How Much Does it Cost to Build a 4 Bedroom House in Alice Springs?

Guess?

Is that your guess?

Make it higher …

Higher …

Higher …

That’s better; now you’re getting close!

Now, what if you’re not a builder?  How much does it cost then?

Just having a bit of fun.  But, now that I’ve got your attention (do I have your attention?), let’s talk turkey.

What does it cost to build a new 4 bedroom home in Alice Springs?

Well first you need some land.  Good luck finding some of that!

But, let’s say you did.  You’d have to open up your wallet to the tune of about $250,000.  And, that would be a good buy.  But, if you want something over in the golf course or over in the new development on Stevens Road, then you’ll have to cough up and additional $50,000 to $100,000 depending on the mood of the seller.

I’m not talking about over-sized blocks either; size ranging anywhere from 700 to 1,000 square meters.

I think these land prices are high.  But, I never complain about land prices in the Alice when I’m around people from Darwin.  The prices up there make ours look like they’re free!  Check out my article, High Land Priced in Alice Springs?  Compared to What? to see what I’m talking about.

So, before you start to build, you need to come up with a cool $250,000 or more and then pay the buying costs along with the stamp duty.  These additional costs can vary depending on who you use for conveyancing and what kind of a deal you can work with the government when it comes to stamp duty.  I normally expect to pay about 4.5% of the selling price in stamp duty.  But, who knows, maybe you have a friend in government who can give you a better deal!  And, I hear the government has some programs for first home buyers, so if you qualify, why not check it out?

Now, it’s time build a home.  Time to find a builder.  Get some quotes.

But, let’s just cut right to the quick.  Let’s get a good number for what it’s going to cost per square foot.  Are you ready for the number?  It’s the same number that keeps coming up again and again; builder after builder.  Here it is …

That’s One, Eight, Zero, Zero.  Or, in layman’s terms – terms that I can understand –  eighteen hundred bucks.

That’s seems to be the floor (no pun intended) price.  But, there’s a bit of good news.  The price includes GST.  The builder is charging you only $1636.36 but then adds on the 10% GST to arrive at the magic $1,800 figure.  So, for every square meter of your new home, you’re paying the tax office about $164!  Are you excited yet?

For more discussion about GST and building a new home, see my article, Which do you like better, GST or Stamp Duty?

And, the price goes up from there.

What causes the build price to go up?  Everything.

• You want fancy fixtures and fittings?  Great.  Price goes up.
• You want an irregular shaped house?  No problem.  Price just went up.
• You want a pool with that house?  That’s our specialty.  Add some more.
• You want a garage instead of a carport?  No worries.  We can do it.  For a price.
• You want a nice feature stone wall in front?  We can organize it.  Costs more though.
• Did you say you wanted a security door in the front?  Easy.  But, it’ll add to the price.

Now, let’s put together a total build cost.

Let’s say we want a simple 4 bedroom home.  Square corners, no special features, just a good solid home as follows:

• 1 master bedroom, 4X4 meters, with walk-in robe and en-suite bathroom.
• 3 bedrooms, 3X3, with built in robes
• 1 family bathroom.
• 1 large kitchen
• 1 living room
• 1 formal dining room
• 1 double carport, 6X6
• 1 landscaping package
• 1 driveway and walkway to front door
• 1 decent sized verandah (gotta have a verandah!)

Such a house can be regular, medium or large size.  Let me explain.

You can get all these features in a home with 150 square meters of living space.  This I would classify as the “regular” size version.  And, it may be a tight fit.  You may have to make a few bedrooms slightly smaller or you may make the living areas smaller.  Or both.  You might decide to go with three good sized bedrooms instead of 4 smaller ones.  All part of the compromise.

Now, you go up from there.  I would classify 180 square meters as a decent sized home.  Let’s call it the medium size.  This would give you plenty of space for your 4 bedroom home.

And, finally let’s classify 210 square meters as a large home.  Plenty of room; you may even consider adding an additional study room with all the extra space!

Remember, these sizes only include the living space, the carport or garage is not included in the numbers.

So, we should have all the info needed to make a price calculation estimate.  Let’s just focus on the “regular” sized home – 150 square meters of living space.

Builder Rate:  $1,800 per square meter
Total Living Area:  150 square meters
Total Build Cost: $270,000  (no carport, garage, landscaping)

Now, do you want some extras with that house?  How about a carport or garage?  Let’s cost these.

I’m told to allow $1,600 per square meter to build a garage.  I believe a carport comes in around the $1,000 per square meter mark; let’s go with this figure.

Garage:  6 X 6 = 36 square meters = 36 X $1,600 = $57,600!
Carport: 6 X 6 = 36 square meter carport = 36 X $1,000 = $36,000!

Remember these numbers.  We’ll use them later in our calculations.

Now, for landscaping and extras.

A number thrown around for basic landscaping is $10,000.  It won’t get you much.  But, let’s use it anyway.

And, I like to factor in extras.  So, let’s allow $10,000 for extras.  Again, this won’t get you far.

Now, we’re ready to arrive at a final build number.

Total Build Cost:  150 Square meters of living space (Regular Size Home):

House:  $270,000
Carport:  $36,000
Landscaping:  $10,000
Extras:  $10,000

Build TOTAL:  $326,000

We’re not done.  I almost forgot the land cost.  Now add the land to the total.

Total Build Cost:  $326,000
Land:  $250,000

Build and Land TOTAL:  $576,000

Oops!  I forgot the stamp duty on the land and other buying costs.  Remember, the land attracts stamp duty; the new construction doesn’t.  So, let’s not forget the tax man; got to get him paid!  Other buying costs would be for items like conveyancing.  Stamp duty in the Northern Territory is roughly 4.5%, so let’s allow 5% for all the buying costs.

Land Buying Costs at 5% =  $250,000 X .05 = $12,500!

GST Paid: Just so you’re aware, let’s calculate the GST paid on the new construction.  For those of faint heart, you may want to skip this part; the number will be a lot more frightening than stamp duty!  First, let’s calculate the builders price without GST added.  This is easy, just divide the total cost by 1.1.

Builder Price = Total Cost / 1.1 = $326,000 / 1.1 = $296,364.

Then we just subtract the total price from the builder price.  You may want to close your eyes, this could be painful to see!

GST Paid on New Build = Total Price – Builder Price

$326,000 (total price) – $296,364 (builder price) = $29,634 = OUCH!

Now, I believe we’ve accounted for just about all costs.  So, let’s tally up the super duper grand total …

Final Grand Total Build and Land Cost:

Builder Price (no GST):  $296,364
GST on Build:  $29,634
Land:  $250,000
Land Stamp duty and other buying costs:  $12,500

Now we arrive at the answer.  The answer to the question, “How much does it cost to build a 4 bedroom home in Alice Springs?”  Remember, this is the bottom rung.  This is the entry level 4 bedroom home.  This is nothing flash; nothing over the top.  Only has a carport, no garage.  No pool and no fancy fixtures and fittings.  You can forget about marble counter tops; not happening!

So, here’s the number that falls out … brace yourself!

Have you recovered yet?

If so, let’s build a table to show the cost of all three sizes together.

Would you prefer a garage instead of a carport?  Then add  an extra $21,600 to these numbers!

Anyway, these are my rough cut cost estimates to build a 4 bedroom home in Alice Springs.

What numbers do you come up with?