Are you planning on building or renovating in Mosman?
For most Mosman homeowners, embarking on a large-scale building or renovation project requires careful consideration to ensure you minimise your risks, get what you want, and don’t blow your budget.
One of the major risks we’ll be discussing today is overbudgeting on your home build or renovation leading to financial and time stress of having to modify your Development Application plans with Mosman council.
5 common mistakes to avoid
1. Being unrealistic about your budget from the start
Nobody likes to talk about money, but it is a conversation that you must have even on your ‘first date’ when discussing your Mosman project with prospective design professionals and builders. Despite what clients may think, we need to know your budget to ascertain whether we can meet your expectations. People who don’t like to talk about money are often the ones disappointed, so knowing your budget upfront is essential to avoiding disappointment later”.
Mosman Councils’ 2018 Development Application Form quotes estimates for building costs within Mosman area as $5200m2 for residential alterations and $2600m2 for swimming pool and landscaping areas. These figures are considered by Mosman Council to be minimum, conservative estimates for calculation of Development Application fees only, but are a good starting guide.
2. Cheap promises from design professionals
Some design professionals fees are calculated on a percentage of your projects final building cost, rather than a fixed cost, therefore making provision to increase their fee proportionally with your budget blowout. Therefore, what may seem like a cheap fee initially may rise exponentially, so be sure to ask the question how design and construction fees will be calculated if your budget suddenly increases beyond your control.
Instead of basing your hiring decision on fees, seek out the expertise of design professionals and builders who have local experience with Mosman Council Development Applications and have delivered projects with a similar budget expectation and scope to your own.
Local experience counts and your renovation project should receive the careful consideration it deserves to ensure optimal investment, rather than wasting money on cheap promises that never eventuate”.
3. Not verifying your budget before lodging your DA with Mosman council
A significant number of budget blowouts occur even before construction has commenced, as can be evidenced by the volume of phone calls she receives from disappointed Mosman homeowners.
Sadly many have invested significant time and money to obtain building approval, only to have to go through the whole exercise again to modify their development consent into something more feasible and within budget.
Whilst it is difficult to verify your budget with a builder using a set of preliminary plans, (since most builders are not interested in quoting without a full set of Tender Documents), you can engage the services of a quantity surveyor or building cost estimator.
These professionals are heavily underutilized as most homeowners pursue free quote options rather than paying for a Cost Summary Report, however going for the ‘free’ option will cost more money in the long run, particularly when you consider the cost of modifying your development.
Spending $1,500-$2,000 for an early assessment makes more sense than $40,000 on a Development Application that is not feasible.
4. Poor documentation & tendering plans
Development Application plans are intended purely for that purpose, not to be used also as construction drawings, however many Mosman homeowners do this in order to save money on further design fees.
Trying to save money at this stage of your project is another false economy, you cannot compare building quotes accurately on DA drawings and insufficient information equates to costly and timely delays on site as well as budget blowing out mid-construction”.
Therefore it is critical that at this stage of the process, your design is clearly defined. You have to remember that this is the design that the builder will actually use in the construction phase and DA drawings just simply won’t do it.
5. No contingency planning
Most budget blow-outs during construction occur either due to insufficient documentation prior to construction, or when clients decide to increase inclusions or add back in previously excluded items.
Therefore, a contingency sum is especially important on alterations and additions when working with existing old structures around Mosman, as quite often you realise how tired your existing home looks when compared to your new addition and warrants an upgrade on items you initially thought you could live with.
Need help finding recommended local businesses?
If you want to find reliable builders, tradies, and professional services to help you when buying, selling, building or renovating, you can also try one from our Tradebusters Connect local Free Top 3 Local Choice directory.
The details of recommended Top 3 Local Choice businesses can be found here and you can contact them directly.
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