Buying Land for Building a New Home
Buying Land for Building a New Home
Buying Land for Building a New Home
Deciding where to live is more than an economic consideration. Although it's ordinarily cheaper to create a home inside the new outer suburbs than it is to purchase an established house in the inner suburbs, you have to be happy with the built environment and human environment of the neighbourhood. The disadvantage of living in some outer suburbs is the lack of established infrastructure for instance schools, shops, parks, libraries, recreation venues and public transport. Fuel costs and motor vehicle maintenance should be a critical consideration in any family's long-term financial planning. Sure, it may well be cheaper to construct in outlying new suburbs, but you will most likely need to run two cars due to increased distance to services and also the lack of regular public transport. A family must also maintain its support network. The distance to extended family, friends and place of work is a crucial factor. Grandparents are generally willing (and free) babysitters, as long as they are reasonably close by. Although the initial outlay for inner city land may be higher, it will present benefits for instance much better public transport and other services. It'll also give you better access to the rest of the city, which will translate into significantly reduced transport costs as well as increased amenity and additional time to do other issues. Spending more on land and being more modest on your house requirements may be wise in the long run. Your 'home' is more than just bricks and mortar on a plot of land.
Issues to take into consideration when purchasing land include:
Proximity to schools, shops, parks, key roads, airports, factories and public transport.
Seasonal lakes and swamps may well get smelly as vegetation rots during dry seasons.
Smells from polluting industries such as fibreglass makers, small goods processors or poultry farms.
Mosquitoes, midges or croaking frogs may be a problem for those living near artificial lakes or swamps.
Noise from nearby freeways, factories, shopping centres, pubs and clubs.
Orientation of a site can limit design possibilities. For a rectangular block a north-south orientation is best. That way the sun will rise and set on the sides of the house, not the front and back where you are likely to have your main openings. Windows or sliding glass doors facing to the east or west will will need wide eaves, awnings or trees to shade them during summer. If north is to the front of the block then a solar water heater might be seen from the road or have to be installed on a specially constructed frame to elevate it if it's placed on a back sloping roof.
Check head-works such as sewerage, power, gas and telephone have been completed. The cost and time to have such services installed should be considered. Ordinarily, just before land is put on sale to the public, the developer will be required to make available a water service, sewer connection, street drainage, power and phone lines. For unique rural or other lots, the developer really should prepay for these services to be supplied at building stage. Prior to a Green Title lot being developed it ought to have all services supplied. Survey Strata lots could incur additional costs for water run-in, phone cabling and power supply. If underground power is essential inside your area and no connection pillar is installed on your site then check who is to bear the price of having one put in.
Check if you can find any easements on the block. Easements are areas in which you cannot develop because of the presence of such things as sewer lines, water mains and power lines. To build close to sewer lines you'll have to have unique footings or piles to support the building and this will increase the price. The certificate of title will show if there are any easements on the land.
Check for any caveats on the title. Occasionally equitable stakeholders of the land place caveats on land which must be removed before you can proceed with building. Caveats place building conditions for instance height restrictions on buildings. Lifting a caveat could be time consuming and expensive.
Check if a recent land survey has been carried out. The corner pegs must locate the land clearly. If you are not positive, or it looks like the pegs have been disturbed or are missing, then ask for a subdivision plan and use it to mark out the lot. It is best to have a licensed surveyor peg out the site.
Site costs generally add a significant but unexpected burden to new home construction. If trees have to be removed from the region you will be building on, get a quote for their removal, including the roots. The soil kind, land slope, rock content and level of water table will also affect site costs. You might have to remove rock to permit plumbing services to be installed. Alternatively, it may be cheaper to develop a sand pad over the rocks.
Sites with views are frequently located on the edge of cliffs or hills. It is best to make sure the ground is stable and advisable to have an engineer prepare a site report. To make a steeply sloping site useable you may need to drive steel sheet piles into the ground to shore up the adjoining property. This will likely be very expensive.
Reclaimed land can take years to settle and grow and eventually become fully stabilised. Marina developments, swampy sites and unstable soils ought to be checked thoroughly by a qualified engineer. Suitable foundations will need to be designed specifically for the site.
Check that existing fences have been paid for by the previous owner or developer. In new suburbs you usually need to pay half the cost (at present day prices) of existing fences to your neighbours after you develop.
Check the site is easily accessible. If the builder can not bring his materials onto the site quickly he will he need to build a temporary track to access the site. If access to a rear block is less than 2.5m wide then delivery trucks might be unable to enter the site and materials will need to be moved by hand. The additional work will mean additional cost to you.
If the site is in close proximity to the ocean then air-borne salt will likely be an issue. Unique building conditions will apply to such areas. For example, steel lintels will need to be galvanised to stop the onset of rust, and gutters and down-pipes will have to be specially treated or made of Colorbond material. A stronger cement mortar and plastic or stainless steel wall ties will need to be used, again adding to the cost of building.
The high salt content in soils of coastal locations means that fertile topsoil will need to be brought in before attempting to establish a conventional garden.
Check that neighbouring parapet wall footings do not protrude into your block. This might obstruct the placement of a footing for a parapet wall on your side.
Consider the cost of installing fences if there are none, or replacing them if they're old or incorrectly placed. Although the neighbour is obliged to pay half the price of a fence where no fence exists, really receiving payment might sometimes prove quite hard indeed. If a walkway or other public land adjoins the block then you're likely to be fully responsible for the price of fencing.
Check if the natural ground levels have been changed on your side or the neighbour's side of the fence. Whoever changes the natural level is responsible for retaining walls. If both sides have been changed then the responsibility (and cost) for retaining is apportioned according to how much each neighbour changed the ground level. If, for instance, your side has been cut down by 200mm as well as the neighbour has filled his by 400mm then you're responsible for 1/3 of the price (200 of the 600mm distinction) and your neighbour is responsible for 2/3 of the cost (400 of the 600mm distinction).
If you're buying land which is to be strata titled then you should guarantee that you fix a firm settlement date. Should you not, the seller will probably be able to extend settlement until subdivision is complete. This could take several months. If you are purchasing a vacant strata lot then the sewer line ought to be already directed onto the site. A strata plan cannot be approved until after all of the construction work, including the home, fences, retaining and paving, is completed. A building surveyor from the local council will inspect the work before approval for the strata plan is given.
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