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Thread: Build or Buy?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2009
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    Rotorua, Bay of Plenty
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    591

    Default Build or Buy?

    Build or buy. What's is your experience?
    Can't decide what we should do for the best! Can see the good points of building and buying.
    Any experiences you would like to share?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Chch, NZ
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    2,226

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    Just build a simple, convention, spec style house and you shouldn't have any problems. There is an added feel in living in a "new" house. Less maintenance over the initial years and lower energy consumption. However, none of these would be appealing if the location isn't right. Actually, there is no substitute to 'location' - as they say it 3 times.

    If you search in the "Home Building" thread, you will come across others (like myself) that have gone through the building process. If you choose to build, just keep in mind that there is no such thing as a perfect home (there's always budget, time, & ability constraints by all parties). Sit down with a qualified drafter to give you ideas on how to go about building the house. Drafters often comment on home owners not knowing what is 'ideal' in the area of room arrangements for their house. Another common issue is the lack of knowledge in city zoning laws. I remember visiting a building company overhearing in the visiting room where a client wanted a larger size room in their house plan but the drafter had to explain what "recession plane" means, the roof line would pass into the recession limit.

    Actually one important advice I would say is to brush up on the local city building codes. Recession plane is an important issue and you should know that before you even consider buying the empty section in say a new sub-division. Visualize what neighbouring houses will look like and how much sun can be achieved for each section. Then there's maximum land coverage bylaws, maximum driveway widths, height restrictions, etc.

    The only advantage of buying an existing house is that you don't have to wait. If you're buying a newly built spec house, even better because everything is new.

    Don't get caught up on the term "high spec" as it's not homogenous with high volume builders. For a high spec kitchen, adding a granite top doesn't warrant this term. I would question how much radon (radioactivity) given off by the use of granite. But then you could question how much formaldehyde is in MDF/custom board used in all the kitchen joinery and bench tops.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Ōtepoti, Aotearoa
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    For me personally it has been of advantage knowing (seeing) what I get when I did buy. This is relating to the construction itself and also to the general situation.
    From my professional experience you just never know the exact result when you are building as there are always changes.
    Also when you are buying you get a building that already has its atmosphere (as it is with the neighbourhood), you know the lay of the land.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
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    Ōtepoti, Aotearoa
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    Default

    Minor edit necessary re
    Quote Originally Posted by Super_BQ View Post
    ... the local city building codes.
    We do have in NZ one Building Code nationwide. Together with the Building Act, a variety of New Zealand Standards and with local By-Laws and District/City Plans it is part of the building regulations here.
    E.g. the topic of recession lines is normally addressed in a local District/City Plan.

  5. #5
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    Jan 2007
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    Chch, NZ
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    We do have in NZ one Building Code nationwide.
    Good to clarify - I always seem to lump the 2 together. For myself I don't know which is more annoying, the nationwide building code or the local city bylaws. But regardless of what 'nationwide code' you would be thinking, it's the local city council dept. that decides if the building meets code or not. While your house plan may look good on paper having all the ticks of a well designed house, the city engineers always have some issue they can find which is often, nothing to do with the nationwide code. I was surprised to find out "oh your drive way access is too wide", or "minimum height between the floor and the stairs".

  6. #6
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    Jun 2010
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    Quote Originally Posted by Super_BQ View Post
    Good to clarify - I always seem to lump the 2 together. For myself I don't know which is more annoying, the nationwide building code or the local city bylaws. But regardless of what 'nationwide code' you would be thinking, it's the local city council dept. that decides if the building meets code or not.
    It's kind of similar to traffic. The national Road Code allows for 100 on open roads whereas the local authorities can reduce the limit. (Duncan please correct me when I'm too wrong.)

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Wellington
    Posts
    177

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    Hi,
    just to share my experience. If you want to buy a house you need to give 5% deposit to a bank to get a mortgage, if you want to built a house it can come up to 25% deposit.
    Good luck!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Bristol, UK -> Nelson!
    Posts
    481

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    We're building! it's oodles of fun and we are getting the house we want to live in rather than looking at other houses and thinking "yes, but would have to change this/renovate that/redo the bathroom".

    As far as deposits and mortgages go, ASB will normally allow a build with an 80% mortgage but they will go higher depending on individual circumstances.

    In a similar thread I cautioned about overcapitalising (i.e. spending more building the house than it would be worth on the open market at the end) but we've just had our project valued plus an extensive build cost breakdown and so far it's $60,000 less to build than it's anticipated market value

    Will be updating my house building thread over the next 2 weeks as hopefully the contract will be signed and the build starting next Monday

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Chch, NZ
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    We're building! it's oodles of fun and we are getting the house we want to live...
    Cool bananas really looking forward to your build.

    Overcapitalising isn't to so easy as you can cut things out. Like leave the landscaping out. When building new, I tend to focus on things that you can't change or "can't do it after" when the house is built - like insulation, type of timber framing (engineered timber), electrical. Electrical & lighting can cost mega yet, they still install heaps of recessed halogen ceiling lights that gob lots of power.

    Just fitted a 14watt T5 slim line fluorescent light in the hot water cylinder closet. Why I didn't do it before during the build? Well the T5 lights were too expensive at the time and pressure was on getting the electrical compliance (where cheap $5 batten light holder did the trick).

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Location
    Cambridge NZ
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    342

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    Quote Originally Posted by Super_BQ View Post
    ........Actually one important advice I would say is to brush up on the local city building codes. Recession plane is an important issue and you should know that before you even consider buying the empty section in say a new sub-division. Visualize what neighbouring houses will look like and how much sun can be achieved for each section. Then there's maximum land coverage bylaws, maximum driveway widths, height restrictions, etc.........
    Are local building codes/guidelines readily available on Local Authorities/ Councils websites or is a visit to their offices required?

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