Why $750,000 Doesn't Buy You A $750,000 House

One of the hardest conversations I have is when someone tells me, "We've got $750,000 saved for the build," and then describes a 300-square-metre home with a pool, full landscaping and the works. The maths simply doesn't add up — but they don't know that yet, because no one has walked them through what a build actually costs.
So let me walk you through it. The headline build rate is only the start. Take a 300-square-metre house at $2,500 plus GST per square metre. That alone is $750,000 plus GST. Then add the site itself — if your block slopes or has tricky access, allow around ten per cent more, so another $75,000. A pool isn't $20,000; a proper heated pool with a cover can be $100,000. Landscaping and fencing tends to land near five per cent of the build. If there's an old house to demolish, allow about $20,000 for the knockdown and site prep. Then there are consultants, surveys, energy reports, council fees and permits — usually another $20,000 plus.
Add it up honestly and that "$750,000 budget" can balloon past $1.1 million once GST goes on. And that's before anyone has chosen a single tap.
Here's the part most people miss: money flows out long before a slab is poured. Concept design, detailed drawings, engineering, soil tests and the bill of quantities all get paid for upfront. If you haven't allowed for those, the build phase starts under stress before it has even begun.
My advice? Sit down with everything you actually have — savings, the realistic borrowing limit at a higher interest rate, and a sensible contingency. That's your ceiling. Then tell your builder the real number. A good builder would rather help you design within reality than watch the project unravel later.
If you'd like a straight, honest sit-down on what your numbers can really build, head to inh.com.au/Melbournewesternregion. As a Melbournewesternregion builder focused on family homes and custom new home projects, I'd much rather have the hard chat now than the heartbreak later.