Building on the Cheap
If you’re looking to build your own home, you’re probably looking at making it as cheap as possible without cutting corners and there are a few ways to do so depending on how far you want to go and how cheap you are willing to make it. Using cheaper materials and products isn’t the best idea all the time – this can be a bad idea in the long run as things will start to break and fall apart. The better option is to look at everything piece by piece and work out what the cheapest options are without sacrificing quality.
What do you need to live?
Think about your life and what you need, do you need that fourth bedroom? Do you need an office? Is there need for a large and expensive deck? It’s not about sacrificing things that you want it’s about looking at what you NEED to live comfortably.
Where do you need to be?
If you work in the middle of Adelaide, it doesn’t really make sense to move out to the country where it’s cheaper as you’ll be spending more money on fuel than on your mortgage. Perhaps look in more affordable areas. How far are you willing to travel every day? Will the price of a more economical location make up for the amount of travel you’ll have to do every day? These are all questions that you need to be asking. If a cheaper location is possible, you’ll save yourself a bundle.
What does your home need to be?
There are a lot of cheaper style of homes out there rather than having an architecturally designed and constructed home there are other options that are still extremely attractive and well built.
Flat pack homes are one of these. Flat pack homes all come pre-fabricated and because of this will be a lot easier and quicker to put together.
Transportable. These homes are all pre built in a factory and shipped to your site via a truck and will be even faster to put together.
Container homes are also another option. Shipping containers will make the frame of the home and can be put together in a factory and shipped out and put together as well.
All of these homes are cheaper and easier to put up than a home built from scratch. There is a few things that you do need to consider if you do go down the kit home route, as these all come in kit form there isn’t as much customization that can go on and a lot of the time what you see is what you get, where as if you’re designing and building your home you can get exactly what you want.
Consider your builder
Different builders will provide different quotes. Shop around and find someone who understands you, understands what you want and who will work within your budget. If you’re a handy person you can also consider getting a permit to be an owner / builder depending on your state. In South Australia, you don’t need a permit but you do need to follow state regulations. Being an owner builder will cut your costs drastically. You will need to abide by the laws of your particular state and likely need to have a licensed builder on-site to supervise but it could be something to look in to.
Consider your Materials
There are thousands of different options and thousands of different ideas that you could put in to your home, not just for form, but function also. Looking at the different materials that will make up your home also makes sense. If you like the look of something else that’s cheaper, don’t shy away because it’s cheap, that could just mean it’s easier to make, not that it’s of poorer quality. You can also go and look at demolition sites, or recycling centres as these places will have a lot of doors and windows to sell for below the market average, and recycled materials will give your home character from day dot. Looking around for places that will sell you off cuts of timber will also save you a lot.
At the end of the day it’s your home and the heart wants what the heart wants, but if you’re looking to build yourself or looking to build cheaply to sell up one day, there are definitely a lot of options out there to make your home as cheap as possible.