Building

The Four C’s

20 May 2011

There is a lot that goes into a successful property development. Four ingredients seem to be common to a successful outcome: Commitment, Creativity, Continuity and Capital. Think of it like you are baking a cake, you leave out one ingredient and the outcome may not meet your expectations!

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6 star energy rating – What does this mean for my project?

6 May 2011

6 star energy rating – what does this mean for my project?
From 1 May 2011, all new homes, renovations and additions in Victoria will be required to meet a minimum 6 star energy rating, with inclusion of either a solar hot water system or a rainwater tank.

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Design issues that affect costs – Part 2

17 December 2010

Last week we wrote about some design considerations to factor in early in your project.
This week, we continue on with the design issues that affect costs and how these early decisions influence and impact the building costs.

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Design issues that affect costs – Part 1

10 December 2010

One of the first questions new clients ask is “how much is this going to cost to build?”

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House Build Cost Savings: Design for Roofline

9 March 2010

Congratulations – you’ve decided to build your dream home!
You review your architect’s concept floorplan, “House A” (above), and really like it, but decide it would be even better if you moved a wall or two to make it look like “House B“.
Since they both have the same floor area, there won’t be any difference in [...]

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Construction tender evaluation

18 December 2009

So your project has finally completed the rigorous design & planning permit process and your architect has sent your Building Permit Documentation Package out to tender.
The only problem is you’ve received back three wildly differing tender responses from separate builders.
How can one builder’s tender offer come in at almost twice as much as the other [...]

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Home Building Cost: The 3 critical factors

1 September 2009

How much would it cost to build my home?”
This is possibly the number one question builders get asked. Although there are several ways this question can be answered, there are 3 critical underlying factors that any answer must depend on.

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The new Victorian Bushfire Attack Levels (BALs)

10 August 2009

The 2009 bushfires that spread through Kinglake and surrounding townships, causing massive loss of life and property, has been said to be Australia’s worst ever natural disaster. In response to this tragedy, in March Victoria adopted a new Australian Standard AS 3959-2009. The aim of this new standard is to improve the ability of buildings [...]

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