Building Costs

brian@bekasi

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I mentioned in a post a couple of weeks ago that we had sold our house and were moving to Manado to build a new house.

I am wondering if anyone has an idea of the current building costs in Manado. I have used 5 million per square metre with a small contingency as my budget figure and intend at this stage to construction about 300 square meters. I want to commit to an architect hopefully this weekend but I am getting a little worried that I may have underestimate the budget.

Hence I am seeking some advice from anyone who has built recently.

The architect quotes have been reasonable in the range 150,000 to 250,000 per square meter but I am reluctant at this stage to ask them for a construction estimate as they also have building teams that that may quote on the construction.

Ideally we only want to hire labour for the construction with us doing the buying. We will be living next door to the construction site when the work starts so we will be able to get what ever they need when they need it.

My wife has recently decided that she should buy a small house in Bekasi as her son is attending university so hence the reason I am trying to ensure the budget is correct as we had not counted on the additional expenditure.
 
I am wondering if anyone has an idea of the current building costs in Manado. I have used 5 million per square metre with a small contingency as my budget figure and intend at this stage to construction about 300 square meters. I want to commit to an architect hopefully this weekend but I am getting a little worried that I may have underestimate the budget.

Ideally we only want to hire labour for the construction with us doing the buying. We will be living next door to the construction site when the work starts so we will be able to get what ever they need when they need it.

5 mil/m2 would be middle to upper range for Bali, but I understand Manado is more expensive.

Ideally we only want to hire labour for the construction with us doing the buying. We will be living next door to the construction site when the work starts so we will be able to get what ever they need when they need it.

If you can find a contractor willing to do it this way, then that would be nice. Most contractors do the buying however, as that is where their profit comes from.
 
The architect quotes have been reasonable in the range 150,000 to 250,000 per square meter but I am reluctant at this stage to ask them for a construction estimate as they also have building teams that that may quote on the construction.
Hi Brian,
In Manado, Rp 150K to Rp 250K is NOT reasonnable. 100K per sqm would, for a project involving a nice western style house designed from scratch by a local mid level to senior architect.
We are working on a project for a 1.500 sqm three storey house including multiple terraces (700 sqm is the house itself) and have paid an architect 60 millions for it for everything including the RAB (rencana anggaran biaya).
The deal from the beginning was that the architect fee would be based on a 600 sqm building at Rp 100K / sqm (ie 60 jt). Terraces and anything else wouldn't be counted in the fee. After the first few meetings with the architect it appeared that 700 sqm would be the final size of the building but I kept 60 jt as the final fee I would pay. Keep in mind that 99,9 % of the houses in Manado are NOT build with the service of an architect and that there is an even higher percentage of people who would not pay more than 10 jt an architect to work on a house project. Therefore, you are on the right end of the stick to define what the fee should be.
When it comes to building cost, Rp 5.000.000 per sqm would give you you a fair quality mid range house. This being said, the period is good to build. Cement is down below Rp 60.000 a sack which is 10% lower than normal and same goes with many material.
If you want to use top materials, there is no real limit to cost, however you will have to order all materials in Jakarta. Don't expect to find much premium quality material in Manado. As a matter of fact I am building a small (10sqm) bathroom in my office. I went to a shop where they have a large selection of granite tiles: My first three choice of 30cmx60cm tiles: kosong (only 4 dos available for one of them and the two other really kosong).
I wouldn't advice to work with a contractor. I could write a book with all the complaints friends having use contractors in MDC. Get together a team of buiders you trust and use a Mandor to control them if you can't do it yourself/don't have time too.
 
The deal from the beginning was that the architect fee would be based on a 600 sqm building at Rp 100K / sqm (ie 60 jt). Terraces and anything else wouldn't be counted in the fee. After the first few meetings with the architect it appeared that 700 sqm would be the final size of the building but I kept 60 jt as the final fee I would pay. Keep in mind that 99,9 % of the houses in Manado are NOT build with the service of an architect and that there is an even lower percentage of people who would pay more than 10 jt an architect. Therefore, you are on the right end of the stick to define what the fee should be.
This is something important to keep in mind in your nego Brian. Think more about a total fee (ex 15 juta, 25 juta...etc), than a fee per sqm. I would say that, in MDC, already 20 jt for a 300 sqm house not technically too hard to draw, design and plan is a fair deal for an architect. It will require you probably more time in meetings with different architects to find the good one who understand what you want than the time used for the nego to reach an agreement.

Same principle for selection and calculation is true when you will recrute and negotiate with your team of builders.

Keep the control on the selection and purchase of all materials. Notion of what quality is differs from one person to another and it is absolutely true when it comes to contractors. I am yet to find a contractor who understand what quality is when he is the one paying for material. And I have been living in Manado 20 years and have been working on over a dozen project including houses and warehouses..
 
I want to commit to an architect hopefully this weekend
Wait... are you in Manado at the moment? If not, do NOT commit with any architect before having met in persone, preferably several time, having seen some of his past project and making sure you ABSOLUTELY speak the same language.
 
Thank you for the excellent advice.

I will keep the 5 Jt as my base but increase my contingency a fair bit more.

In regards to the Architects, Telly my wife, whom you have met, has gotten the price already down to 100,000,000 per M2 which reinforces what you have said.

We are indeed planning a nice western style house on the the land and all offers to date have been from senior Architects.

We are not in Manado until the 1st week of September 2020 but have a couple of experienced family members who we trust and are available to do what we need in the meantime.

We are building on SBY just past the governors land. Our land is just 1300 M2 but Telly's sister has 6000 M2 plus next door which is partially developed. We have owned the land for the last 7 years but the time has not been right until now due to Telly's business commitments.

As previously stated it is our intention to get a team of builders and source all material our-self as we have a person who can oversee the job.

Ideally we would prefer to get a building team from Java simply because we believe their rendering work and finishing are better. Also they would be camped on site without having to worry about the team leaving half way through to go to another job. Something I have heard story's about it happening in Manado.

However, with the corona virus and reduced flights that may not be possible. So we will not start searching for a team until we get to Manado.

We do intend to source our tiles, kitchen cupboards and a range of other requirements from Jakarta because we are aware of the local supply limitations. Telly's sister had to do that when she built a larger home 2 years ago.

My main concern is now getting together a cost plan where I have a good idea of local costs relating to a building teams labour cost and the separate costs for building materials.

Thanks again.
 
We did a total remodel in a house we bought in Bandung 3-4 years ago. Tearing lots of walls out, adding stairs, and later an elevator, even.

We used an architect that my wife went to school with. The cost was quite low, 3-4 juta for a 200sm residence.

We had a pair of contractors work on it. One was very good, the other was not. We didn’t find the bad stuff out until the end, unfortunately. Luckily, the good contractor fixed the problems.

Our contactors covered all materials in the bid. One problem was we failed to have our architecht detail where all the electrical plugs, and light sockets were. So these were all extras at inflated prices. It was still cheap compared to anything done in the West.

It really pays off to get first hand recommendations for the construction people. We had some people from Jakarta give quotes, only for them to later amend the prices upward 20% because prices in Bandung for materials was higher.
 

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