Hi everyone, I've been snooping around here for a while now as I'm about to embark on my own build.
I'm still very much in the research phase and i've been struggling to find really good sources of inspiration and information on all things building.
I was just wondering what tools and resources are out there that people have found useful during the planning and throughout the building process?
I want to learn as much as I can and track down the best 'tools of the trade' as don't want to be in the dark about the biggest investment of my life!!
Thanks
Read the threads
Thats all I do read read read
There are plenty of opinions on my Blog , see below.
Other sites, I look at are
HomeIOwn
http://www.homeiown.com/Building a new Home
http://www.buildinganewhome.com.au/and for inspiration on Making things smaller the Tiny House Blog
http://tinyhouseblog.com/
As mecha said, read read read.
I've found Allan Staines's 'how to be a successful owner builder/renovator' & 'Australian House Building Manual' books to be very helpful in understanding all the construction phases, particularly if your planning on doing any of it yourself.
Some other sources: Renew & The Owner builder magazine (both australian).
Once you start to understand each phase of construction, start writing down lists of things that go into each phase. , then hit google. Research each one till you understand the acronyms etc.....everything is out there. The challenge is winnowing out the garbage and marketing BS, and that's where forums like this come to the fore.