What are Square Metre Rates?

Renovation Collaborative

If you are trying to figure out how much your renovation ideas will cost, you will have come across square metre rates. But what are they?

In this episode I investigate square metre rates in detail. You will find out what they are, how they are calculated, and why building cost specialists hate using them!

Welcome to the Renovation Collaborative podcast, where I interview industry experts to find out the latest insider info to help you renovate smarter. My name is Stephanie Skyring. I'm an Australian architect with 20 plus years of experience helping people create better, more environmental homes on any budget.

I’ll be talking to highly respected Quantity Surveyor, Flavio Costanzo, from Flavio Costanzo and Associates, in Brisbane.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

00:00 Introduction

01:00 What are square metre rates?

02:10 Where do square metre rates come from?

03:28 What is included in square metre rates?

08:30 What is Rawlinsons?

10:55 What is excluded from square metre rates?

13:44 What are typical items that make square metre rates higher or lower?

16:09 Key Points Summary

KEY POINTS SUMMARY

We cover so much information in this podcast but I just want to stress the three most important points:

1. If you're ever quoted square metre rates, make sure you find out what they include, because that can just be so variable and everyone has a different interpretation.

2. Square metre rates may or may not include verandas or bits and pieces attached to the house, but they never include work outside the house.

So make sure you allow to add all of this on to your building cost work. This includes things like driveways, cut and fill, complex footings, pools, pool houses, landscaping, fences. All of those things need to be added onto your construction cost.

3. Both the quantity surveyor and the building cost estimator really didn't like using square metre rates because they're so variable and it's hard to get a really accurate result.

WANT TO READ MORE?

Download the written version of the entire interview as a PDF. It's edited into clear Q&A so it's easy to follow:

S1:E4 What are Square Metre Rates? - Transcript

Looking for more information on design, construction costs or environment?

You can find everything you need on the Renovation Collaborative website.

• Listen to the full podcast or get the transcript PDF edited into Q & A.
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• You'll also find eleven easy to read courses demystifying the entire home design and construction process.

www.renovationcollaborative.com.au

IN THE NEXT EPISODE

In the next episode, I find out how much it costs to build in Brisbane and South East Queensland in 2024 and the forecast for moving into 2025. I will be talking square metre rates, so it's really important that you take on board everything that we've covered today in this interview.

RESOURCE LINKS

Flavio Costanzo and Associates. Quantity Surveyors and Building Cost Consultants

https://au.linkedin.com/in/flavio-costanzo-6165b22a

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