Etosha can build your first home to meet your budget, and designed for your block and lifestyle.
 New trends, built well and within budget! Ask us about our special tips for affordability of your first home.

Making building more affordable....

With rising prices in raw materials we've seen a price rise in all raw materials for building that we haven't had in previous years.. since Feb 08 we've had a 70% price rise in steel alone, not to mention the costs of transportng the materials... and that effects all avenues of building industry.... windows, glass, concrete, frames, colorbond and so on.

We've put together a few tips to how to keep your home "cheaper" to build.

1. Face Brick is the cheapest materials to build with. Pre Primed Linear boards or panels comes in similarly.

Bagged and Rendered Brickwork will involve extra labour so will come in at a higher price, especially if it's on a slope or double storey.

2. Concrete Tiled roof is cheaper than a Colorbond custom orb roof. and a simple roof profile or design will also effect the final price, with less hips, valleys and joins.

3. Buy a flat building block. if you can build your home on a concrete slab it will make the whole development cheaper. Sloping sites, however gentle, entail some sort of extra costs.. cutting the block, retaining walls or building on stumps, it will all add costs to the final price.

4. Single level homes are cheaper to build as they don't entail any scaffolding, which will add considerable costs to a house. especially if the weather holds the progress up.

5. Windows - keep them to aluminium sliders. a double hung window will be 50% dearer, and louvers 100% dearer than a slider.

6. Dual Occupancy's and Units... make sure you're aware of the costs involved with council contributions and their variance across different shire councils.. eg a duplex in Byron shire that is $38,000 in contributions can be $14,000 in Ballina Shire.

7. Bush Fire Rating - every new DA has to be approved by the Rural Fire Service. So if your block has trees or bush close by or onsite, this may effect the costs involved in your final home design. If you have category 3 rating it will mean extra costs in special timbers for decks and often gutter guards. a higher rating could mean tyou will have to have all your insect screens in steel mesh... (crim safe).. which could add thousands of dollars to a new home price. Extra water tanks dedicated for fire are also sometimes specified for new homes under fire areas. to see what sort of rating your development could run into contact the Rural Fire Servce at Mullumbimby or your local council for more accurate information.