Developer shows you can get a brand-new house for under $400k: He did it for his partner

A Hawke’s Bay developer says his latest build shows just what can be done on a tight budget.

Mike Dickerson’s 12-month project to build his partner, Gemma Schofield, her first home in Napier ended up costing $387,800 including $210,000 land costs.

Dickerson says he wanted to show what you can do “when you’re willing to do a significant amount yourself and spend countless hours on Trade Me”.

“Obviously my background in development/building helps. The only labour not ‘charged’ was my own as I’m lucky and worked incredibly hard to be in a position where I can meet my expenses via my passive income and this was my ‘gift’ to her – recompense for her having to put up with me.”

Dickerson, who is typically involved in “higher-end, complex builds” was nearing the end of a project and wanted to help Schofield take her first step on the property ladder.

In October last year, Schofield met with a mortgage broker and was approved for a loan of $312,000.

“Combined with her KiwiSaver and small cash savings the budget was set at $360,000 in entirety,” Dickerson says.

Transportable homes were out of the budget, and so, he says, “it became apparent building was the only way to go”.

They found a 229m² section in a “nice quiet little suburb” that had been on the market for six months, haggled to get the price to $190,000 (it was advertised as “offers over $199,000”), and were set to go.

It took three months, and $20,000, to get to consented-plan stage to build the 70m² home.

“This process took a tad longer than I would have liked but I had to involve surveyors, a geotechnical assessment, and our architect whilst I was completing my latest project.”

They decided they didn’t want a “bog-standard build”. Extra features were:

• Hansgrohe tapware and showers
• Tiled showers/floors with glass doors
• Oak flooring
• Cedar cladding
• 2200mm external and internal doors/windows (Dickerson is 195cm tall)
• Stone benchtops and acrylic cabinetry in the kitchen and high quality appliances (Smeg/Samsung/Bosch)
• Wool-loop carpets

“I reminded my partner on more than one occasion she may have champagne tastes with a Canterbury Draught income/budget but dreaming small never gets you anywhere, so off we set,” Dickerson says.

As well as not counting his own labour, which he estimates at 820 hours, Dickerson made some incredible cost savings, mainly by spending “countless hours on Trade Me scouring for deals” and by buying discounted products whenever possible.

Some examples of great finds are the cedar cladding, which had been sitting inside for 10 years, and which Dickerson spent two weeks sanding and re-staining; manufacturer’s seconds for the wool carpet; and Hansgrohe tapware at half price, as the supplier was moving away from the brand.

His other in-jest advice is to not “let your partner peruse home and garden magazines when it’s their first home”.

“Be realistic as to what you can afford to do and does it make sense in a return/value for money sense.”

Dickerson’s advice to DIY home builders

• Budget appropriately and stick to it. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of, ‘Oh, it’s only an extra $100’ here and there. These add up and before you know it, you’re well over.
• Trade Me has amazing deals. The cedar cladding, at my trade price, is over $37pm – I got it for $10. Similar for the soffits and the engineered oak flooring.
• Ask for trade discounts. Never any harm in asking. My trade price for the stainless steel connector kits was $47. I told them I could get them for $28 on Trade Me and they matched it. Just one example of many.
• When doing a bigger project (if managing yourself) keep onto the tradies to ensure they’re on schedule. This is especially true for trades that follow each other (plaster/paint etc).

Detailed costings

LAND, $20,000 made up of:

• $5,900 geotech
• $8,000 architect
• $5,000 council consent fees
• $1,100 surveyor, and temporary power supply.

BUILD, $153,300 (just over 2% over budget)

• $10,500: Piles, subfloor and flooring. All 29 piles were anchored with SS fixings, flooring is 19mm tongue and groove CD plywood
• $14,000: J frames, trusses and fixings – $14,000
• $1500: Purlins, balance of roof/soffit framing
• $13,000: Roof and iron cladding, flashings and downpipes (.55 gauge 5 rib in flaxpod matte (matte is dearer but this was an aspect my partner didn’t want to compromise on). “Builders are actually allowed to install simple profile roofs so I only had to pay labour to have the flashings installed and helped with the cladding,” Dickerson says.
• $5000: Cedar cladding
• $900: Silicone bronze nails
• $14,000: External joinery
• $1,000: Fascia
• $1200: Cedar soffits (This was another Trade Me deal – $5 per metre for shorts up to 2100mm.)
• $2500: Scaffolding for four weeks
• $11,000: Plumbing (Dickerson marked out, dug, metalled and backfilled all drains as well as assisted with the internal side.)
• $10,600: Electrical (Dickerson helped running cables, trenching the mains and fitting the flush boxes.)
• $500: Lights (internal and external)
• $10,000: Tiling, tiles and waterproofing
• $2300: Air conditioner
• $12,000: Kitchen including stone tops
• $6000: Appliances at trade prices (Smeg dishwasher, gas oven and extractor, Samsung fridge and Bosch washing machine)
• $1,100: 20sqm of engineered oak flooring
• $2200: Cavalier Bremworth carpets and install
• $1000: Insulation (installed by Dickerson). They upgraded to “Ultra 2.8 in the walls, and 4.0 in the ceilings”.
• – $3500: Internal doors/architraves/hardware. “This was possibly overkill where it could have been $100 or so a door had we stuck to the standard 1980mm,” he says.
• $5500: Gib board and fixings
• $10,000: Painting and plastering
• $1900: Tapware and showers
• $3000: Shower doors and mirrors
• $1100: Vanities
• $2900 Gasfitter and Infinity hot water
• $5500: Miscellaneous, including fixings, nails, tapes, glues, “random timbers and smaller things I haven’t listed for some sense of brevity”.

A Kwila deck cost an additional $24,500.