Questions on section purchase

[asis]

I've 2 considerations on purchasing of property.

1.
If I buy a TC2 or TC3 property, what is the average cost of demolishing the house?
If TC3 property, what is the average cost more to do the foundation?
If I do not demolished the house and carry on living in 'as is' condition (report indicate safe to live in), possible to buy insurance for the house?

2.
If I buy a piece of land, what is the cost of applying for electricity and water supply to the land?
Normally, how long does it takes to complete a off the shelf house?

Thanks.

[Hagabel]

I've 2 considerations on purchasing of property.

1.
If I buy a TC2 or TC3 property, what is the average cost of demolishing the house?
If TC3 property, what is the average cost more to do the foundation?
If I do not demolished the house and carry on living in 'as is' condition (report indicate safe to live in), possible to buy insurance for the house?

2.
If I buy a piece of land, what is the cost of applying for electricity and water supply to the land?
Normally, how long does it takes to complete a off the shelf house?

Thanks.

No idea what your terminology TC1 etc means, sorry. Cost of services depends on how far line has to be run for electricity and water depends upon if you are on city water, or have a bore. We have neither so we have roof to tank water. Our electric was over $1000K to be run but we also have a long drive. If you mean a new house by off the shelf house, ours took 7 months from breaking ground to move in condition. Hope that helps. Remember cost for septic, telephone and /or rural wireless. Our raised drain field and septic(due to high water table) was about 30K.

[JandM]

Definitions of TC1 etc.. http://cera.govt.nz/residential-gree...ories/overview

[Sun777]

Remember cost for septic, telephone and /or rural wireless.

Recently I switched on to radio and heard a person sharing about the Ultra Fiber Broadband (UFB) in Pukekohe, it seems in order to get UFB each household in that vicinity was required to pay around $12,000 to Chorus. I guess the cost may be much less if it were to be closer to existing infrastructure.

[batgirl1001]

If you are buying a section without the connections on site, you will be forking out quite a bit of money to have it installed and taking a longer time to build a house. Have a read, https://www.consumer.org.nz/topics/building-a-new-home. Costs differ from region to region but generally look to spend in the $XXK onwards.

[Super_BQ]

Hi ASIS - I can answer your question and with detail.

1. If I buy a TC2 or TC3 property, what is the average cost of demolishing the house?
If TC3 property, what is the average cost more to do the foundation?
If I do not demolished the house and carry on living in 'as is' condition (report indicate safe to live in), possible to buy insurance for the house?

Demolition costs will vary but typically a single story old 140m2 size house would go between $40K - $50K and done by a qualified demolition team. If there's asbestos, then the price goes up more (as much as $10K to the cost). If the house on th e hillside - again price a lot more.

Cost to do foundation on TC2 & TC3 land is the same. The #1 chosen foundation of choice is Firth's "Rib Raft" slab foundation which is good on TC2 & TC3 land for 2 story high builds. It's a set standard so this foundation build is the same (ie if you're building single story or two story, it matters no differences as the foundation meets requires for both TC2 & TC3.

Now while TC1 land states you COULD use conventional slab foundation, the only real way knowing the condition of the land is doing a "site specific" compaction soil test (around $3K to do - and a requirement for building consent). You can NOT assume a particular house / land in TC1 is solid ground. I've spoken to group builders that had soil tests done on TC1 land that ended up being TC2 and have heard of TC2 land with test results coming back at TC1 standard. I've also heard of group builder Stonewood Homes had built a house in Christchurch for a client that the city refused to give code of compliance because the builder's skipped the site specific soil compaction test.

Now the cost to build raft foundation vs conventional is considerable. For 200sqm size house, you're looking at an extra $80K over conventional. It could be up to $100K total (or 1/3rd the value of the total house build) when you go raft foundation.

As for living in the house and obtaining insurance (a requirement for getting a mortgage), this should not be a problem for as long as the house has an existing insurance policy going. If the home seller do not have insurance, then you may have a problem as insurance companies are not taking new policies of questionable / risky properties. Now it doesn't mean the house can't be insured, it just means for this time period, insurers don't want to take the risk. Eventually all insurance companies will insure - ie. in 10 - 20 years time.

If I buy a piece of land, what is the cost of applying for electricity and water supply to the land?
Normally, how long does it takes to complete a off the shelf house?

Assuming in Christchurch, with an empty lot in a residential area. Electricity retailers will not connect on an empty lot. The requirement is a fully serviced house with all safety switchboard panels, smart meters, etc. During construction, Orion (line owners that services the Canterbury region - but not a retailer) provide a builder's power outlet on site that is unmetered - this won't be available to you unless you're building the house. After completion of the house and final electrical inspection, the fee to connect to the power retailer is around $600 which includes a smart meter, main breaker, and ripple control.

Water connection, assuming same empty lot in fully serviced residential area is around $600 to CCC. It's a simple paper application form where you denote where the pipe connection should be (which corner or side of the lot). Now if your empty lot is far far away from the city water connection, then expect big $$ to connect. Your cost from the street tap to the house is your cost to put the pipes in. Currently water in Chch is not charged by per Kilo-litre but at a flat rate. But the city is future proof ready for water metering as all newer sub-division areas have water metres. No metres on the sewer line yet per dwelling.

[Super_BQ]

Normally, how long does it takes to complete a off the shelf house?

Last I checked (earlier in the year), from 1st digging to handing keys over is 8 - 12 months in Christchurch. The earthquake recovery created huge demand with few tradesmen meant really long build times. Workmanship quality became more sloppy with more inspection failures which holds up the build for considerable time. Prior to earthquakes, house builds could be as short as 5 months move in. The biggest hold ups are not passing inspection and even waiting times for 'code of compliance' are normally up to 2 months (from time of final walk around inspection).

[asis]

Thanks, Super BQ/Batgirl.
A lot of factors need to take into consideration.

[sandgrubber]

Thanks Super BQ. $4.5k for geotech report, wow that is expensive! And at this time we have no idea when we'd get to even getting a building plan.

I'd say it's cheap! I paid $US11k for a seismic survey and an additional $US5k for a soils survey when trying to build a small house in California. Worse still, my building site failed the seismic test!

[Super_BQ]

I'd say it's cheap! I paid $US11k for a seismic survey and an additional $US5k for a soils survey when trying to build a small house in California. Worse still, my building site failed the seismic test!

Yes but Home Depot in California will sell 2x4 timber framing at 1/3rd the price of NZ near equivalent 45mm x 90mm. In fact, pretty much ALL building materials in N. America are roughly 1/2 to 3/4 CHEAPER than in NZ after factoring exchange rates. Despite a high cost in seismic test reporting, you would still get a house that could be 2 times the house size of one built in NZ.