Building a home comes with a raft of benefits: you get to decide on the floorplan, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the fittings and fixtures, and the overall design to suit your particular tastes. That’s something you simply can’t get with an established property unless you are willing to pour tens of thousands of dollars – or even more – into renovating.
However, the one drawback is that you can’t simply move into your dream home straight away. You have to wait for it to be built. So just how long does it take to build a house in Australia, and what are the potential hurdles that can delay the process?
The average length of time to build a home in Australia
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to how long it will take to build a house. You need to take into account the slope of the land, any site-preparation requirements, whether it’s a one or a two-storey house, and the complexity of the build itself.
However, once the land is titled and site plans are locked in, it generally takes between four months and a year (for custom-designed properties) to build a home.
Normal build vs custom design
This figure might be surprising for anyone who’s never owned a house before or only lived in established properties. That’s because reality TV shows like The Block expedite the entire process and make it appear that a new home could easily be built in a matter of weeks, rather than months.
But this simply isn’t the case. And it’s especially not possible when building anything beyond the norm. A home on a flat block of land, for example, maybe finished in four months, but if it’s a custom design that also needs to alter the land itself then the total job could take between 10 and 12 months.
The good news is that buying in a master-planned community like Savana means everything is made easy for buyers – the developers know every block of land for sale. Builders have access to documentation that assists in preparing the home for construction and are fully experienced in building homes within new developments. That takes a lot of the stress out of building a home because you know you’ve got a highly qualified team looking after you from start to finish.
What can cause delays when building a house?
While you will typically agree on a timeline for construction with your builder, this isn’t a set-and-forget strategy. After all, the unexpected can pop up at any time, and when it comes to building a home there are various factors that can influence the speed of a build – or whether it encounters any major delays. Here are some of the most common issues:
-
Site preparation
Before the slab for your new home can be poured, the land itself has to be in the right condition – that means flattening, levelling and stabilising. If it’s not already prepared, or if there are issues with the slope, soil or rocks and trees that need removing, then that can extend your construction time.
A house and land package eliminates some of these issues because the site preparation has been considered.
-
Bad weather
There’s nothing worse for a home build than the wet season, and there’s very little that can be done to avoid construction delays when there’s consistent heavy rain. Concrete foundations, for example, can’t be poured when there’s rain, and digging holes in wet ground can lead to long-term damage down the track.
Sometimes you’ll just have to weather the storm and ensure you have a financial contingency built into your budget so you’re not caught out by delays.
-
Unplanned changes
Sometimes it’s not an issue of weather, illness or supply chain issues at all – it’s the buyers who delay the process by making changes while the construction process is already underway.
Wherever possible, it’s important to do your research and lock in exactly what you want well before building begins. That means choosing the right fixtures and fittings and making sure the home will include everything you want when it’s time to move in.
While these unpredictable setbacks can be frustrating, they won’t diminish the final product when it’s time to grab the keys and start the next chapter of life in your new home.
As a boutique village address that offers an exceptional location and a true sense of neighbourhood spirit, it all comes together at Savana. You can start your new journey by purchasing land at Savana, so enquire today.