Owner Builder - Hawkesbury Sydney

Hi all,

After reading many posts I thought I would start my own, after buying our property 5 years ago, we have decided to start our project, plans have been approved, husband has been moving dirt around for a few weeks and we are now organising for the slab to go down. Can't wait for the slab to go down, i think it will make it feel really real.

Have been going crazy getting quotes for bricklayers, plumbers, carpenters, windows, metal roofing and the rest of I know it is just the being.

We are trying to decide between a prefab frame or cut on site if anyone has any input.

Has anyone visiting the renovators auctions in Sydney?

Looking forward to sharing our experience and hearing any advice you all may have. Any recommendations for trades or suppliers are more than welcome or any cost saving secrets.

An exciting time for you, DCV!

One comment I'd say with the pre-fab framing vs cut-on-site: I'm doing the latter, and it's allowing a lot of "design on the go" (ie: adding cupboards, removing walls, etc etc). No matter how much you plan ahead and envisige your home, you'll always see ways to improve it as the build advances.

Best of luck!

Whichever way you go with frame make sure you have a good frame carpenter. When you get quotes from frame carpenter get them to add a day labour rate for adding noggins for toilet roll holders and towel rails and wall hung TVs and adding any timbers for the plasterers (can't think of the terminology at this minute), think about extra timber lengths for bulkheads and eaves.
What Johnson said about cuton site allowing for changes on the go, we had prefab and moved doorways, door heights, increased/decreased niche sizes, added a platform in home theatre, added bulkheads in home theatre, changed framework in the corner of the kitchen so we could utilise the corner from the pantry on the other side of the kitchen. It didn't stop us from making changes.
Issue with prefab is they can be out by a little or a lot. I got mine from Fleetwood Timbers on Central Coast. They were great to deal with and we made so many changes throughout the quoting process. When the frames turned up, they were perfect. Not out even the slightest but I have heard it is quite common for frames to be out by 100mm by the time they get from front I back. Actually they only issue we had with the frames was they forgot the double doorway into the master bedroom. In 30mins, carpenter had fixed it. No big deal. Charge back to frame company those costs.

Excitement and nerves are high. The next two weeks are all about the slab. Tomorrow everything is being marked out with the piers to be dug and poured on Tuesday.

Bricks and Bricklayer have been locked in - Austral King brick.

We are leaning towards the cut on site frame, just meeting with the carpenter next week for some final questions.

Really need to make a decision on Windows, we are looking at Double Hung Aluminium windows, with Colonial bars. Hope I am doing the right thing with the colonial bars. Windows at the moment is between Airlite or Wideline. Let me know if you have any feedback.

Hi dcv

Congratulations on beginning your build

Re the frame - we went with a pre fab treated frame.
For us "time = money" and prefabs go up a hell of a lot quicker - ours was stood up, nailed down and squared in 3 days. Also easily did plenty of mods to the frame on site, shifted a few walls, changed bits like a doorway position, a cupboard position, moved a window, added extra noggins for TV's, etc

Our frame supplier also did an on site slab measure (included in our price) the day after pour, to no issues with accuracy.

Re colonial windows - our past experience - look great ....but a pain to paint - if wooden, and a pain to clean - can't just run a squeegee over the window - have to do each panel individually.

Good luck with the build - just make sure you get a few quotes for each item/job - to check you aren't getting ripped off.
Also -make sure you are comparing like with like in quotes - that they are all supplying exactly the same thing.

Finally- be wary with those that do jobs by hourly rate, and not quote the whole job completed.
Some tradies work slow and the hours can add up real quick!! Our chippy is the only tradie in our build we trust enough to pay by the hour (having used him also in our last build 8 years ago)

If you get the framing timber for a good price and have a good framing carpenter then you may save a few thousand on the cost vs supplied as frames.
Then as Johnson and Vess have said you can customise to suit as well, re recesses, changing door width etc .



Add pelmet noggins , wall hung clothes dryers in the laundry as well.

Stewie

Slab progressing along - over 100 piers and 7 ton of steel to go down. Plumber and electician onsite yesterday doing their thing. Site looked so exciting with so much happening. Frame due to start on Monday 8 October.

Need a recommendation for a metal roofer. Seems that their are a lot of rough roofers out there as people are reluctant to recommend.

Dcv - our roofers have just finished and they were pretty good. The only thing I can recommend is to get them to let you know how long it will take and tell them to stick to it. See if you can get them to commit that the only delay us due to rain and not because they have too many others jobs on. Where abouts in the Hawkesbury are you? PM me if you'd rather not say on here. We are OB's in the Hawkesbury as well.

In regards to changes to the frame we added the additional noggins where we needed them and are still adding some!

Things are moving along nicely. Bricklayers start tomorrow, roofer all lined up.

Need to start working on getting quotes for the next stage. Shout out things I need to put on my list.

Plumbing Rough in
Electrical
Air Conditioning
Insulation
Gyprocker
Internal Fit out
Bathroom Items
Flooring
Internal Doors
Blinds
Ducted Vacumming
Painter - internal and external
Kitchen

Skirting/architraves
Fit out carpenter
Driveway
Appliances
Tiles
Tiling
Additional turbo head for ducted vac
Ceiling fans
Light fittings

Hi DCV. Are you looking for an air conditioning installer? Let me quote you for it. My website is http://www.platinumac.com.au/, contact number 04230 065 131. Give me a ring or send me an email (ben [at] platinum.com.au).

Hi All,
looking for some advise, who did you use or how did you source all your materials for your internal fix out - doors, handles, locks, skirting boards, architraves etc. We have been speaking with a building supplies company but am wondering if this is a more expensive what of doing it.

Hi DCV
What you need to do is work out exactly the quantities of what you need incl waste age and then start looking at the auction sites. You will be amazed at what you can find. Be careful the transport doesn't bite you.
Door hardware is a bit trickier.
There are hardware suppliers that specialise in this department. If you know what sort of locks , handles, hinges you are after then you can save by buying direct from them rather than an on-seller. Eg aj edden, keeler. They will post hardware to you anywhere in the country and have massive range.
Doors you can also save by dealing direct. Try not to use seconds for doors because they cop a hiding so the better the quality the better the outcome . Don't forget you need external grade doors for all doors leading outside otherwise they will fall apart.
Happy hunting.

Have you worked out windows yet?

Who did you end up going with?