What to Know Before Buying Sloping Land

There are many variables that come into play with buying a sloping block of land.  These variables may affect your budget and bite you on your behind if you haven’t done your research. 

On face value, a sloping block of land may seem affordably priced initially in comparison to many flat allotments on the market in the same area.  Sloping land can offer you priceless views and the foundation for a unique custom home design, but with this comes considerable additional site and construction costs.

What can impact Site Costs when Building on Sloping Land?

No one wants a massive unexpected budget blow-out when building a home, so it’s important to have a realistic expectation of the potential costs to prepare your site for construction.  These can include:

• Intensive excavation & Soil Removal
• Challenging structural engineering
• Foundation leveling
• Accessibility issues
• Retaining walls
• Additional structural steel/materials
• Drainage difficulties
• Landscape challenges
• Soil Retention
• Architectural / Design Fees
• Limited number of specialist builders available

From experience, it’s a difficult task to explain to a client that their budget is unrealistic to build on their sloping land.  Unfortunately, this is the reality for some who haven’t educated themselves on the cost of building on land with a fall prior to signing contract.  Obtain educated advice about your sloping land from a qualified and experienced sloping block builder or engineer before signing the dotted line.  If you have already purchased a sloping site and are starting to feel alarmed, remember every sloping site is unique, therefore not all of the above may apply to your site.

Work with Experienced Professionals

An experienced custom home builder and designer in sloping sites will aim to reduce high levels of excavation where possible.  The quality of home design, amount of fall across the land, environmental elements and engineering will all play a part of determining your site requirement costs.

Should you move forward and purchase a sloping site, keep in mind a custom builder with an in-house Design Team has an obligation to work to your budget holistically; avoiding nasty surprises at construction stage.

We don’t want to deter you from buying sloping land, we love sloping sites – it’s what we do.  Capitalising on views and clever design can increase the overall value of your property’s equity.  However, we encourage you to be a savvy land owner and don’t end up being disillusioned by your land purchase down the track; be well informed from the start.

 

Should you wish to discuss building on your sloping land, contact Peter Hall on 0438 000 456 for more information.