About the writer:
Written by Annie Lim, Mentor and Practitioner, Property and Finance, Australia, Asia and UK
Believe it or not, for all my years living in Malaysia and Singapore, I have never stayed in a house i.e ‘landed property’ owned by either my parents or my family. Growing up in a big family, my impression of the place we lived in for 17 years of my life is a 3 bedroom flat (“Apartment” was a big word then). Mum & Dad would stay in one room, 4 boys to share a second room and 6 girls to share the third one. Yet, the place has been ‘home’ to us, and I don’t remember we complained much about just having one bathroom. From a young age, we have learned to wait.
My working years have been primarily Singapore based until the last eight years when I decided to spend more time in Melbourne. The biggest place I lived in Singapore was a 3-bedroom apartment, an impressionable one for me. I am quite used to living in 800-1200 sqm living areas. Having less space means less clutters, after all, I think I have more things than I need.
In Australia, most people live in houses mainly because of the generosity of land and space around in general. There are so many options for buying a house and living in bigger spaces. But one experience I thought would be wonderful, is to have an experience of ‘building a house’ given the affordability of doing so.
“A House is made of bricks and stone. But a Home is made of love alone”
Hence, two years ago, I decided to embark on a small journey, primarily because I have clients getting ‘House and Land’ packages from me in my property consulting space. I wanted a feel of what it is like to purchase land and build a house on it.
Yet, I am not a detailed person in terms of reading fine prints, and I did not want to add stress to my life. Building a house should be a happy experience, if it is going to stress me and make me pull my hair, I do not want to do it. So I went around looking for house designs that I like and taking pictures of it. Being a very visual person, I usually remember the ‘look’ of it.
The journey of house building in Melbourne is quite fast. I learned that it takes an average of 145 days; mine took about a year and that’s fantastic because I got to see the building process in autumn, winter, spring, and summer. And by the time the house is ready, it’s autumn again, perfect weather to move house.
Based on my personal experience, here are some of my thoughts:
- Choose a location that you want to build a house in.
Is it going to be your home, or are you building an investment property and let tenants live in? My philosophy is to build ‘a house that feels like home’. So the question is, “Where do I want ‘home’ to be?” Even a nice big house in a remote location will not appeal to me. We are all different.
2. What type of house do you want to build?
Single or double-story? I mentioned about not needing a big space earlier. But if I have a ‘small’ land that is priced relatively high, then I would want to maximize the space and build at least a double-story. However, I do not believe in over-capitalizing.
3. How much cash do you have, and how much finance do you need? Have you done a pre-approval to ascertain how much finance you can potentially obtain from the lenders?
4. How involved do you want to be in the building process?
If you want your technical involvement to be less, then consider engaging a Project Manager. Most builders will engage a building coordinator for you once you sign the building contract. However, your own appointed ‘Project Manager’ will act to your interest, helping you look out for details that you otherwise could have missed out. I wanted to enjoy the ‘house building’ process and from the point, the build started, I would be on site every Sunday after church just to take photos (of us of course!!). There are no workers on Sunday, hence I am there to feel happy. My thoughts are – Engage a builder whom I can trust, have a ‘Project Manager’ who can help provide the check and balance. Along the way, some colours may not be totally correct, some parts missing, some areas imperfectly done. But these are mainly matters that can be resolved.
My biggest ‘panic’ was towards the end, when there was a confusion as to who is supposed to do the driveway; the builder, or the land seller. And if it is not already incorporated into the building contract, it can cause some financial distress, as ready cash needs to be prepared for payment. The consolation is most landowners would have collected a bond (usually $10,000) from you and that may be used as contingency funds.
“For a House that feels like Home”