What does it really cost to put a home on your block?

If you've looked at modular, prefab or kit homes, you've probably seen a price for the home itself. It's a useful starting point. But it isn't what you'll pay to move in, and that gap is where most people get caught out.

The total cost of putting a home on your land comes in two parts: the home, and everything it takes to get that home onto your block, connected and signed off. The second part depends almost entirely on your site. Two identical homes on two different blocks can finish at very different totals.

Here's what goes into that second part, so you know what to ask about before you sign anything.

1. Getting the home to your block

An off-site home has to travel from where it's made to your land, and then be lifted into place.

• Transport: depends on the distance, the number of modules and the route. Long distances, narrow roads and escorts for wide loads all add cost.
• Crane: the size of crane you need depends on how far it has to reach and how heavy each module is. A block with tight access or a steep driveway may need a bigger crane, or a different way in.
• Access: trees, power lines, soft ground, gates and creek crossings can all affect whether a truck and crane can reach the spot where your home will sit.

2. Preparing the site

Before a home can be installed, the ground has to be ready for it.

• Footings: the type and depth depend on your soil, your slope and the home's design. Reactive clay, rock or a steep fall can change this considerably.
• Earthworks: clearing, levelling and cut and fill on sloping blocks.
• Driveway and access: getting to the house pad, both for delivery day and for living there afterwards.
• Stormwater: where the water off your roof and site will go.

3. Connecting services

This is often the biggest unknown, especially on rural and regional land.

• Power: how far the nearest connection point is, and whether the network needs upgrading to reach you. On acreage, this alone can vary enormously.
• Water: town water, or rainwater tanks and pumps.
• Sewer: connection to town sewer, or an on-site wastewater system such as a septic tank, which needs council approval.
• Telecommunications: NBN or other connection.

4. Approvals, reports and certification

Every home needs approval and sign-off, and most sites need some reports first. Depending on your block, that can include:

• a site survey, including contours and boundaries
• a soil (geotechnical) report, which the footing design relies on
• a bushfire assessment (BAL rating) if your land is bushfire prone. A higher BAL rating can change what materials the home needs.
• flood or other overlay reports where they apply
• in NSW, a BASIX certificate for energy and water efficiency
• the approval itself, through a development application (DA) with council or a complying development certificate (CDC), plus certification and inspections

Your zoning and overlays decide which of these you need. That's why the same home can have a very different approvals cost from one block to the next.

5. Finishing the site

The last category is the one most often left out of early numbers: everything around the home that makes it liveable.

• decks, steps and landings
• paths, fencing and a letterbox
• landscaping and turf
• the small items that are easy to forget, such as a clothesline or TV antenna

Always ask what's included in a quote and what isn't. If something isn't listed, assume it isn't included.

Why "from" prices don't hold

A "from" price usually covers the home, and sometimes not even its delivery. Everything above is left as "site costs to be confirmed", "allowances" or "provisional sums". Those are placeholders, not prices. They get firmed up after you've committed, and that's when totals move.

It isn't that anyone is hiding anything. It's that nobody has looked closely at your site yet. The traditional way prices first and finds out later.

How to find out your real number

The only way to get a total price you can rely on is to have your specific site worked through first: access, slope, soil, services, zoning and overlays. Here's how we do it:

1. Free Land Check. Send us your address. Within 3 business days you'll know what your block needs, any obvious constraints, and which of our homes suit it. If it won't work, we'll tell you.
2. Site Investigation. We visit, commission the reports your site needs and set your total price and handover date before you commit. It's $5,000 inc GST plus the reports at cost, quoted before we order them, and all of it is credited in full to your deposit when you go ahead.
3. Home Contract. Your price, inclusions and handover date, in writing.

Questions to ask any provider

• Is transport and craneage to my site included, or is it extra?
• Which site costs are fixed, and which are allowances?
• Who organises the soil test, survey and bushfire assessment, and are they included?
• Who is responsible for approvals and certification?
• What's on the "not included" list?
• When is the total price actually fixed: before I sign, or after?

This guide is general information about the costs that commonly apply when placing a home on a residential or rural block in Australia. Requirements vary by site, council and state. It isn't a quote or professional advice for your property.