Prelim costs in the construction industry impact the entire project. The preliminary costs refer to all the expenses (one-time costs) before the job even starts on-site.
Prelim costs are usually miscalculated or omitted, but impact your entire project. The easiest way to define preliminaries in construction is as a group of items necessary for a construction company or contractor to complete a project but that won’t become a part of the finished work
1. Planning and Design Costs
Soil test and site classification is an essence before even signing a contract. This is needed for the house designer/drafter, as well as the Engineer, and the Estimating team to be able to provide you with accurate site conditions and pricing.
The architecture / House designer charges you a fixed cost based on the size of the house. for a 350m2 house, you usually need to allow for $5,000 for the house designer.
Depending on the complexity of the block of land, and the slope of the block, Structural Engineers charge you different rates.
If your house requires a block wall, retaining wall, and drop edge beams, engineers usually charge extra.
2. Management and Administrative Costs
These costs include payments to project managers, site managers, and contract admins. Their work is on behalf of the entire project and not just on certain portions. Including those costs in the preliminaries improves transparency for the owner and makes it easier for the builder to accurately account for the costs.
3. Building Certification
Private certifiers are in charge of providing you with all the required approvals for your project. They specialised in building approvals and town planning services for builders and homeowners. Building certifiers manage the building approval and inspection process with all relevant practitioners. This helps ensure that all aspects of the building work comply with the Building Act 1975.
Part of their fees is the fees that city councils usually charge. To access the Brisbane City Council fees, use the below link:
However, each council has its own fees and legislation, and the above costs vary from region to region. You better contact your building certifier before signing the contract and ask for a quotation and advice.
4. QBCC Home Warranty Insurance
Home warranty insurance is a premium the builder pays QBCC to insure residential construction work for fixed-price and cost-plus residential contracts. Home warranty insurance only applies to residential construction work. This insurance covers the homeowner for loss if something goes wrong during the building process.
The premium table can be found here:
5. Paying the levy
The cost of work Levy calculator can be found here:
https://www.qleave.qld.gov.au/building-and-construction/levy-payers/paying-the-levy/levy-calculator
Use SmarteBuild to calculate prelim costs
SmarteBuild Estimating Software is a great tool to accurately and quickly calculate your costs, using pre-existing templates and price lists.
Most of the prices in Smartebuild get updated regularly and are accurate. Also, when a price changes, you can get alerts in your estimates that the price recently has changed.
