Save Money On Building A Pergola, Verandah, Deck, Alfresco – Comprehensive Guide

Introduction

This comprehensive guide provides information and tips on not only how to save money on your outdoor structure build.

Although I have mentioned pergolas, decks, verandahs and alfresco areas in the title, this can apply to any other outdoor project such as a carport, garage, shed, etc.

The main topics we will look at will include the following:

  • Choosing A Surveyor
  • Choosing A Draftsman
  • Choosing and Working With A Builder
  • Doing It Yourself (DIY) – Building Yourself
Building Surveyor

Choosing A Surveyor

The surveyors’ job is to provide:

  1. A list of any and all permits that are required for your project.
  2. The cost of all the permits.
  3. An indication of the time it will take to obtain the permits.
  4. The process once permits are obtained, ie inspections, final sign off of the project, final certificate, etc.

If you are dealing with a draftsman or architect, they may provide some of the above information and costs on behalf of the surveyor.

Surveyors’ Fees

Due to the enormous number of councils across Australia, it is impossible to give an “average cost” for a single building permit.

On receiving a quote or quotes from a couple of surveyors’, you can call your local council and ask what their charges are for the permit, overlay or town planning permits that the surveyor has outlined.

If you have only received one quote from one surveyor and the fees quoted are much higher than councils, get more quotes until you are happy.

One item to note is that to get a quote, many surveyors will want actual plans or at minimum a very accurate handwritten plan of what is to be built including all structures on the property and elevations.

Additional Surveyor Costs

To issue a building permit, most surveyors’ will also require additional paperwork such as:

  • Title
  • Property information certificate.
  • Legal point of discharge.
  • Bushfire attack level assessment.
  • Etc

Whether the surveyor, draftsman or architect is supplying these, they will all charge an additional admin fee to obtain these documents on your behalf.

Here are some examples of additional fees:

  • The cost to obtain your title from the titles office is typically $25, your surveyor or draftsman may charge between $40 to $60.
  • Filling out the building permit application form and sending it to the surveyor, $80 to $150.
  • If a bushfire attack level assessment is required, the typical charge for this between $150 to $250. This can be done by yourself at no cost.

All these small costs tend to add up!

When getting quotes make sure you know what you are being charged for each item and what each item actually is. If you are unclear, write a list and have a quick 10-minute discussion with your surveyor, architect or draftsman.

Where to find documents you may require?

  • Land and or titles office in your state.
  • Planning in your state.
  • Utility companies you use, ie for legal point of discharge, sewage, power cables.
  • Local council.
  • Dial before you dig.

Additional tip: if dealing with bushfire certificates and or land data, sometimes you can get this information for free from one resource rather than having to pay for it from another resource.

For example, sometimes information can be downloaded from planning for free rather than paying for it on landata.

Resources mentioned above, using Victoria as an example.

Soil Testing

As a general rule of thumb, soil testing is undertaken in the following situations:

  • Poor soil – P or H.
  • Sandy soil – near a beach.
  • Fill – soil that has been brought in to raise the level of the ground.
  • Large decks & verandahs that either:
    • Carry large loads.
    • Are high off the ground, one to two metres.
  • Require large concrete pads.

If your surveyor does state that soil testing is required, have a conversation on why it is required.

Most verandahs, pergolas, alfresco areas and especially decks should not need soil testing as there is no uplift to be concerned about.

Soil testing costs anywhere between $450 and $600 for a standard outdoor living project.

Draftsman

Choosing A Draftsman Or Architect

For the most part in this section I will be looking at draftsman.

The reason for this is that architects in general will be more expensive. Also given that outdoor structures typically do not require a high degree of detail such as house plans would, a decent draftsman is the best option.

So what price should you pay for drafting from a draftsman? Although drafting for outdoor living structures is not complicated, as a rough estimate the time taken to draft each plan would go in the following order of least time to most time.

  • Verandahs, Carports & Pools.
  • Garages & Large Sheds
  • Alfresco Areas.

Be aware that the above is a general rule of thumb. More time for drafting will be applicable for items such as.

  • Unique designs – ie, a heritage carport with arched trusses, turned posts, lattice.
  • Added Features – ie, a verandah with a feature wall or a deck with many large steps/individual small decks on their own.
  • Additional council requirements – ie, shadowing diagrams, boundary setback of neighbours properties, etc.

Draftsman Fees or Pricing

Although I have been out of the game for a few years now, a reasonable price for a draftsman for a single outdoor structure would be between $800 and $1,200 for a single structure.

If you were to add a verandah to a deck, an additional fee of approximately $300 would be added.

Not that as the verandah and deck are combined, the fee for the verandah should be less.

If on the other hand you were having drafted two separate projects (two separate plans), the fee in most cases would be $800/$1,200 x 2.

Draftsman Providing All Services Including Surveyor Cost

As discussing surveyors previously, you may go with a draftsman that provides all services inclusive of permits via a surveyor the deal with.

As with any other quote:

  1. Always get additional quotes.
  2. Decide and or discuss with your draftsman if there is any paperwork you can fill out or provide yourself to save money.
  3. If you are unhappy with any of the quotes, service or attitude of a draftsman befoer you choose them, simply go elsewhere.

The same as a surveyor, a draftsman should provide you with:

  1. A list of any and all permits that are required for your project.
  2. The cost of all plans & permits.
  3. An indication of the time it will take to:
    1. Draw the plans.
    2. Obtain all permits.
  4. The process once permits are obtained, ie inspections, final sign off of the project, final certificate, etc.
Carpenter

Choosing A Pergola, Verandah, Deck, Alfresco Builder

What the builder should do and or provide:

  1. Be on time to the initial quote! If they are not on time, a curtsey call to say they are running late.
  2. If they are held up on a job, a call to ask for another appropriate time to meet and discuss your project.
  3. Always be courteous and polite.
  4. Advice and suggestions on what and how to best build the project that you envision.
  5. Issues that may need to be addressed both before the build and during.
  6. Some idea of what permits may be required.
  7. An estimate of how many days such a build would require.
  8. If additional services are required such as permits or painting, can the builder provide these or do they know of service providers that can.
  9. Within a few days, week at the most a detailed quote for your build including all items that were discussed and requested.

What you, the client should do and or provide:

  1. Be on time, just as the builder should.
  2. Have at least some decent ideas of what you want built and the materials you would like to use.
  3. Have appropriate paperwork on hand that might be helpful such as the house title, house plans, drainage diagrams from utility companies, etc.
  4. Discuss your budget, if you have a set budget in mind.
  5. Discuss when the build may commence if you have considerations around seasons of the year, holidays, etc.

What Builder To Choose – Saving Money

When it comes down to saving money, the basic rule of thumb is the smaller the business or company, the cheaper the quote will be.

A carpenter with a single apprentice or a company with one person and a two-man crew simply do not have the overheads of a large company and therefore charge less.

Lets’ look at two comparisons.

  1. A carpenter with an apprentice, the overheads may look like the following:
    • Carpenters daily rate – $600
    • Apprentices daily cost – $350.
    • Daily business running costs – $60 to $120.

This brings the cost to $1,000 per day or even up to $1,200 per day depending on whether the business also adds profit rather than just wages. Additional costs would need to be accounted for if a plumber is required, ie verandah, carport, etc.

A small company with one owner and a two-man crew, might be $1,500 to $1,800 per day.

  1. A company with several crews, the overheads may look something like:
    • Carpenters pay rate – $600
    • Apprentices daily cost – $300.
    • Factory rental daily – $100 to $200 or more.
    • Business running costs? Cars, mobile phones, insurances, the list goes on.
    • Large company – large marketing budget.

Therefore, this company’s daily rate might be $2,000 to $3,000.

Choosing A Builder – General Discussion

Here are some general dos and don’ts when dealing with your builder.

Things You Can Do

Go with your gut – For most people their intuition serves them well. Therefore, if you have a met what you think is a good builder and they can do the work, choose them.

Negotiate? – If you like the builder and you think their price is a little high in comparison to other quotes, have an honest discussion based on those facts. Also keep in mind the following:

  1. How much wage you would be asking the builder to forgo when asking for a discount.

For example, if you ask for a 5% discount and the builder is charging $1,000 a day, a 5% discount is actually 10% off their personal wage.

  1. Issues always come up on a build, many of which that are not in the contract. Some can be small, some large.

In many cases, if the builder has some margin left in the build, he will rectify these issues with no additional charge.

If you have negotiated so hard that there is no margin left in the build, he will turn to the contract and charge you extra and in many cases with admin, delivery costs and so on.

Due to the fact that you negotiated hard may just cost you double the amount of money you saved on those negotiations.

Ask about options – In many cases, your builder will know which materials more expensive and less expensive. What looks good and what does not. Make sure to discuss all these options so you are getting the best value for money with your build.

Sometimes, by decreasing the size of your build just slightly you can remove one or more permits required. Examples can be that you are close to a boundary fence or the length of carport.

Have this discussion with your builder.

Read over the contract rather than just signing on the dotted line.

You may have agreed with option A, option A was in the quote but then missing from the contract. Option A then was not provided during the build.

Mistakes happen, 99% of the time not on purpose nor with ill intent.

At the end of the day, the contract that is signed is the only binding contract. Do your due diligence and make sure that all items discussed and quoted on are included in the contract.

If not, this leads to a soured relationship with your builder and you having to fork out more money on the build.

Things Not To Do

Quote the materials & labour separately – Asking the builder to provide a quote that separate’s materials & labour is something to avoid and is rude.

No one goes into a car dealership and asks them to provide individual prices on the materials, labour, advertising, etc that makes up the price of the vehicle. Or for that matter any other product you may purchase, so why do it with your builder?

You the client will supply the materials – You can ask however in most cases the builder will say know for several reasons.

  1. Time.
    • The builder usually has all the fixings, nails, brackets, etc either in his truck or already bulk purchased. He will then need to write out separate lists and provide you with these.
    • Quality of materials. He will need to either:
      1. Visit the site and make sure the materials are of decent quality before the build thus adding to his workload.
      2. If not visiting the site to check the materials and he starts the working only to find at lunch time the materials are wrong or of poor quality, what does he do? Pack up and waste half a day or more until you manage to swap out the materials?
  1. Warranties – If some of the timber you have supplied has internal defects of which can’t be seen and becomes a problem not too long after. Who pays for the replacement?
Pergola Builder

DIY – Build The Pergola, Verandah, Deck, Etc Yourself, Saving Money On Materials

Here are some general tips on saving money.

Structural Timber – depending on where you live, the best bang for your buck for structural timber is Bunnings!

If you have an ABN (free to get from the government), you can sign up for a Bunnings powerpass account and get 5 to 10% off all timber purchases.

If you don’t have Bunnings nearby, check all local timber yards and also ask if they offer discounts through membership.

Nails – Again Bunnings is the go on this one.

Bolts & Brackets – There are many specialty stores in most major cities that sell these items and some that can also be found online.

As an example, The Bolt Bloke in Bayswater Melbourne sells galvanized bolts at 50% less than Bunnings.

Other Building Materials in individual Market Segments – Many other discount building suppliers can be found who only concentrate on one market segment or niche. Here are some examples below.

Conclusion

Get lots of quotes, do your research and due diligence as much as possible, know what you want to build, and all should go well.

Best of luck with your pergola, verandah, deck, alfresco, pool or carport build! 🙂