Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum 1 Jun 12, 2010 2:20 am Hi all, After some advice. We are going to be building a 30-35 square house in a new housing estate near Geelong. We have considered OB and I'm wondering what you all think. We want to do this because we really wanted polished concrete flooring and a design which we haven't yet found in the trillions of display homes. (nothing groundbreaking, but every design has something we don't like.) We have never done anything similar before and really have no idea, however I would do an OB course. My questions are - Is it cheaper, especially if we do no labour ourselves? - Maybe it would be more economical to go a volume builder and pay for changes? We can't afford an architect design custom build. We are looking at spending 250-270. - Any advice welcome, Thanks Re: After general advice on OB 2Jun 12, 2010 3:37 am Hi jokei1, By all means do a OB course exspecially if you have no idea in what is involved in doing an OB project it will shed some light in what you need to do, as with building with a mass volume builder it will always cost you more than doing it yourself I have built with a mass builder once never again you might want to try looking on the net for what you want in house designs I actually got my plans and house kit from Sydney and I live in Perth took a while trying to find something we liked so keep looking any way good luck hope you find what you want. Regards Heath Re: After general advice on OB 3Jun 12, 2010 4:08 am Thanks Heath, That is interesting that you would never do it again. And thanks for the tip on house designs. Thats opened up a whole new world as previously I only looked at houses I could walk through. Jo Re: After general advice on OB 4Jun 12, 2010 10:33 pm Joke1 YOu sound a bit like us. We had high expectations, a decent budget and all the builders made a million promises to get you to sign. Of course everything we wanted was an extra and either not possible or too expensive. So we went OB. HOWEVER as we both work full time and know as much about the building industry as we know about nano science (ie nothing) we have paid someone to project manage. It is costing less than 10% of the budget. We didnt enter into this to save money, we entered into it to get what we wanted!!! At the last minute I decided I wanted polished concrete ... and got it. Underfloor heating was something we had always wanted and we were told it was too expensive. I think they were dreaming - we covered a rather large pad entirely with underfloor heating things for 4k. We had a professional estimation done based on plans and it came in a bit more than we anticipated. So our project manager has spent time looking at ways to save money. And we have managed to save a significant amount without compromising the home. I am really enjoying the process. I get an incredible sense of satisfaction from meeting the people who are helping build our dream and working with them and their ideas to see it come to life. We have been incredibly lucky so far. No major hiccups ... we only have a slab down though. All the poeple who have worked on our site have been so helpful and committed and the next lot in seem to be exactly the same. It is a tough call to do it or not. In your shoes I would be reluctant to do it without someone helping you although that said, my uncle OB his home in Perth BANG in the middle of the housing boom by just opening up the yellow pages to get his trades. He has got a fab home! Hope this is of some use!!! Re: After general advice on OB 5Jun 12, 2010 10:45 pm We decided to OB because we couldn't find what we wanted anywhere else (we have a kit with a homestead/heritage style home) and no builder wanted to build anything like what we wanted. We tried a big building place but they got $3000 out of us and we got some plans that still weren't right and they were getting narky at us for wanting more changes. I think we will be happy in the end but I have found it stressful since I am essentially the project manager, mother, wife, swimming teacher etc etc etc. I DO like the level of control I have over what we have in the house. If an option is too expensive then it is us that makes the decision about what and how it will be different, as opposed to being told that there is only one way or one other choice. It is a very steep learning curve. I don't think I would ever do it again, but we don't ever plan on building again...this is our long term dream home. And I didn't have a clue about building...this forum has been fantastic. It helps that the builder we have is so fantastic. We have also had a lot of trouble with getting quotes and tradesmen, but if you are in a city area, that shouldn't be the case I wouldn't think. RF Build: viewtopic.php?f=38&t=34534 Flooring: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=39733 Chat: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=53303 You should check your detail drawings, it may show downpipe within brick pier. 14 14121 Versaloc is a mortarless besser block system that still needs a properly engineered footing. If you just do a 400x200 footing it will fail in time. At 17m long you need it… 1 18162 We were lucky in that our old house was so small (86 square metres) compared to the new house, they were able to take enough readings around the old backyard house before… 8 37156 |