Owner/Builder

[BayView]

We are soon to begin the steps for building a new house on our block.

We have only spoken briefly to a surveyor at this stage, and have not engaged anyone to do anything yet.

We are in no hurry to get this done, and having already built using a builder some years ago, I was interested in doing it as an owner/builder and subcontracting out all the work in the various stages, and call for tenders for each job.

I feel I can manage the project myself, and have the time to coordinate all the different aspects such as sourcing materials, arranging inspections and so on, and I don't mind putting in the time to save a good whack of dough.

I have done a few renovations now and will also do some of the work myself where rules allowed, such as painting and tiling, landscaping etc.

Has anyone done this, and what are the pitfalls to be aware of?

 

[battle on]

Hi LA

We have done this a couple of times now and its good to hear your not in a hurry. The fact that people just did not turn up was by far our greatest problem. The concreter was my biggest nemisis, took him 8 months to do the slab and I ended up doing a lot of the work myself to keep things moving. He is very good so was in high demand as were all good tradesmen back then. Didnt drop his price even though I did half his job.

I would suggest really shopping around for timber, trusses, concrete, plumbing etc as prices varied by the thousands so some good savings are to be had from the time and effort expended.

All in all we saved tens of thousands doing things ourself where we could and I really think we did a better job most of the time. We just had more pride and took greater care doing the work and it created a better result.

It will be an interesting time for you but be ready for a few headaches.

Goodluck with it all

 

[BayView]

Thanks for that Battle On.

Yes; I'm aware of the hold-ups, and it's part of the deal I'm afraid.

I have the plumber and sparky covered already - both my brothers-in-law.

 

[keithj]

Hi LA,

Some tradesmen (espec the good ones) won't work for owner builders.
There will be things that fall between the cracks of the different trades that a builder would normally do himself.
Lots of things need to be certified by council (or a suitably licenced person) & you won't know what they are until after they've been covered by plasterboard or concrete or paint.
As an owner builder YOU are ultimately responsible for everything, even though you know nothing about building codes etc.
Expect things to go wrong & be slow.
There's never a right order to do things in - everything is a compromise.
If you're an owner builder you'll probably never finish lots of little things.
And if you do much of the finishing yourself, you'll be looking at slight imperfections for the next 10 years & wishing you spent an extra 20 minutes doing it propertly.... if someone else had done it exactly the same you'd never even know it wasn't perfect.

...I speak from experience

Cheers Keith

 

[PWL]

Hi

We have done this many times in the past. We have learnt over time some of the tricks the builders do. On the saving money side of things, for tendering out, the best way to get the most cost effective quotes is by sending tenders to at least 10 different contractors, suppliers, etc. We prefer to do this via email ( makes it so much better and easier than fax). Make sure you get your draftsman or architect to issue you with all the pdf files of the plans of your home. Set emails up ready to go for each different trade or supplier. Getting quotes is so much easier this way, and the subbies prefer this. Make sure you ask to get your quotes back by email, so everything is on file. We try to avoid faxes all the time. Have folders, subfolders, etc set up on your computer for all your quotes, materials, etc. The key is to bey organised and be very professional when you are dealing with your subcontractors. When sending emails out, in most cases you dont need to state being an owner builder, just make out your a builder, by always telling them that you are an owner builder can be asking for trouble sometimes as sometimes they try to get it over you with quotes.
The idea of getting say 10 quotes back from each trade is to get the best possible price. Having everything filed is so much easier to keep things organised.
One other trick to do is to find out all the subbies that one of your local project builder uses, their are ways of finding these out, bit of researching. This is a good idea because generally the major builders have done all the homework and sourced the best possible subbies at the best possible price. And you can be sure that they are doing houses everyday, and are very experienced in doing slabs everyday, frames everyday, roofs everyday, all domestic house work, etc. They wont be guys that do renos here, bits pieces there, if you know what i mean.
Also, these subbies will be used to pricing up the project builders tenders and will generally be very well priced.

These are just a few simple tricks, hope this has helped somewhat.

Good Luck building.

 

[Minx]

Hi LA,

Some tradesmen (espec the good ones) won't work for owner builders.
There will be things that fall between the cracks of the different trades that a builder would normally do himself.
Lots of things need to be certified by council (or a suitably licenced person) & you won't know what they are until after they've been covered by plasterboard or concrete or paint.
As an owner builder YOU are ultimately responsible for everything, even though you know nothing about building codes etc.
Expect things to go wrong & be slow.
There's never a right order to do things in - everything is a compromise.
If you're an owner builder you'll probably never finish lots of little things.
And if you do much of the finishing yourself, you'll be looking at slight imperfections for the next 10 years & wishing you spent an extra 20 minutes doing it propertly.... if someone else had done it exactly the same you'd never even know it wasn't perfect.

...I speak from experience

Cheers Keith

I agree with everything.

Also I wouldn't rule out letting them know your an owner builder. From what I have heard they are able to get a better price as most owner builders who build their ppor would rather save their 10% of the total cost.
However like keithj said some work for custom builders only (my partner does that) and will help out mates when required.
I also wouldn't make out that your a builder. A builder understands the job 100%. E.G it is the builders responsibility to work out quantaties of material and purchasing it. If it is known that you are an owner builder a tradie may help you with explaining things as they understand that you may not know some things.

 

[casper007]

Life is too short ...

If you don't factor in your own hourly rate and you pay above what major project builders will for materials and trades ... add to that the waiting ... loss of rental income and I think it is not worth the trouble... Better pay the builders margin

I have read many times on this forum why it is better to have a professional property manager managing your IP ... then why bother trying to build one

Even with your PPOR ... I still think it is a headache ... especially if it takes forever ... by the time you move in you feel like you have already lived there for two years and the love just isn't there.

Give me a nice 15 week build guarantee every time. (And I have built 7 times always with project builders).

Good luck though ... as it is a free world

 

[Rolf Latham]

Hiya

If you need finance, many lenders will hold the LVR down to 60ish though some will do 80 and above, but they are a hassle

ta
rolf

 

[BayView]

Hiya

If you need finance, many lenders will hold the LVR down to 60ish though some will do 80 and above, but they are a hassle

ta
rolf

Won't need finance. The sale of our current PPoR will cover the whole amount of land and building.