Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum 1 Jan 17, 2010 11:02 pm hello everyone, happy 2010. I am new to this forum. Now i am about to start owner building of my first home in Perth. I have seen quite a few people from WA in this forum. Therefore if anyone can refer me some good tradesmen you used or knew, can you please refer to me? Your assistance would be much appreciated. my email is ashu008@hotmail.com. if you need helps from me and i am able to do so, i would be more than happy to help you. I am an engineer and my family is doing granite benchtop and cabinet business. I know some good quality tradesmen with reasonable price as well. Any tips are also welcomed from anyone ( you know, not just WA) in this forum. Here, I have some queries and if anyone can give me a hand, that would be great. 1. When you ask for quotation, do you ask for a breakdown? I know most trades would not give you that. However this makes it difficult to compare apple with apple unless you tell them exactly everything you want. As an owner builder, sometimes you would forget something. At the end of the day, all i worry about is that they come and tell you: "that is all what we do for this amount of money, u got to finish the rest."...Then that is not that good. 2. When you ask for quotation, do you ask them to do supply and install or you go to buy your own materials and orgainise everything so the trades just come and do the labour work? Take the brickwork as an example, i know the brickie can get a much better discount to buy the bricks but most of them would not pass this to you. if this is the case, what can we do to get more discount if we go and buy bricks by ourselves? How do you negotiate with the suppliers? 3. here comes my third question. can the owner builders here please tell me where you get your materials and how you negotiate with the suppliers. If you can give me some contacts, you are the best person in the world, GOD BLESS YOU. I think i just ask three questions tonight. surely they would be more coming up. I just sincerely thank anyone in advance and wish everyone has a successful 2010.. Cheers, Mike. Thanks everyone for your help. Wish you happy in 2010. Re: OB in perth, need help please 3Jan 19, 2010 11:03 pm I can't help with trades, but I can offer some advice: Quote: 1. When you ask for quotation, do you ask for a breakdown? I know most trades would not give you that. However this makes it difficult to compare apple with apple unless you tell them exactly everything you want. As an owner builder, sometimes you would forget something. At the end of the day, all i worry about is that they come and tell you: "that is all what we do for this amount of money, u got to finish the rest."...Then that is not that good. You should issue a scope of work to each subcontractor pricing. That is, list everything you want them to include. When you receive their quotes, you don't always need to know a cost breakdown, but do have a list of questions to ask them to ensure they have included everything. If they miss something, ask them to price it so you can get apples for apples. Quote: 2. When you ask for quotation, do you ask them to do supply and install or you go to buy your own materials and orgainise everything so the trades just come and do the labour work? Take the brickwork as an example, i know the brickie can get a much better discount to buy the bricks but most of them would not pass this to you. if this is the case, what can we do to get more discount if we go and buy bricks by ourselves? How do you negotiate with the suppliers? Most subbies will issue a seperate quote for labour and materials if you request. Price the materials yourself and compare the costs. Just remember that for the brickie, you also have sand, cement and lime to buy. With these sundry items, you may get just as good a price as the brickie from a local supplier (the brickie will put a margin on any materials he buys on your behalf) Quote: 3. here comes my third question. can the owner builders here please tell me where you get your materials and how you negotiate with the suppliers. If you can give me some contacts, you are the best person in the world, GOD BLESS YOU. Can't help with contacts as I am in Melbourne, but when talking to suppliers make sure you know what you want. Rather than asking for prices on 90x45 MGP10 pine, get a list together of all the timber you require on the house. Send the list to a few suppliers and get them to price it as a job lot. You'll always get a better price when you issue a supplier with a list of everything you will need and order the materials as job lots, rather than individual pieces. Generally I would think you would supply and call up things like timber, bricks, plumbing fixtures, light fittings, etc. Materials such as concrete, roof tiles, plasterboard would all be included within a normal quote from a subcontractor. Blog is now up - http://www.jbdave.blogspot.com/ Re: OB in perth, need help please 4Jan 19, 2010 11:57 pm Thanks for your advice, Dave. I just would like to know if there is a better chance that we can negotiate with the suppliers to get the wholesale price. I know it sounds hard, coz OBs are not big volume buyers. However OBs always pay upfront or we can even pay cash. I know some retail prices are like 30% over the wholesale prices. Obviously We (OBs) would like to negotiate with good discounts. Any tips on that? I know we can buy different materials from one supplier to increase the volume, but it might not be the most efficient way. Any good experiences on this? Cheers. Quote: 3. here comes my third question. can the owner builders here please tell me where you get your materials and how you negotiate with the suppliers. If you can give me some contacts, you are the best person in the world, GOD BLESS YOU. Can't help with contacts as I am in Melbourne, but when talking to suppliers make sure you know what you want. Rather than asking for prices on 90x45 MGP10 pine, get a list together of all the timber you require on the house. Send the list to a few suppliers and get them to price it as a job lot. You'll always get a better price when you issue a supplier with a list of everything you will need and order the materials as job lots, rather than individual pieces. Generally I would think you would supply and call up things like timber, bricks, plumbing fixtures, light fittings, etc. Materials such as concrete, roof tiles, plasterboard would all be included within a normal quote from a subcontractor.[/quote] Thanks everyone for your help. Wish you happy in 2010. Re: OB in perth, need help please 5Jan 20, 2010 11:31 pm Anyone can help? I also would like to know how to get the certificate of occupancy? I was told by the council that they would not issue it and do any inspections for you. So does the Builder Registration Board. Do we have to get that certificate to move in? Who issues it? What conditions? Thanks for the answer. Thanks everyone for your help. Wish you happy in 2010. Re: OB in perth, need help please 6Jan 21, 2010 7:39 am Mike occupancy is issued by whoever issues you your building permit. Re getting wholesale price etc the sky the limit and the prices you get will be to some extent a function on how long you spend looking and how much research you do. Re quoting. I find for example for plumbing and electrical it is best to have plumbing and electricl plans provided in additional to normal plans for these trade to quote on. On my I included every I want including the brand and model of light switch and weather or not i wanted flickmaster etc. I then gave a copy of the plan to the releavent trade and they would quote of this. Thank you @. Tried to play with the facade models but the exact colour is not matching up. 2 3443 Hi there, I'm a conplete newbie to this, but I'm looking to put a floor down in my 6x9m shed. It's currently sitting on a 100mm thick concrete perimeter (dirt floor… 0 6658 Hi VK, Think it's worth investing time in an Owner Builder course to equip you with basic knowledge on Australian Building Industry and its regulations. Also, I suggest… 11 23978 |