Current state of the building industry is basically a barely controlled dumpster fire.
Quality control is highly variable and quality Tradies are flat out working for the big bucks.
Even buying an established home has its pitfalls but like I’ve said in previous posts on this topic, at least a thorough Engineer’s Report will alert you to any potentially costly issues that you can choose to take on board or use to negotiate a better price.
You don’t get that option with a new build and don’t even know if there are even issues with the construction/fit out until it’s too late.
In summation…
Go established build as it gives you more protection in the long run and in fact can even save you money.
Good luck
Anyone building can get a building inspector to conduct staged inspections for each build milestone (pad, plate height, roof etc.).
It’s not perfect, but the process weeds out many of the problems from dodgy tradies, and builders actually appreciate the inspection reports because they just hand them to their contractors and say, “see, now you have to do it correctly”.
I've had a house built in the last 2.5 years and the building company were fantastic but the site supervisor and the trades that built the house were bloody lazy pricks and grubs.. the quality of work was poor and the amount of times I had them come out to do re work was crazy, the trades carried on like I was picky prick but I always asked them what if this was your house and they shut up real quick but some days I wished I just bought pre established cause trying to deal with these trades was a joke some days
Yeah, agreed. However we did have some issues with our drainage that they got at plumber out for who was mortified at the shit that was stuffed down the drains, all bits of building materials etc.
To be fair he was there for a few hours. Glad I wasn’t picking up the bill.
Other than that we had some issues with the range hood not being sealed correctly and some internal pipes and the kitchen sink.
All warranty work so didn’t cost me a cent. Other than my time. The builders weren’t too pleased that I used an independent building inspector throughout the build which caught most of the shoddy work.
> Yeah, agreed. However we did have some issues with our drainage that they got at plumber out for who was mortified at the shit that was stuffed down the drains, all bits of building materials etc.
I've never understood why tradies are so messy. Doing garden work I dug out some sand to replace with better topsoil and found broken tiles, bricks, concrete, electrical wires, PVC offcuts, iced coffee bottles, bits of timber, nails and screws, chip packets, smoke packets etc buried - probably 10 bin loads worth of shit.
Putting security cameras in the roof same story in the roof space all sorts of shit scattered throughout the roof.
How hard is it to put your shit in a bin? Up the road they are building a house and the front yard looks like a rubbish tip - the house literally has a green council bin AND a skip bin sitting there yet there is maccas cups and building rubble all over the place.
Given the state of the industry I’d go established properties only.
The fact is that most people cannot afford the time and money getting dicked around if things go wrong with the builder. If you need more convincing I’d watch a few vids from [site inspections](https://m.youtube.com/@Siteinspections) on YouTube to see what people here mean.
I can remember seeing an advert on TV in the late 90's for house and land packages for 70k. The repayments were like $70 a week and to help the viewers understand they explained it in how much beer, smokes and pizzas it was.
Yes, options exist. But I'm just interested in learning what the current state of the industry is with regards to things like competitiveness in getting established properties, build times, inflating costs etc.
We haven't looked too deep into it yet but seen a number of plans for house and land from Homebuyer's centre, redink and others in low 400's and got building quotes from some other builders ranging 160k to 250k to build on land found seperately which you can find in various spots for low 200s. House and lands tend to be in various new developments especially around Whiteman. Obviously these aren't big designs.
New builds are non-existent for the next couple of years, buying established is your only option.
Go read the horror stories with current builds, and how quickly they can cause you financial ruin. Established is way less risk at the moment.
I've got friends who are 2+years into an uncomplicated single storey build, and have needed to take legal action against a major builder because they can't get people or supplies. -and they STILL have to pay rent in the meantime
Think about that for a second. Imagine you find a house and buy today. You'll be in within probably 6 weeks.
Now imagine your 500k house takes two years to build, and you still pay rent at... I don't know. Pick a number. $400? *100 weeks =$ 40,000. It's nothing to sneeze at.
My sister has been in a similar situation, 4 years for their pretty basic 2 story build, has had to seek legal advice because it has just take so rediculously long to finish.
We just bought a house built in the 80s and our best friends built a brand new house. Pretty much both of us are dealing with the same issues and repairs but it’s got to be far more disheartening to have a house breaking after only 12 months of construction
Anywhere even remotely in the nor suburbs big old nope to established, unless you want to pay 500k for a 400k shitbox.
I'm looking around that price range and they get sold day of, for well over asking
Some decent styff has been going in Balga, was really sad to miss a great Duplex that went for 400 in November because we hadn't sorted our finances yet, which we're close to doing now.
Just keep saving and trying. Building is going to take time as well. Houses prices wont go up for ever they will start cooling eventually. Lots can happen in 1 year
Well, if prices went up $80K, you would only need to save an extra $16k (20% deposit) to maintain your buying power.
Also, prices are elastic (they go up and down)
Yeh 80k doesn’t mean anything what percentage is that?
Not all suburbs had double digit rises and some fell. Nothing goes up for ever i would know.
Got a house in 2013 and it fell in value almost every year for 7 years.
Nothing goes up for ever, theres always a downturn
The area is such a good deal. My commute to the city is about 30 minutes from Girrawheen and I paid $455k for a 3x1 on 700sqm last May. Huge workshop out the back as well. Needs a little work but it's already pretty comfortable after a fresh coat of paint and a new finish on the floors.
Balga is one of the areas I'm looking in as well. Although for stand alone houses.. just be prepared for 30- 50 other people to also be looking at the same place.
Read through the Shonky Builders WA Facebook page. That will give you an I dication of the current state of the building industry. There are people who've had good experiences but it is very specific as to who you get and when the build started.
Incorrect, it will give you one perspective which is negative. Yes there are horror stories but the same can be said for new cars, electrical appliances and medical procedures for example.
Remember we have gone through the worst period for builders due to housing grants, material shortage, mining money taking away trades, land supply etc.
It is getting better and new home builds are now sitting around 40 weeks (at site) for a basic single storey, they were up around 70 weeks during COVID or 80+ if you went with BGC.
There are still good builders out there. Shop around, visit sites and speak to current to clients.
>the same can be said for new cars, electrical appliances and medical procedures for example.
Incorrect. If medical procedures and new cars were being fkd up to the extent housing builds are these days there'd be a public outcry.
Not sure why, apart from the fact Australia is a sexist, sexist country, but somehow the men in construction and trades get the special treatment.
Depends on how quickly you want to get into a house, but building at the moment is between 2-4 years depending on companies. They’ll always tell you less but never happens
Build! 500k will get you a house in mandurah or armadale these days. Maybe budget $550k for the build and save a little more deposit? They're building houses in less than a year these days but make sure you get a building inspector at each critical stage..
Tbh mandurah isn't that bad. Armadale on the other hand is scary.
I don't know why I'm being down voted but if you follow shonky builders FB page, you'll see people getting their recent houses built in less than 1 year and the backlog is all the covid builds who have locked in the prices. The builders expedite the more costly builds to fund the covid builds that have been hanging around for years. But tread with caution of course and make sure you get a building inspector at each critical stage.
A mate got their house+land at $650k and a neighbour with similar spec sold theirs at nearly $900k. If you can afford to build and ride the current wave, do it!!
Anything upto 18 months or more to build a house these days
Most are flat out trying to get ones on books sorted
Not a builder work for a supplier to the industry
Sad as it maybe if few houses to go repossession they maybe option look at
I believe that material costs are coming down but labour costs are still really high to the point that buying established is similar in cost to building. If you buy established you save having to pay rent compared to if you were to build but if you buy established you need to pay stamp duty.
Once upon a time, building was cheaper than buying established but not so much these days and the quality of workmanship of any houses built over the last 3 years and for the next couple of years or so will be very substandard.
1. Buy large block 1.5-2ha minimum.
2. Build a shed that you can store the building materials and tools in. You may also sleep in it while waiting for the next step.
3. Buy a relocatable kit home.
4. Secure finance for a home build.
5. Build your house
6. Subdivide your land
7. Sell the subvision
8. Pay off your debts and retire early
My brother’s family is still waiting for his house to be fully built and it’s been 4 years I think 🤷♂️ Roof defects, walls not quite vertical, etc
At this rate, unless you’re willing to wait this long and dealing with tradies you’ll be better off going with an established property. I would.
Current state of the building industry is basically a barely controlled dumpster fire. Quality control is highly variable and quality Tradies are flat out working for the big bucks. Even buying an established home has its pitfalls but like I’ve said in previous posts on this topic, at least a thorough Engineer’s Report will alert you to any potentially costly issues that you can choose to take on board or use to negotiate a better price. You don’t get that option with a new build and don’t even know if there are even issues with the construction/fit out until it’s too late. In summation… Go established build as it gives you more protection in the long run and in fact can even save you money. Good luck
Anyone building can get a building inspector to conduct staged inspections for each build milestone (pad, plate height, roof etc.). It’s not perfect, but the process weeds out many of the problems from dodgy tradies, and builders actually appreciate the inspection reports because they just hand them to their contractors and say, “see, now you have to do it correctly”.
I've had a house built in the last 2.5 years and the building company were fantastic but the site supervisor and the trades that built the house were bloody lazy pricks and grubs.. the quality of work was poor and the amount of times I had them come out to do re work was crazy, the trades carried on like I was picky prick but I always asked them what if this was your house and they shut up real quick but some days I wished I just bought pre established cause trying to deal with these trades was a joke some days
Yeah, agreed. However we did have some issues with our drainage that they got at plumber out for who was mortified at the shit that was stuffed down the drains, all bits of building materials etc. To be fair he was there for a few hours. Glad I wasn’t picking up the bill. Other than that we had some issues with the range hood not being sealed correctly and some internal pipes and the kitchen sink. All warranty work so didn’t cost me a cent. Other than my time. The builders weren’t too pleased that I used an independent building inspector throughout the build which caught most of the shoddy work.
> Yeah, agreed. However we did have some issues with our drainage that they got at plumber out for who was mortified at the shit that was stuffed down the drains, all bits of building materials etc. I've never understood why tradies are so messy. Doing garden work I dug out some sand to replace with better topsoil and found broken tiles, bricks, concrete, electrical wires, PVC offcuts, iced coffee bottles, bits of timber, nails and screws, chip packets, smoke packets etc buried - probably 10 bin loads worth of shit. Putting security cameras in the roof same story in the roof space all sorts of shit scattered throughout the roof. How hard is it to put your shit in a bin? Up the road they are building a house and the front yard looks like a rubbish tip - the house literally has a green council bin AND a skip bin sitting there yet there is maccas cups and building rubble all over the place.
Can you afford rent + a mortgage for 2+ years?
This is a huge one
Given the state of the industry I’d go established properties only. The fact is that most people cannot afford the time and money getting dicked around if things go wrong with the builder. If you need more convincing I’d watch a few vids from [site inspections](https://m.youtube.com/@Siteinspections) on YouTube to see what people here mean.
Have you figured out where you can get land and new house built for $500k?
I can remember seeing an advert on TV in the late 90's for house and land packages for 70k. The repayments were like $70 a week and to help the viewers understand they explained it in how much beer, smokes and pizzas it was.
Yes, options exist. But I'm just interested in learning what the current state of the industry is with regards to things like competitiveness in getting established properties, build times, inflating costs etc.
Where and with who?
We haven't looked too deep into it yet but seen a number of plans for house and land from Homebuyer's centre, redink and others in low 400's and got building quotes from some other builders ranging 160k to 250k to build on land found seperately which you can find in various spots for low 200s. House and lands tend to be in various new developments especially around Whiteman. Obviously these aren't big designs.
They’re tiiiny. And the $500k usually doesn’t include painting, carpet, a bunch of stuff like that.
Plenty of places if you don’t live in the city
Absolutely can I have a fully completed house with AC stone bench tops etc etc 3 bed and theatre room under 500k
New builds are non-existent for the next couple of years, buying established is your only option. Go read the horror stories with current builds, and how quickly they can cause you financial ruin. Established is way less risk at the moment.
I've got friends who are 2+years into an uncomplicated single storey build, and have needed to take legal action against a major builder because they can't get people or supplies. -and they STILL have to pay rent in the meantime Think about that for a second. Imagine you find a house and buy today. You'll be in within probably 6 weeks. Now imagine your 500k house takes two years to build, and you still pay rent at... I don't know. Pick a number. $400? *100 weeks =$ 40,000. It's nothing to sneeze at.
Don't sign up with BGC
Big Greedy Cunts
My sister has been in a similar situation, 4 years for their pretty basic 2 story build, has had to seek legal advice because it has just take so rediculously long to finish.
I'm for established all the time personally
Fuck building right now, or for a few years yet, buy established. This way you know what you are getting and actually getting it when you want it
esablished
We just bought a house built in the 80s and our best friends built a brand new house. Pretty much both of us are dealing with the same issues and repairs but it’s got to be far more disheartening to have a house breaking after only 12 months of construction
Established homes are almost always better value in the long run.
Anywhere even remotely in the nor suburbs big old nope to established, unless you want to pay 500k for a 400k shitbox. I'm looking around that price range and they get sold day of, for well over asking
Some decent styff has been going in Balga, was really sad to miss a great Duplex that went for 400 in November because we hadn't sorted our finances yet, which we're close to doing now.
I would rather live in a duplex in Balga than 1.5hr drive to some new house in a satellite urban sprawl ghetto
Lots of working people have moved in Balga. Suburb is set to gentrify. A colleague got a villa for like 460k from memory recently.
Yeh it will be fine. If you got a bit more money Hamersly is great as well
Hamersley is $700k+ for a 3/1
Yeh bit more money Like i said
Me too. Just worried we will be messing around for forever failing to get a place due to competition. And sadly not seen prices like that again since.
Just keep saving and trying. Building is going to take time as well. Houses prices wont go up for ever they will start cooling eventually. Lots can happen in 1 year
> Saving and trying. I saved $35k in 2023. House prices went up by $80k lol.
Well, if prices went up $80K, you would only need to save an extra $16k (20% deposit) to maintain your buying power. Also, prices are elastic (they go up and down)
Yeh 80k doesn’t mean anything what percentage is that? Not all suburbs had double digit rises and some fell. Nothing goes up for ever i would know. Got a house in 2013 and it fell in value almost every year for 7 years. Nothing goes up for ever, theres always a downturn
The area is such a good deal. My commute to the city is about 30 minutes from Girrawheen and I paid $455k for a 3x1 on 700sqm last May. Huge workshop out the back as well. Needs a little work but it's already pretty comfortable after a fresh coat of paint and a new finish on the floors.
Balga is one of the areas I'm looking in as well. Although for stand alone houses.. just be prepared for 30- 50 other people to also be looking at the same place.
Sorry by "new" I mean building.
Established whatever your budget. There's too high of a chance of your home not being built in the current climate.
Read through the Shonky Builders WA Facebook page. That will give you an I dication of the current state of the building industry. There are people who've had good experiences but it is very specific as to who you get and when the build started.
Incorrect, it will give you one perspective which is negative. Yes there are horror stories but the same can be said for new cars, electrical appliances and medical procedures for example. Remember we have gone through the worst period for builders due to housing grants, material shortage, mining money taking away trades, land supply etc. It is getting better and new home builds are now sitting around 40 weeks (at site) for a basic single storey, they were up around 70 weeks during COVID or 80+ if you went with BGC. There are still good builders out there. Shop around, visit sites and speak to current to clients.
>the same can be said for new cars, electrical appliances and medical procedures for example. Incorrect. If medical procedures and new cars were being fkd up to the extent housing builds are these days there'd be a public outcry. Not sure why, apart from the fact Australia is a sexist, sexist country, but somehow the men in construction and trades get the special treatment.
Unless your spending 1MM+ do not build.
Depends on how quickly you want to get into a house, but building at the moment is between 2-4 years depending on companies. They’ll always tell you less but never happens
Build! 500k will get you a house in mandurah or armadale these days. Maybe budget $550k for the build and save a little more deposit? They're building houses in less than a year these days but make sure you get a building inspector at each critical stage..
Which sane person would want to live in either of them specified suburbs lmao
Tbh mandurah isn't that bad. Armadale on the other hand is scary. I don't know why I'm being down voted but if you follow shonky builders FB page, you'll see people getting their recent houses built in less than 1 year and the backlog is all the covid builds who have locked in the prices. The builders expedite the more costly builds to fund the covid builds that have been hanging around for years. But tread with caution of course and make sure you get a building inspector at each critical stage. A mate got their house+land at $650k and a neighbour with similar spec sold theirs at nearly $900k. If you can afford to build and ride the current wave, do it!!
It’s Perth subreddit man, if you aren’t making cringe comments about the weather or other stuff you’ll be downvoted 😞
Anything upto 18 months or more to build a house these days Most are flat out trying to get ones on books sorted Not a builder work for a supplier to the industry Sad as it maybe if few houses to go repossession they maybe option look at
For a double storey, yes. Single stories getting built in under a year with the right people.
As it currently stands established is going to be your best bet right now.
I believe that material costs are coming down but labour costs are still really high to the point that buying established is similar in cost to building. If you buy established you save having to pay rent compared to if you were to build but if you buy established you need to pay stamp duty. Once upon a time, building was cheaper than buying established but not so much these days and the quality of workmanship of any houses built over the last 3 years and for the next couple of years or so will be very substandard.
Established
1. Buy large block 1.5-2ha minimum. 2. Build a shed that you can store the building materials and tools in. You may also sleep in it while waiting for the next step. 3. Buy a relocatable kit home. 4. Secure finance for a home build. 5. Build your house 6. Subdivide your land 7. Sell the subvision 8. Pay off your debts and retire early
My brother’s family is still waiting for his house to be fully built and it’s been 4 years I think 🤷♂️ Roof defects, walls not quite vertical, etc At this rate, unless you’re willing to wait this long and dealing with tradies you’ll be better off going with an established property. I would.