Timeframes. In the back of our minds we were working on being in the house by winter 2014, we have now been told Xmas 2014 would be a great result.
Here are the suggested timeframes we are looking at for the various components of the build:
- Council and boundary rezoning (required before section can get title) currently being worked on but likely November at this stage
- Further Geo tech reporting – required by the engineer before they can do their work. 2-3weeks before they can get onsite and 3 weeks for the report. This can be done now so can run concurrently while the section is still getting council consent.
- Engineering. I haven’t got a fixed time frame from the engineer but anticipating 2-3 months based on discussions with the QS and architect.
- Full working plans/drawings from the architect. Looking at another 5 months or more for this and this cannot occur until engineering report has been completed.
- Council approval on the house. At best 20 working days but this timeframe can be essentially reset if there is anything queried. Potentially 1-3 months
- The build. Optimistically could be as low as 5months, potentially up to 9.
- As a comparison point a client of mine is due to settle on a section early October with a building company. Building will likely commence in December with a 13 week build time.
So overall considerably longer than anticipated. However there are some positives to this. More time means we have the ability to spend more time on sourcing some of the materials and any money saved means less to borrow. Building cost may rise slightly in this time but this should be easily balanced by the property value of our existing home rising. Also selling our current house in summer should be a better time than in winter.
Mike Columbus is a founder of sortmymortgage.co.nz and director of New Zealand Home Loans Christchurch Central. Mike can be contacted on 03 335 3527 or 021 369908. This advice is of a general nature only and before acting on it please read my disclaimer which can be obtained by emailing me at mike.columbus@nzhomeloans.co.nz