Frequently Asked Questions

We have hundreds of custom home designs available which can be modified in any number of ways. You can click here to view just some of them. If none of these suit your needs, we will be happy to custom design and price your own plan from scratch.

Yes, we provide a full colour and interior design service to you at no charge when you build a new home with Alphaline Homes. Click here to read more about our Colour and Design Studio. 

Alphaline Homes has a 6 progress payment schedule for a single storey house build:

• Deposit: 5% of the contract price, so we can go through council for approvals.
• Base: 15% of the contract price, this is due after slab is down.
• Frame: 20% of the contract price, this is due after the frame is up.
• Enclosed: 25% of the contract price, this is due once the house has been cladded & roof on.
• Fixing: 20% of the contract price, this is due once all internal trims have been installed.
• Practical Completion: 15% of the contract price, this is when home is ready for you to move in.

All new homes built in Queensland must comply with the Government’s 6-star energy efficiency rating.

Most of our home designs comply with the energy rating as standard. However, due to the use of some building materials, the positioning of your home and certain structural changes, they may not completely comply. In such cases, we add other energy efficient features to your design such as double-glazed windows, extra insulation, solar panels and  ceiling fans to ensure your home complies with the 6-star rating.

Click here to learn more about the 6-star energy efficiency rating. 

When you choose to build with Alphaline, you will have a whole team dedicated to making your new dream home a reality, including:

• Sales Consultant: The sales person will work with you, to do the first process of the DNA (Design Needs Analysis) which is a great process to find out about your needs, lifestyle and a brief for the design team
• Design Consultant: The design consultant will take you through the design phase and be your main point of contact, up until construction starts. This team is all about making this design phase an enjoyable and relaxing journey
• Interior and Colour Consultant: The design consultant will put you in touch with the colour and selection contact who will make your dream home come together with colours and furniture if required
• Client Liaison: This contact will be your main point of contact during construction, if any change orders or variations are required along the way
• Site Manager: The site manager will meet you on site as required to ensure the build goes smoothly during construction

Yes, absolutely. This is usually a small upgrade, depending on how far the range-hood is from the external wall of the home. This extra cost can be between $250 and $1500

BAL refers to the Bushfire Attack Level. If your property is located in a bushfire prone area, you will be required to have a BAL Consultant do a site assessment to determine the extent of this and devise ways to improve the ability of your home to withstand a bushfire attack. This may mean a change in insect screens, door seals, etc. 

At Alphaline Homes, we will work through this with you to minimise the risk and additional cost that this may cause.

You will be required to have a sewerage treatment system designed and installed. This will need to be designed site specific, subject to soil assessment and the number of bathrooms in your plan.

This depends on your situation. If you are buying for an investment with your self-managed super fund, you will need to have one contract. Other than a self-managed super fund, you are best to do 2 contracts (one for the land and one for the build). This will dramatically reduce the stamp duty you need to pay as you do not need to pay stamp duty on the build.

When building a home for yourself and your family, it’s important to customise the home to suit your needs and not go with a plan that has been designed to suit someone else’s needs. Everyone’s needs are different and every block of land is different. You do not want to choose a design that has been designed for a block of land facing west when your block of land faces east. The winds will come from a different direction or there may be views you want to take advantage of. The frontage and size may be different. The contours may be different e.g. a slopping block. 

Alphaline Homes will help you design your home & future proof it for 20 years to come.

This is a very good question. You’ll need to look at the costs of both and the design you want to achieve.

At Alphaline Homes, we do renovations and new builds, so our team are able to come to your site to look at your options.

Click here to read more on our knock down and rebuild process. 

There are many things to think about before building your dream home.

• Firstly, you need to think of location – where do your kids go to school? Where are the nearest shops?
• Lifestyle – how do you live, entertain, hobbies?
• Design – what type of layout do you like, how much storage do you need in your home?
• Knowing your budget – do you want to engage a broker or go direct with a bank?

Click here to read our blog post on the Top Things to Consider when Designing a Custom Home.

Everyone has different things that are important to them when choosing a builder. Some are:

• Quality of the build – is your builder a perfectionist?
• Communication – how well will the builder communicate with you while the home is under construction?
• Trust – can you trust your builder to build your dream home exactly the way you want it?
• Transparency –  is your builder transparent or are they hiding costs until after the contract has been signed?
• Flexibility – do you have a range of choices in terms of design and inclusions?
• Good reputation – look at their reviews and look up their Licence building number.
• Good design process – when the design and planning is done well, the building process will go well too

There are definitely options available. Just ask us about our ‘Rent Assistance Program’. Click here to get in touch today. 

The design phase. If you spend more time on planning, the construction side will go a lot smoother. Failing to plan = planning to fail.

An easement is a section of land registered on your property title which gives council, or someone else such as your neighbour, the right to use that land for a specific purpose. The most common forms of easements are rights of way and easements for services, such as water, electricity or sewerage. Easements are usually but not always registered on the title to the property.

If you have an easement on your land, you will not be able to build any structure on or over the easement land or use the easement land in any way which interferes with the rights of the benefited party.

Building covenants (also referred to as land covenants, estate covenants, restrictive covenants, developer covenants or development control by-laws) are set by the developer of an estate to ensure every home built within the estate has a consistent look and feel. These guidelines can affect your façade colour selections and material selection. This could mean there are certain restrictions designed to ensure a harmonious appearance across homes within the estate.

Our design team will work with you to ensure the design of your home complies to any relevant covenants.

Exposed aggregate concrete is a form of decorative concrete achieved by removing the top layer of the cement paste and revealing the underlying aggregate.

The decorative aggregate provides a very durable, skid-resistant surface that is great for driveways as well as pool decks and patios.

A soil test involves a geotechnical engineer coming out to your block of land and taking soil samples from your site. To do this, they drill holes into the ground to see what the soil is doing at different levels. From that they’ll be able to see how “reactive” the soil is on your site.

Reactivity refers to how much it will expand, or move, and what type of structural foundation and support it will provide.

The geotechnical engineer will complete a soil report which includes the classification of your soil. There are different levels of classification. All of this information is important for our structural engineer to be able to design the structure for your house, the foundations, the footing and the slab.

Waffle slabs are a reinforced concrete footing and slab system, laid on the ground in the first step of constructing your new home. When viewed from underneath they look like a waffle, hence the name.

Waffle slabs are ideal for flat sites and their engineered design means that we use less concrete than an ordinary slab. This means that your project will be completed faster.

In combination with concrete, these slabs use polystyrene, meaning that they have high thermal efficiency – keeping your house warm in winter and cool in summer. As less concrete is required, the overall project is more environmentally friendly.

This is a report that is usually associated with town planning applications and involves an assessment completed by an arborist (or tree specialist) that outlines potential hazards. For example, trees that are likely to cause damage to structures of a home and impact upon the landscape and character of the site.

We can arrange an arborist report for you for an additional fee if it is a requirement of your permit, or you can arrange one yourself.