One of the first questions people ask us when they’re thinking about building is, “What’s your square-metre rate?” It’s a fair question because, before you start spending money on architects, consultants and plans, you want to know whether the home you have in mind is actually within reach.
The problem is that a square-metre rate only tells you so much. Two homes can have exactly the same floor area and end up with very different build costs depending on the site, structure, finishes and complexity of the design.
Rather than avoiding the question, we think it’s more useful to explain what the number actually means, where we currently see custom-home costs starting on the NSW South Coast, and what tends to push them higher.
Start with around $4,000 per square metre
For a fairly straightforward, mid-range new custom home, nicely finished without going over the top, we currently see costs starting at around $4,000 per square metre, build only. It’s important to treat that as a starting point rather than a rate you can apply to every custom home.
It also means build only, so landscaping, driveways and consultant, design and engineering fees need to be allowed for separately. Once you move beyond a relatively straightforward home and site, the rate can change considerably.
More structural steel, difficult access, higher bushfire requirements, expensive cladding, extensive glazing or detailed joinery can all increase the cost. That’s why we’re cautious about comparing builders purely on a square-metre figure. Unless you know exactly what has been allowed for, you aren’t necessarily comparing the same thing.
Look at where the number comes from
We don’t want our estimating to rely on an industry rule of thumb or what we remember another project costing. At the end of our projects, we back-cost the work so we can see where the money actually went, looking at costs against the size and level of finish of completed projects and tracking individual tasks and labour as the job progresses.
Over time, that gives us real information from the homes we’ve actually built and helps us understand which parts of a project have the greatest effect on cost.
It also highlights something that’s easy to miss when you’re looking at square-metre rates online. Floor area is only one part of the equation. A relatively simple home on an accessible block is one thing, while a similar-sized home on a steep coastal site with substantial structural steel, large areas of glazing and a high level of architectural detailing is a very different build.
Look at the structure before worrying about tapware
Clients naturally spend a lot of time thinking about kitchens, flooring, tiles and bathroom fittings. Those choices certainly affect the budget, but they’re not always where the biggest costs are hiding.
Structure is often a much bigger factor. More structural steel and concrete means more material, more engineering and usually more labour, while retaining walls, complex foundations and structural requirements created by the architectural design can add considerable cost before you get anywhere near choosing finishes.
The number of storeys matters as well. Going up generally means additional structure, more difficult access for trades and materials, and more time involved in construction.
None of this means you should avoid an ambitious architectural design. It simply means the construction implications need to be considered as part of the budget from the beginning rather than discovered once the drawings are finished.
Factor in what the block asks of the build
We see some beautiful building sites across the NSW South Coast, but the things that make a block appealing can also make it more complicated to build on. A steep block, for example, may give you a fantastic outlook while also requiring excavation, retaining, stepped foundations and more complicated access.
The same applies to services and site access. If getting machinery or materials onto the block is difficult, that affects how the job needs to be planned and built, while soil conditions and the location or availability of services can add another layer of complexity.
If you’re still looking for a block, our guide to choosing land for a Jervis Bay build goes into these issues in more detail. A cheaper block isn’t always a cheaper project once you understand what will be required to build on it.
Understand what your BAL rating means for the budget
Bushfire requirements are another important consideration across parts of the South Coast. If your property is on bushfire-prone land, the Bushfire Attack Level, or BAL, affects the construction requirements for the home, with higher ratings potentially introducing tighter requirements around glazing, external materials, ember protection and other parts of the building.
BAL-29 is generally more manageable from a construction point of view than BAL-40 or BAL-FZ. By the time you reach Flame Zone, the material and construction requirements can have a substantial effect on cost, so it’s something worth understanding before too much work goes into the design.
A higher BAL rating doesn’t necessarily make a block unsuitable for the home you want to build, but it needs to be factored into the design and budget early. We explore this in more detail in our guide to building in bushfire zones on the South Coast.
Decide where the finishes really matter to you
Once you have a handle on the site and structure, finishes are where your own priorities start to have a bigger influence. Flooring can range considerably in price, as can external cladding, particularly when you move into more detailed timber products. Bathrooms can become expensive quickly once you increase the extent or cost of tiling, while kitchens and custom joinery can vary enormously depending on the design and materials.
The important thing isn’t to choose the cheapest option everywhere. If you’re building a custom home, there will probably be areas where spending more genuinely matters to you, and having a realistic budget allows you to make those decisions deliberately.
If the kitchen is central to how your family lives, for example, you might decide that’s where you want to invest while keeping other parts of the house simpler. Those decisions are much easier to make when you understand their effect on the overall budget as the design develops.
Treat renovations differently from new homes
Square-metre rates become even less useful when you start talking about renovations and additions. A straightforward new addition can sometimes be considered in a similar way to new construction, while at the other end of the scale, a home that is almost completely stripped internally and externally before being rebuilt can also start to resemble a new-build cost.
It’s everything in between that becomes difficult to reduce to a simple rate because, with an existing home, we’re working with what is already there. Once walls or floors are opened up, you may find structural work that needs attention, services that need upgrading or parts of the existing building that need to be brought up to current requirements.
That’s why we price renovations according to the scope rather than relying on a flat square-metre figure. If you’re deciding whether to work with the house you already have, our article on renovating versus a knockdown rebuild covers some of the practical and financial considerations worth looking at before you commit either way.
See how this plays out on real projects
Our completed projects are probably the easiest way to show why one square-metre rate can’t tell the whole story.
Our Bendalong Building Project was a knockdown rebuild designed by Madeleine Blanchfield Architects for clients planning their retirement home. It sits towards the upper end of the work we do, with the architectural detailing and coastal site contributing to a more involved build.
The Dawn Home at Callala Beach is a different example. This was a two-storey holiday home renovation around 50 metres back from the beach, so the cost story wasn’t simply about floor area. We were working with an existing structure, which meant what was already there and what became apparent as the building was opened up formed part of the job.
These projects show why a bigger house isn’t automatically more expensive per square metre and a smaller house isn’t automatically cheap. You need to look at what you’re actually building, where you’re building it and what will be required to get it built.
Get the budget involved while you can still change the design
One of the more frustrating situations for everyone involved is getting to the end of the design process and discovering that the home costs considerably more to build than you expected. By then, an architect may have put a lot of work into the design, you might be understandably attached to it, and reducing the price can mean revisiting decisions that have already been made.
It’s much easier to have that conversation while the design is still developing. Our Early Contractor Involvement process brings the builder into the design phase so construction costs can be considered alongside the architecture.
If structural changes, material choices or other design decisions are likely to have a major impact on the budget, identifying them at this stage gives the client, architect and builder an opportunity to work through the options before everything is locked in.
Use the square-metre rate as a starting point, not the budget
If you’re planning a custom home on the NSW South Coast in 2026, around $4,000 per square metre – build only, is a reasonable place to start the conversation for a mid-range new custom home, but it shouldn’t become the budget for the project without looking at what sits behind that figure.
Consider your block, any bushfire requirements, the amount of structure your design will need and where you actually want to spend on finishes. Most importantly, get those details in front of a builder while there is still time to make sensible decisions about the design and budget.
A square-metre rate can help you work out whether you’re roughly in the right range, but a proper look at your site, brief and design is what tells you whether the project actually stacks up. If you’re considering a new home or renovation on the South Coast and want to understand what your project is likely to involve, you can send us the details of your build and we can start the conversation from there.