How to cut your building costs
There are several options that can save you money, but they’re not without drawbacks, writes Paul King.
After ‘‘how much will it cost?’’, probably the second most common question I hear, once the shock has worn off, is: ‘‘How do I build it more cheaply?’’
There are a bunch of options that can save you money, but each has its drawbacks. Here are a few of the most common strategies.
Switch to less expensive claddings
There may be a price to pay in additional maintenance costs or shorter life, or simply reduced resale value, though some low-cost claddings can be both robust and attractive-looking if designed for from the outset, rather than swapped in as an afterthought. The devil is in the detail.
Switch to cheaper glazing
Switching to a lower spec system typically means lower thermal performance, higher power bills and increased condensation. That said, there is a move towards the use of cheaper but high spec imported double-glazing units from China which can save thousands.
However, rather than sourcing these direct it’s best to work with a reputable company that knows the manufacturer and will fit the windows themselves, taking responsibility for any problems with sizing, fabrication, New Zealand compliance and the like. Be aware that there will usually be much longer lead times.
Spend less on fittings and fixtures
Typical issues include reduced functionality, shorter service life, and difficulty finding replacement parts a few years down the track – all of which may cost you more in the long run.
Another option is to use fewer fittings, or to wire/plumb for future fittings but defer installation where they are not critical.
Cheap bathroom and kitchen joinery should be treated with caution. Apart from durability issues, cheap mass home builder’s flat-pack-style fittings can make a poor impression.
As with glazing, there is a growing trend towards directly sourcing cheap but good quality fittings and fixtures offshore, but much the same risks apply.
Defer some building work
If this is going to be required, it’s best to plan for it when lodging for building consent rather than just stopping when the money runs out.
Your building consent is for the work shown on the drawings and specification as submitted to council. This is the work you must complete within the stipulated time frame (normally two years), unless you are given an extension or apply for an alteration to the building consent, deleting any areas that won’t be completed. You can’t leave out anything critical.
If you have not completed the work and obtained a code compliance certificate by the time your consent expires, your work in progress may be deemed an unconsented structure that you are not legally entitled to occupy, and you may struggle to insure or sell it.
You will face a potentially expensive and frustrating process to try to demonstrate code compliance and have the building accepted after the fact.
Do the landscaping yourself
Landscaping is one of the things most commonly left to DIY. Unfortunately, it is also something that can strongly detract from the finished result if done by amateurs.
Most people can water a readylawn and plant a few shrubs, but the difference between what most people do and professionally designed and implemented landscaping is really night and day.
Knowing what you like is not the same as successful design, and it could be worth considering deferring the landscaping until there are funds available to hire the pros, or at least getting good professional input early on.
Do some of the finishing yourself
This can seem like an attractive option for the average Kiwi DIYer, but bear in mind a professional will usually give a better result, and much more quickly.
If you don’t have the skills and a lot of spare time, you may end up costing yourself more than you save if you end up needing a professional to rectify your mistakes or you need a lot of time off work to get things done.
DIY project management
Handling your own project management can save you a significant amount, but be aware that this saving is achieved by eliminating the builder’s traditional margin, and therefore responsibility, for managing the project properly.
By taking on the project manager role yourself, you take on all the responsibilities traditionally entrusted to the head contractor, without the benefit of his or her experience. You are now personally responsible for dealing with council, ensuring all costs are on track to meet your budget, sourcing materials and reliable subcontractors, and co-ordinating everything and everyone so that everything needed comes together on site at exactly the right times and in exactly the right sequence.
It also includes understanding in depth what each subcontractor does and ensuring the quality of work is maintained and will not adversely impact other trades; ensuring that the consented design drawings and specification are being exactly adhered to; arranging building inspector and professional (architect and engineer) visits at the appropriate times; administering all progress payments; dealing with all the myriad issues that come up; and keeping good records. And all in compliance with your various subcontract agreements, council requirements, bank requirements, and the law.
If anything goes expensively wrong, blaming your contractors, suppliers or consultants will not help if the issue arose because you, in your inexperience, made a wrong decision or failed to anticipate something that a professional project manager would have known.
In other words, you are paying for any saving you make this way through significantly increased risk and stress.
Administering a project can also take longer than you might expect, potentially impacting your day job while the build is under way.
For many, the peace of mind that comes with handing things over to a professional who is responsible for achieving a good standard at a contractually agreed price, is worth more than any potential saving.
That said, some homeowners can and do take on this DIY project manager role, often several times with successive homes. A helpful architect and some experienced and tolerant tradespeople you trust can make all the difference if you decide to take this on.
Prefabrication
This is an area of growing interest to architects, and the building industry generally, and the technology is definitely advancing.
The current state of play in New Zealand is that prefabrication offers the benefits of manufacture in clean, dry factory conditions, with increased accuracy, and reduced time required on site.
This comes at the expense of increased lead time requirements, increased upfront technical design resolution time and cost, and reduced design flexibility, particularly once the project is under way. There are also constraints on the size of elements that can be transported to site. Any wall or ceiling elements longer than a truck can carry, for example, will typically need joints designed into them, which may not be visually acceptable for many situations.
High volume but low-end housing, and repetitively designed large commercial premises and budget accommodation buildings seem to be the most amenable candidates for prefabrication, and right now you would not expect significant cost savings for a single bespoke family home.
As the technology advances and economies of scale kick in however, this is likely to change. 3D printing and other technologies will also increasingly automate and speed up the construction process, driving costs down.
Simplify the building form
Handled well, a simple building form is often architecturally better than an unnecessarily complex form, for both visual and technical weatherproofing and earthquake resistance reasons.
Lots of pointless junctions between roofs and corners add cost for little benefit. Handled badly or too late in the design process however, simplifying a design to cut costs can turn an expressive and architecturally interesting building into something bland and lifeless that will lose much of its amenity and resale value.
Build less
By far the simplest and most effective way to reduce the cost of building is to make it smaller – primarily by reducing the floor area.
A well considered and more compact house can easily surpass a large poorly considered house in every meaningful way; offering better amenity, aesthetics, lifestyle quality, and environmental and energy use performance at a reduced upfront and ongoing cost.
Without a level of design discipline, you can easily waste a lot of money on excessive ‘‘bling’’, functionally and visually awkward layouts, and cavernous seldom used spaces. In doing so you may find yourself with a mediocre, embarrassingly oversized, dated-looking and rapidly deteriorating home for your money, that you will struggle to recoup your losses on.
Focusing your money where it will do the most good is key when funds are limited, but getting the balance right is definitely an art, and far, far easier said than done if this is not your day job.
Final thoughts
Rather than crashing ahead and lining up builders and deals on appliances, lurching from euphoria to despair as the ‘‘unexpected’’ costs of building, exacerbated by your inexperience, start to manifest, it is probably worth investing in a decent architect from the outset and working with them to avoid the pitfalls and design for the maximum ‘‘real’’ impact from your budget.
This way you are far more likely to end up with an elegant home that is distinctive, practical, free from unnecessary visual clutter, and costs no more than it needs to. That will bring you satisfaction for many years, as well as a healthy resale value.
Investing in the best design upfront is what tends to bring you the greatest satisfaction over many years, as well as the healthiest resale value.
Paul King is a registered architect and founder of Prime Architecture, based in Christchurch.
Investing in the best design upfront is what tends to bring you the greatest satisfaction . . .