Once upon a time there was a big lush garden here. And vines all over the house. I've had the garden cut back [perhaps a little severely] and my favourite plants moved out of the way of the impending builders.
That now seems to have been a complete waste of time.
We've had the first quote in on the work and it has blown our socks off. We've renovated before and I don't believe we are going into this process with rose-colored glasses. Last time our builder was de-registered half way through the build so we understand the downside of choosing the cheapest builder.
This quote was WAY above even our WORST SCENARIO quote which included a 25% contingency. It was - sit down - 47% dearer than we expected and 100% dearer than estimated by our architect.
Three quotes are still to come so, hopefully, they will be more reasonable but there's a little niggling doubt in my mind which means that we may have to rethink this entire project.
Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.
15 comments:
oh darling! This sort of thing takes away from all the happy dreams associated with building a better space for your family!
O dear, I don't think I'll even bother getting quotes, it's all too hard and too horrific. Poor you.
Breathing is a good start.
I've so been there (2006 in WA, anyone?)
But don't give up - your vision for that place is worth it...let's hope the next quote is more reasonable.
Yuck!
Here's hoping the next quote is more in line with what you (and your architect) were thinking.
I'd like to say we could just forget the whole thing but every appliance is on its last legs and two of the toilets don't work very well.
It always amazes me when quotes blow out like that. I wonder if the architect underestimated or the builder's overestimating ... or both! Bugger. Keep shopping around.
You can thank the BER. Builders have been getting such lush margins on school projects, it's carrying over to everything else.
Ouch! We have started our upstairs reno... doing bits as we've saved up the funds... which means it will probably take us 1.5-2 years to finish. And the price estimates just keep creeping up.
Wishing you more reasonable quotes!
ooh-er! That hurts. BIG time.
We are waiting on a quote for a garage conversion and our 'builder' is taking his sweet time....do I REALLY want to know the answer?
Blame Rudd! Not just because I can't stand him but it is his fault. Builders are having a very good financial crisis. The schools building programme has meant that they have as much work as they can handle and no oversight on the margins they charge. We had one of the biggest builders in WA that we had used for years on big projects tell us they would not take on private clients anymore as for the time being they only want government work. That said if you can find a builder who is not busy you will get a much lower quote. A builder's usual way of saying they are too busy is to submit a double cost quote and if you accept they will cancel someone else.
I've just had the same experience with the quote for my chook run and veggie fence.
(I know it's not in the same league but the feelings of dismay and disappointment are similar.)
Oh M! How stressful. How can the architect be so far off current market prices?
Our house may be falling down around us, but the thought of renovating scares the bejesus out of me.
I agree with Stacey, how could the architect get it so wrong?
Take heart, if this is the first quote, it could be that the builder just doesn't want the job. When they don't want it, they over quote to either get you to bugger off, or they figure if you accept the quote, they will make loads of money out of you. Wait till the others come in.
I've just had quotes for painting the complete interior and the eaves outside the house. Quotes ranged from $5000 - $13000! Go figure.
M, Aunty Evil is right you can take heart from the fatc it was the first quote. Fast quotes are never good. Either they are super high (because rather than calculating the cost of every single item in order to get as competitve a quote as possible they just estimate overall the maximum cost and work up)or it is low but they have no intention of sticking to it. Builders in noormal times work on very tight margins and time costs them money - so unless they estimate very well they will lose money. Consequently if they don't put the time in to estimating properly they simply round up from what feels likes the maximum cost. This and the issue of what other work they have on is the reason why big variations in quotes are common. That said no archictect I know has ever overestimated the cost - partly because the standard is that the archtect charges a percentage of building cost (are you doing this). Always fix the architect's fee to the budgeted cost - it is not too late to do this. A signed contract means nothing when he gets the budget (and therefore his/her fee) so wrong.
I must admit that my first reaction was that he may not want the job – for whatever reason. We've experienced that here, too. So, chin up and fingers crossed!
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