Working With Dual Occupancy Builders in Melbourne. Things You Need To Know!

There are a number of important things which you need to know before building a dual occupancy with a builder in Melbourne, which are similar to any area in Australia where you are building.

When selecting a builder to build on your behalf there are a number of key considerations to take into account.

Has the builder built dual occupancy properties in the past?  For builders that haven’t built a dual occupancy property in the past there can be many potential pitfalls regarding the estimating of costs, council regulations that need to be followed.  It is best to engage the services of a builder that has already completed a number of different dual occupancy properties, and one whom has something that is complete or under construction that you can walk through and see for yourself.

There are a number of expenses that an inexperienced builder may not be aware of, and may not have accounted for in their estimating which could lead to cost blowouts for the investor.  The builders must also be aware and familiar with the local area council rules and regulations to ensure that they meet these when they build, as failure to do so could lead to cost blowouts and potential time delays.

You need to make sure that you don’t need to get town planning approval as well as a building approval, this is something that an inexperienced builder wouldn’t be able to provide advice on.

Quality of previous work is very important to look at.  This can give you a good idea of the quality of workmanship that the builder has and may put into your build.

It’s important to look at the inclusions that the builder has.  Inclusion levels and quality of inclusions vary from builder to builder and it’s important that you are able to accurately compare these.  You also need to ensure that with an investment property you don’t over capitalise on the inclusions.  You need to ensure that you have the optimum level of inclusions to get the best rent and therefore the best yield.  It’s very easy for inexperienced investors to over spec a house and ruin the yield.  Remember that this is an investment property and is not for you to live in.

Look carefully at the contract and also have a professional go over it for you aswell.  It is best to ensure that the contract is fixed-priced so that there are no unforeseen cost blowouts.  Also do some basic licence checks to make sure that the builder is fully licensed and qualified to undertake your build for you.