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What are the costs of residential construction?

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Residential construction can be a costly business, but once you understand the breakdown of these costs, it makes your decision much easier, particularly when you want to build an addition to your home.

Many of us understand the benefits that building an addition can add to our lifestyle, not least being that we don’t really want to move and we can see ways to make our current home more liveable.

Residential construction, such as adding a home office, extra bedrooms, more living space, extending the kitchen or adding additional accommodation for an elderly relative, are all popular ways that we can not only improve our lifestyle, but also increase the value of our home.

The question is – how much does an addition really cost?

Residential construction costs for an addition

To be fair, you won’t know the exact costs of an addition until you have the plans drawn up and your builder can give you a detailed quote. There are generalities however, that you can use to give yourself a reasonable estimate of the overall costs. These estimates will help you to decide whether you can afford to build an addition to your home.

It’s important to realise that if you really need these changes to your home, because they will make your lives much more comfortable, then building an addition is going to be much less expensive than moving to a new home.

Real estate agent’s fees and moving costs can add up very quickly, and even if these relocation costs are only a small percentage of the costs of residential construction, you won’t have to move and you will be increasing the value of your home at the same time. Only you can make this decision, so let’s take a look at some of these costs.

  • A reasonable size for an addition is 80 square metres, which will cost you between $2056 and $3875 per square metre. The difference in these costs depends on the type of construction you choose (for example timber or steel frames) and the quality of the internal fittings. For an 80 square metre addition, these costs usually run to between $165,000 and $310,000 but will be less if you want a smaller addition.
  • If you want to go up rather than out – then your residential construction costs will be less, because there won’t be any foundation work needed, if your home is on a concrete slab. If your home is on stumps, it may need additional strengthening to take the extra weight of a second story. A second story is ideal for people with a small or narrow lot.
  • These costs should include all the basics, such as windows, doors, insulation, interior cladding and roofing. Other essential, such as flooring, blinds, curtains, lighting fixtures, heating, cooling, and all interior fixtures are not included.
  • Essentially, the residential construction costs of an addition give you a weatherproof box, so if you just want a home office, it will cost you a lot less for the internal fittings than for a bathroom.

Your best option is to talk to an expert in residential construction who can give you an idea of the expected costs of your addition. This way, you can organise your finances and set a plan in place to fund your new addition.  

Call us on 0431 065 019 or send us an email to discuss your new addition.