harryopal wrote
I am not only not about to build but can say with some certainty that I will never build. While not involved with budgeting for building, with other projects in the past it was standard to have a 10%contingency attached. What kind of contingency would you recommend for building here? Bali seems to be studded with uncompleted projects as sentinels warning.... be careful.... really bloody careful that you have enough funding to complete the building whatever the problems.
And I do wonder as a general proposition if rather than building, one buys a property and maybe pays a fee to an established builder or architect to assess the property. If kickbacks are too established with locals then I would have thought there are enough expats around with that kind of expertise.
It also seemed that in Australia shonky building practices feature rather more often these days and with so many shoddy plumbing and other materials sourced from China it would seem probable that any contemporary building may have serious maintenance issues just a few years down the track.
If one went with my advice below, I'd say a 10-15% contingency should be ok, provided you don't make any major changes mid construction. Also, don't forget the extras like landscaping, garden lighting, access road and gate, boundary wall, PLN connection, well, etc. All this stuff can add up and is typically not part of a construction package.
For anyone looking to build, my advice is to first obtain a bill of quantities from an independent quantity surveyor. A bill of quantities will itemize every detail of the build, including structure, MEP and finishing, and price it all out for you. For a normal house, this work shouldn't cost more than Rp. 10 juta or so and will give you a very good idea of what the house should cost based on market prices. It also helps with negotiations with a contractor, as they won't be able to bs you so easily. Having said that, if you choose to use a contractor, it's key that you have good chemistry with both the company owner and the project manager/site manager, and have seen some of their other builds. A fixed price contract, with progress payments tied to actual completion and retention amounts are also essential in my view. The better contractors will also give warranties. We got five years warranty on the structure, which was better than the usual standard of 6-12 months.
