If you want to design and build a home to your budget easily –

These essentials will tell you WHAT will blow your budget…

  1. Pavilion style where there are numerous buildings. This is because there are more external walls and roof area
  2. Large verandahs or decks as the materials are costly
  3. Internal wall heights are greater than 2460mm (working at heights is dangerous and time consuming which then affects the cost to build)
  4. A roof that cannot use trusses eg. Celestial windows or raked/exposed rafters
  5. The use of box gutters or rooves which can leak into a house (as they are notorious for leaking, they cost more to build to get right)
  6. Straight-straight finish to the straw bale rendered walls (the straighter the walls, the more work)
  7. No skirtings, architraves or trims… why? Because getting materials to meet up with one another to precision costs money. Where different materials meet each other creates hairline cracks, if you remove the trims, you’ve got to do things differently
  8. A large home eg. Lots of square metre age. The bigger the house, the more it costs
  9. Upstairs, lofts, two storeys as scaffolding is necessary and working at heights is time consuming
  10. Being in a city or suburbs – rather than rural zoning – regulations are a lot less stringent in rural areas
  11. Remote areas (no trades or materials are nearby and transport for materials costs more). Paradise and being in the wild can come at a cost…
  12. Strict local or other government rules eg. Need for Wildlife Report, Geotech Report etc complying to their regulations often increases costs
  13. Bushfire zone especially flame zones (BAL29 and above) more costs to comply
  14. Lots of windows as glazing is 3 times the cost of an ordinary strawbale wall
  15. Options for windows eg. low e glass, double glazing; bifold/concertina doors; composite windows are also expensive options
  16. Additional services eg. Hydronic under slab heating, CBUS electrics, air conditioning, voltaic solar panels, wet back heaters, septic tanks and so forth
  17. Water tanks under a house or buried (costs to excavate). Concrete tanks are costly
  18. When a house isn’t designed around the straw bales this increases building costs as the materials have to be made for the design rather than vice versa
  19. Access to site can also be costly. You may have to provide gravel, road base or other solution to get access to site
  20. Not having services to the house site (the cost to run electricity or other services to the house can sometimes be prohibitively expensive)
  21. The number of wet areas (eg. Bathrooms as they are not cheap to build)
  22. Finishings you choose such as tap ware, kitchen, joinery, wood fire, lighting etc

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* This is just a guide only, seek professional building advice as we do not know your personal circumstances.