Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 28, 2007 2:55 pm We would like to build a new house in about 12 months time. We'll be looking for land around the Point Cook area of Melbourne.
We will consider owner building but will likely also get builders to quote our plans for comparison. Is anybody here owner building at the moment? Re: Any owner builders currently? 2Jul 28, 2007 6:13 pm My husband and I are owner builders. single storey, double brick 300sqm home. we should start digging next week! it has certainly been a huge learning curve already and we expect that to increase exponentially. it is really exciting though! Re: Any owner builders currently? 3Jul 29, 2007 10:05 am MaylandsManor,
Do you or your husband have any experience in the building industry that has helped with all the knowledge you would need? Are you planning to spend a lot of time on site during construction? I imagine it would be necessary for someone to be there, just trying to figure out how that side of it would work. Are you planning on doing some of the work yourselves, if so, how much? What made you decide to owner build rather than use a builder to oversee the project? Good luck with it all - I'll be checking back to follow your progress. Thanks! Re: Any owner builders currently? 4Jul 29, 2007 7:01 pm Hi Shaje,
no we do not personally have any experience in the building industry. My husbands' father is in demolition (and jokes he just needs to do everything in reverse) and has a lot of contacts in the industry. he is playing site manager. we decided against paying someone to be site manager although I do know people who have done this successfully. you are looking at anywhere from 10% (if you are lucky) to 15%. some friends managed to negotiate a percentage of the total price excluding any tradespeople they arranged themselves. this worked out really well for them. we live only 10 minutes from where we are building so yes, we plan on being there all the time. I think it is vital for someone to be checking everything as it develops so that any mistakes can be picked up ASAP. we probably will do some of the finishing touches ourselves. painting, plastering, floorboards etc. most of our tradesmen are family friends or friends of friends. one of the first problems we have encountered is that of time frames. when bulding a project home you are given completion dates, therefore the company will sometimes work through rain / weekends to get the job done. we have already been postponed a couple of weeks due to weather and tradesmen holidays!! this forum has been really useful. I also make sure i talk to as many people as I can about building. it also helps to know people in the trade, not just to save money but to be able to trust them. we are talking about hte value of having independent inspections at the moment. there is an owner builder forum you could have a look through although it isn't as well visited as this forum. http://www.byohouse.com.au/forum4/index.php feel free to PM me if you have any more questions. Helen Re: Any owner builders currently? 5Jul 31, 2007 12:57 pm Thanks again Helen.
I have visited the byohouse site in the past, and searching for as much information as I can find led me to this one. I can see both are very helpful. We are yet to decide which way to go so I may be in touch as time goes on. I hope you were able to start digging this week as you had hoped! Sharon Thank you so much. This has been very helpful. We definitely wish to settle and get these people out of our life. They are trying to charge us interest on late… 7 14262 Hi VK, I am now retired however I have stood beside over 300 owner builders in the past 18 years that have successfully built their own homes. First of all a building… 10 22667 |