There’s a lot to keep in mind when building a home anywhere, ranging from securing building insurance to acquiring necessary council permits, finalising documents with contractors, and of course, developing a construction schedule. If you’re going to go through all this trouble anyway in order to build your own home, then why not build the home of your dreams to make all the labour that much more worthwhile?
With its pristine beaches, aquamarine waters, and unique attractions to boot, living on the Gold Coast can feel like an eternal holiday for many. And although building a beachside home on the Gold Coast may have appeared to be a bit of a pipedream in the past, thankfully the strengthening of Brisbane’s economy following the COVID-19 pandemic has yielded plenty of opportunities for those living interstate who may also be looking to make a sea change. If you’ve been looking for an excuse to move to the Gold Coast, now may very well be the perfect time to do it!
That being said, housing prices across Brisbane and surrounding city centres in Queensland have been experiencing steady growth over the past twelve months, with projections continuing to favour existing Brisbane homeowners. As a result, those looking to enter the Gold Coast’s property market are encouraged to act now.
For those looking to commence on their dream home build on the Gold Coast, we’ll be outlining some key factors to consider in order to ensure that your home build goes off without a hitch. Read on to help lay the foundations for your dream home on the Gold Coast.
Location, location, location
As with any home build, finding the perfect lot in an ideal location is paramount to making the most of your brand new home. Naturally, settling on any suitable location will require assessing your budget as a prospective homebuyer, and finding a lot that can be secured without eating too much into the funds allocated for your build.
Sadly, coast-adjacent suburbs are going to be amongst the most difficult to enter for homebuyers operating on an average-sized budget in the Gold Coast. But there are a number of other Gold Coast suburbs that are expected to boast high growth potential for prospective homebuyers who are ready to act now. Securing a lot in any of these growth suburbs can help you see a return on your build investment sooner than later, which may provide you with the equity you need to work towards other higher profile locations in the future.
Whether you’re commencing on your first home build or your third, it’s well worth keeping in mind that investing in real estate must always require homebuyers to play the long game, to an extent. Building in Pimpama now may allow you to save up for another property or even another vacant lot in Helensvale or Pacific Pines in the future.
Finding the perfect home builder
Once you’ve signed all the paperwork and secured yourself a lot, the next step is to find a reputable home builder to help facilitate your build project. Generally, home builders offer their own selection of customisable floor plans for custom home builds, alongside offering spec (or ‘speculative’) homes. Spec homes are the term used to describe homes that are ready to move in now, reducing the need for prospective homebuyers to allocate time and resources towards the completion of a lengthy home building project. Even if you may not be keen on the idea of purchasing a spec home, it’s still worth visiting showhomes and taking tours of these builds completed by your shortlisted building agencies, even if just to see their own completed work firsthand. Be sure to look at professional portfolios for all your shortlisted building agencies, as well as reading through client testimonials to get a good sense of that agency’s reputation and ability to deliver within a desired timeframe and to your own expectations. Assessing all the home inclusions and other additional services or offerings that your shortlisted building agencies can provide, may also help you determine which builders to go with for your home build.
Designing for local weather patterns
Because of the Gold Coast’s unique subtropical climate and proximity to the ocean, prospective home builders are encouraged to consider local weather conditions when commencing on any residential build project. With rates of flooding on the rise, taking steps to ensure that new home builds are naturally flood resilient, can help save Gold Coast homeowners from a lot of stress and perhaps even unnecessary damage expenditures in the years to come.
Humidity is also another evergreen concern for Gold Coast homeowners. As a result, it’s imperative that home builders take measures to reduce the likelihood of constructed homes retaining heat and moisture during humid weather conditions. Installing ceiling fans, HVAC systems, and other fixtures for supporting temperature control can help keep excess moisture at bay. Similarly, selecting ideal materials for home wall, ceiling, and floor insulation can go a long way with regards to making your Gold Coast home a lot more comfortable year-round.
Durability of build materials for coastal properties
There is one particular environmental factor that we’re yet to consider, and that is of course, the proximity of Gold Coast homes to the beach. If you have been able to secure yourself a lot in a high-profile, coast-adjacent suburb like Labrador, you may find your initial jumping for joy to be quickly replaced by concerns for making your new home build as resilient as possible in the face of deterioration caused by coastal elements.
Prospective homebuyers looking to build by the coast should consider using build materials that are best suited to ensuring the longevity of their coastal homes. Materials like granite and concrete are typically considered to be far more durable against wind and salt spray than timber and metals like steel and aluminium. This isn’t to say that you can’t use timber or metals in your home build, in fact these materials can still be used with great success on coastal properties, so long as they’re treated to withstand the unique climate and weather conditions that are characteristic of coastal locations.
Despite the fact that building your dream home on the Gold Coast will undoubtedly require plenty of financial planning on top of scheduling the build itself, you’ll find watching your home come together piece by piece to be a more than worthy reward for all your preliminary hard work.