I had an email from a potential Client today regarding the purchase of land for the design of a residence in Rural South Australia. The questions asked made me think carefully about this subset of Architectural Residential home design. Although my Architectural practice is based in metropolitan Adelaide I have designed quite a few Country Homes over the years and as a result have an understanding of the issues that need to be considered. Often my Clients do not know the extent of these issues (and the inherent additional costs involved) until after they have purchased the property and they are committed to the project. This couple however asked the necessary questions before purchase and by reproducing my answer below hopefully it may be of use to others considering making a "Tree Change".
Letter explaining Costs involved in Country home Design
Hi Matt,
Designing and Building a home in Country or Rural areas is more expensive and time consuming process that it is for a similarly sized city residence. When the budget is insufficient from the outset the Design and Build process becomes a nightmare and relationships fray. It has been said that "Building a house can be more stressful than Divorce". Hopefully my advice below may help make this process easier.
COST: It seems to me that whatever budget people have in mind the limits are always stretched. The problem is that a build will cost anywhere from 1k per square meter to 3k per square meter. This will depend on how grand your ideas are, how much work you do yourself and how much the infrastructure costs such as services and site-works are. This means you may be able to get a substantial home or just a small shack for your $300k budget. It could be done for the cost you have in mind but it will not be easy. My advice is that money will be tight and you will need to avoid expensive designer fittings and shop around for bargains. There are very nice tiles for $20 a meter that you wouldn’t be able to tell from the $100 a meter range. The $200 tap doesn’t look much different to the $2,000 tap. A few nice pieces strategically placed can have the same overall effect as the entire house having Designer fittings.
I would suggest anything sized over 160 sq meters of building would be severely pushing the budget limits unless you have good contacts or are a DIY wizard.
Cost to Design a Rural Home
MY COST: I have designed budget country residences for as low as 7k, but considering what your budget is and with the cost from a similar job to yours having just been finalised I would say my design costs will probably be around 10k. You still need to allow for Engineering (up to 5k) and Council approval costs (around $1k including certifier). There may be other design costs involved such as Land Management agreements, CFS reports, Septic approval costs and civil engineering.
Cost to Administer the Contract for a Rural Home
If you wish me to administer the contract during the build it would be at my hourly rate (still 79 per hour GST inclusive). The amount I am needed on site depends on the builder you select & how good (and honest) he is. Due to the country location, each site visit would cost you around $400… this is based on allowing for a one hour “on site” plus preparation time before visits and time for resolution of issues after. Due to travel time it will be the better part of a work day…. At least one site visit a week is needed for the bulk of the build and 2 or more when things are moving quickly. If the build goes well & lasts 4 months this would be around another 10k. If the builder isn’t experienced or try’s to cut corners and I find I cannot trust him I will be needed more often. I have just had one such case where around 20 hours a week was needed resolving issues the Builder had caused due to mismanagement, poor coordination and poor craftsmanship.
How Long is Needed to Prepare Development Approval Documentation?
TIME-FRAME: If you buy the land and decide to proceed with me the chances are that even if things go well it probably will take 6 months or more from initial visit to the plans being finalised. It may take more.
I am doing one such project very similar to you at Clarendon. It also is on sloping land on a small rural acreage. We are over 2 years into the project now. Initially for the Clarendon project it was just the issue of the clients both agreeing to a design…. Probably 6 months. This sounds simple but can be a protracted affair if both partners cannot agree on what they want. I can wait months between each design iteration while the clients sort out which way they want to proceed.
Once the design was finalised the owner had multiple issues with Council and needed a planning lawyer in order to get his application through. The client was very proactive and letters to Ombudsmen and his local member were sent, swaying Council in our favour with pressure from above.
This project had all of the usual issues associated with Rural living, such as septic tank applications and CFS compliance. Due to the hilly site Engineering was difficult and subsequently cost more than normal. Twice during the project the principal Engineer left and a new person needed to be briefed. This caused delays and more costs. In short we are now only days away from finalising the DA application now. The job was started in late 2012 and initially we had planned on the build being completed by the end of 2014. I estimate that this date will now be closer to 2017.
Summing up: What you wish to do is possible, but you will need to keep careful control of costs and not aim for too much. If you make the Design brief about your lifestyle and what you need rather than about the need to impress others you will be fine.
Even the shortest job will span at least 3 months. This means there will be hundreds of Client – Architect conversations, either via phone or email. This is no small investment in time and consequently a relationship builds between client and Architect. For this reason I do not take on every job, nor am I suited to every client. An informal meeting before commencing talking through the project is essential for both of us. Once I have accepted a job I do the best I can for my clients…. often to the point of sacrificing my weekends and personal time in order to get the best outcome. I do however expect the same consideration back. Designing and building a house is a huge undertaking that requires commitment from all parties. Subsequent to a successful meeting between us I would be happy to take your job on and depending on what my workload is at that time it is possible a month or so may be needed before I could start.
