Plumbers and electricians

ahuang · Jul 03, 2007 3:08 pm

jezzcb

I was just wondering how much of the work I can do before I am legally required to call in a tradesman. At what point of installing a new vanity does the plumber have to come in? Can I at least slide it through the bathroom door for example or must the whole bathroom be an empty shell before he turns up? How much of the roofing can we get done without the plumber?
At what point of our work are we required to hand it over to a tradesman? I don't want to hand it over too soon or too late. But I accept that too soon is better than too late.

When you do your owner builder course, you should get a manual with detail steps listed. I done the course from TAFE and it's quite helpful.

The manual won't go through such details as you mentioned either though. It's then up to the tradesman you deal with, and your understanding of the whole process.

If you found good tradesman, you will be clearly told what things are covered and hopefully details in writing. They will also remind you things you might have missed. Also, most tradesman will have contacts in other areas and will be able to provide help/other information.

The biggest problem to watch out is, due to unclear instruction or because there's something you are not aware of/missed, someone stuff up something. There will then be dispute between you and the tradesman, or even multiple of them, everyone pointing fingers at each other...

Normally for people like me who don't have enough knowledge of the industry, we leave it to the project home builder. Doing it yourself can save the 25%+ margin they charge on top of everything. But you have to pay the price to handle all these hassels, like a complicate project management. And don't forget it's very expensive. we are talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars here.

I read posts about nearly finished houses with windows/garage door broken/damaged by kids, or things delivered got stolen. The builders got insurance covered. What if this happened to you?

I did try to do owner building after I finished the short 2 day course. But after hearing/seeing so many bad stories we decided to start with project home first and see how it goes.

Personally just think it's a bit risky to do it yourself if you don't have enough knowledge or support from other professionals.

Hope this helps...

Cheers
Allan
http://building-our-first-house.blogspot.com/
Current stage: old house demolished, contract signed, waiting for excavation to start...

miagi · Jul 03, 2007 9:41 pm

OK i agree, get several quotes and compare, be aware the cheapest doesnt always mean the best as in everything.

But again, it is illegal for any one other than a licenced electrician to run electrical cables.

As it is also illegal to run data/communication cables without a Base Cabling licence.

Reasons for this are to protect YOU as the inhabitant of the house.

As an example there are minimal spacings between comms and electrical cables that according to Standards Australia must be complied to.
What if you ran your comms or phone cables yourself thinking SHE'll be right, then your builder drove a nail through it into an electrical cable. Only to find that down the track you got electricuted by your phone socket. This sort of thing has happened before, hence the need for regulations.

I fully understand the "want" to be able to save some money, as it seems many peolpe want to rip others off and turn a larger profit, but being in the electrical industry for 20 years I've seen lots of people having done their own work and its very ordinary.

An electrician who lets unlicenced people run cables, "then checks it out later" is an IDIOT in my book, who's not really doing anyone any favours!

Thanks for the Rant, will go take my medication now.

Oh and its quite possible that by wanting to remove much of the work from the trades people, will cause them to be very uninterested in your job offer.