedroom with ensuite. Just thinking as someone looking to buy a family home, and what I would look for. Personally I would have turned the space for a garage into other rooms, or made the other rooms larger. Then had the garage separately, maybe of cheaper construction, as it is just a garage.

I basically designed it off a more traditional kiwi house rather than a modern one.

Garages are cheap to add on to a house its less than half of the price per m2 particularly as mine is unlined and unpainted.