Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum 1 Jan 15, 2009 1:29 pm Hi everybody,
Just wanted to share the good news with you. We have finally started our OB project. Yesterday they started doing the earthworks and we are hoping to put the slab down next week. I cannot believe that it took us more than a year to get to this point. Hopefully we will enjoy the ride and will not have too many problems along the way... I would like to post some pics, but I have no idea how to attach them. Can somebody please help? Thanks everyone Nina "The fearless are merely fearless. People who act in spite of their fear are truly brave" - James A. LaFond-Lewis Re: Our OB adventure has begun!!! 2Jan 16, 2009 8:52 am Best of luck, Nina,
For pictures, use Photobucket. You'll need to set up an account there, upload the pics and insert the links into your posts. Chris My father rode a camel, I drive a car, my son flies in a jetliner, his son will ride a camel.Saudi saying Re: Our OB adventure has begun!!! 4Jan 21, 2009 2:46 pm well done lil' moscow, sounds like a lot of hard work is coming together. We are looking at doing an owner builder project but have had a fair few discouraging comments. I am not planning to quit my day job either - as you have! - do you think I need to quit it to make a good go of this? Has it been a whole lot of hard work so far? Re: Our OB adventure has begun!!! 5Jan 22, 2009 7:00 am kristee well done lil' moscow, sounds like a lot of hard work is coming together. We are looking at doing an owner builder project but have had a fair few discouraging comments. I am not planning to quit my day job either - as you have! - do you think I need to quit it to make a good go of this? Has it been a whole lot of hard work so far? hey kristee lots of people work and are owner builders so you dont have to quit,however it is very time consuming,not so much hard as frustrating its hard if you intend on doing the work yourself but if you only want to project manage then its relatively easy. you need to manage different trades at the right time so you do need to be organized.dont worry about the people discouraging you they will always be there. if this is something you want to do then go for it , if its something your not 100% about then save yourself the pain get a builder lol good luck whatever you decide Re: Our OB adventure has begun!!! 6Jan 22, 2009 1:04 pm Thanks bingoshelley, it's good to hear some encouragement . I am definitely only thinking of project management, so seems it could be do-able.
I will definitely keep you posted. Ours plans aren't quite finalised yet, we're still shifting a few things around, but hopefuuly it will all be happening soonish. Re: Our OB adventure has begun!!! 7Jan 22, 2009 3:42 pm Hi everyone
Thank you for your comments. Well, the project is going well so far…Yesterday we put our slab down. Yes, it is very exciting!!! Now comes the fun of curing it twice a day for a whole week… Kristee, Bingoshelley is right, do not let anyone discourage you from being an OB. It is amazing to be in charge of your project and have control all the way (for me anyway). And it is like seeing your baby grow… However, just keep in mind that you will need to put a lot of time in, even if you are just supervising the tradies, if you want good quality and as few mistakes as possible. Just to illustrate the point, we have spent the last two day supervising the concretors. My hubby had to take two days off. I guess this is because the slab is one of the most important things in the house. If we were not constantly there, we would now have a smaller slab and two sinks in the bedroom rather than the bathroom!!! We are also planning to spend every evening during the brick frame going through every wall making sure that everything is in the right place. But this is all a part of the adventure. Nina "The fearless are merely fearless. People who act in spite of their fear are truly brave" - James A. LaFond-Lewis Re: Our OB adventure has begun!!! 8Jan 22, 2009 5:19 pm Hi everyone I am trying to post some pics by copying them from photobucket. I am not sure if they will show... "The fearless are merely fearless. People who act in spite of their fear are truly brave" - James A. LaFond-Lewis Re: Our OB adventure has begun!!! 9Jan 22, 2009 7:55 pm Congrats Nina!
Good on you for keeping tabs on the tradies. That's when I went wrong, but once bitten, twice shy, I'll be watching them like a hawk in the future. As for picks, click in the IMG button before inserting the links and then again after, so they'll appear in the text. Chris My father rode a camel, I drive a car, my son flies in a jetliner, his son will ride a camel.Saudi saying Re: Our OB adventure has begun!!! 10Feb 19, 2009 2:30 pm Hi everyone, We have some progress... Our brickwork is half way. It is so exciting to see my baby grow!!! It hasn't been an easy month. I was upset for a while when our steel quote came back. It was much more than I budgeted for Ah well, I guess this was expected... I don't think that it is resonable to assume that your budget figures are going to be spot on every time. More bad news came when the brickies told us that the draftsman is an idiot and he did not put all the sizing to brick size!!! (I guess you get what you pay for). Thank God our brickies are very good and they adjust things as they go. Unfortunately this means that we cannot go ahead with our roof take-off until all brickwork is done. Other than that, it is going good so far... Here are some pics up to date: Nina "The fearless are merely fearless. People who act in spite of their fear are truly brave" - James A. LaFond-Lewis Re: Our OB adventure has begun!!! 11Feb 19, 2009 10:02 pm Re: Our OB adventure has begun!!! 12Feb 20, 2009 10:46 pm Thank you Kexkez "The fearless are merely fearless. People who act in spite of their fear are truly brave" - James A. LaFond-Lewis Re: Our OB adventure has begun!!! 13Feb 21, 2009 7:22 am Congrats on starting John, Tarin and the Kids Built and moving in to the Regent Grande with Masterton homes http://thebrownsaremovingtothecountry.blogspot.com Re: Our OB adventure has begun!!! 14Feb 21, 2009 11:08 am Congratulations! Cant wait to see how everything goes Custom European Cabinets - Melbourne Kitchen Specialist PM for business details as website currently being updated! Our Crazy Owner Builder Journey! Re: Our OB adventure has begun!!! 15Apr 25, 2009 6:52 pm Hooray, we have a roof!!! all the timber work has been finished and now it's the electrician's turn to all the pre-wire. my DH spent the whole day today cleaning the site, the roofie left a bit of mess I am so excited, the roof looks great i just hope that we will be able to put down the sheeting before the rain starts i will try to put the photos up soon nina "The fearless are merely fearless. People who act in spite of their fear are truly brave" - James A. LaFond-Lewis Re: Our OB adventure has begun!!! 16Apr 25, 2009 6:54 pm Congrats Nina!!!! I'm following not far behind (I hope). Brickies next week, trusses about May 14-th, then plumber and sparky. Chris My father rode a camel, I drive a car, my son flies in a jetliner, his son will ride a camel.Saudi saying Re: Our OB adventure has begun!!! 17Apr 25, 2009 6:57 pm congrats nina cant wait for pics stay safe happy building Re: Our OB adventure has begun!!! 18Apr 26, 2009 10:08 pm Thanks guys Chris, I am very happy for you, at last you have some good news and actually can enjoy your adventure These are the photos with the brickwork finished, just before the roof started viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14139 I will try to post the new pics now "The fearless are merely fearless. People who act in spite of their fear are truly brave" - James A. LaFond-Lewis Re: Our OB adventure has begun!!! 19May 05, 2009 12:50 pm pics of the roof: "The fearless are merely fearless. People who act in spite of their fear are truly brave" - James A. LaFond-Lewis Re: Our OB adventure has begun!!! - Roof problem 20May 24, 2009 7:48 pm Hi everyone Just an update Unfortunately we did not put our roof cover on before the rain and now our house is covered in water, all the bricks are really wet and the eaves are full of water....It hurts to see We had to go to Sydney last week and my DH did not want the roof to go on while we were away and now we have to wait for a nicer weather... (not angry with my DH but with the weather!) I hope that this will not destroy the brickwork and the eaves etc And someone told me today that putting a tin roof in this weather is dangerous as it may fly off (since there is no windows and too much wind going through the house) Another thing to worry about.... And now that the brickwork is really wet, the plasterers said we need to wait for a couple of weeks until the brick are dry I hope things work out ok... "The fearless are merely fearless. People who act in spite of their fear are truly brave" - James A. LaFond-Lewis I work with owner, he/she is my man on the ground and I instruct them when to visit the site and take photos and I have other tools in the bag. 4 15265 4 14292 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 |