Building on acreage is a different job
Dural is not a suburban build with more lawn. Acreage and semi rural blocks change the project from the ground up, and most of what decides your budget out here has nothing to do with the house itself.
Long driveways have to carry concrete trucks and cranes, not just cars. Services that are a given in a suburb may need to be brought a long way, or replaced with tanks, treatment systems and generators. Bushfire requirements can dictate construction methods and materials. And the site works on a large, sloping, treed block can be a significant part of the total before a single wall goes up.
None of that is a reason to build modestly. It is a reason to understand the block properly before anyone designs for it.
The site decides the project
On a standard suburban block you can reasonably design the house first. On acreage, the sensible order is closer to the reverse: work out where the house can go, how everything reaches it, where the water goes and what the land will and will not allow, and let that shape the design.
We are useful at that stage, even though we do not draw the plans. Someone who has to build the thing will see early where a drawing is going to become expensive, and on a rural block the expensive parts are usually access, earthworks, drainage and services rather than the finishes everybody worries about.
What we build in Dural
Custom homes
Homes built to suit the block rather than dropped onto it. On acreage the orientation, the outlook and the relationship between the house and the land are the whole point, and they are worth more thought than any single internal selection.
Site works, driveways and earthworks
Structural landscaping is where this business began, which matters more here than in most suburbs. Earthworks, retaining, drainage and driveways are a real project on acreage, and having them under the same contract as the house means they are solved together.
Pools
Space is rarely the constraint out here. Access, levels and how far services have to run usually are. See how we design and build concrete pools.
Gardens and outdoor living
A large block needs a plan for the parts nobody lives in as much as the parts they do. Gardens, planting and outdoor rooms designed with the house rather than after it.
What we would want to look at first
Access, and specifically what can physically get to where the house will sit. Fall across the block and what that means for earthworks and drainage. Services, and how far they have to come. Trees and any protection or bushfire requirements attached to them.
Those four things decide most of an acreage budget, and all four are far cheaper to resolve on a site visit than in a variation halfway through a build.
How a build works with us
Start with a conversation. An intro call, then a site visit. We look at your block, listen to the brief and give you a straight early read on scope and budget.
Design and approvals. We do not draw the plans or lodge the approvals, but we stay involved through that stage so what comes out of it is something we can actually build to budget.
A detailed, fixed quote. Inclusions spelt out line by line. We price what is documented and flag the gaps other builders price around, so the number you sign is the number you build to.
The build. Our director runs the site from start to handover, and you deal with him throughout. We limit how many projects we take on each year, which is why we can promise that.
Why a director led boutique builder?
- The person who quoted your project is the person running the site
- Home, pool and landscaping under one contract, one point of responsibility
- HIA NSW Finalists 2018, 2019 & 2023
- 20+ years building across Sydney, with a 5 star Google rating
Common questions
How long does the whole process take?
The front end depends on design and approvals. We do not draw the plans or lodge the approvals, but we stay involved through that stage so what comes out of it is something we can actually build to budget. Once there are approved plans you get a construction program with the quote, and we tell you early if something starts tracking off it rather than at the end.
What makes an acreage build more expensive than a suburban one?
Usually not the house. It is the getting to it: driveway construction that can carry heavy vehicles, earthworks across a large sloping site, drainage, and services that may have to be brought a long distance or replaced with tanks and treatment systems. Those are the numbers worth pinning down early.
Do you build on steep or heavily treed blocks?
Regularly. Slope, tight access and awkward geometry are problems to plan around rather than dealbreakers, and they are the projects we tend to enjoy most. Bring us the block other builders have been vague about.
Can you handle the driveway, earthworks and landscaping too?
Yes, and on a block this size it is the main argument for using us. Home, pool and landscaping under one contract means one point of responsibility for the whole property rather than a house builder and a separate civil contractor pointing at each other.
Get in touch
Call 02 8014 8962 or email enquiry@refinedgroup.com.au. Or start with a no pressure intro call with our director.
