Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum 1 Sep 18, 2011 10:54 pm Hi, I think I am about to embark on an Owner Builder Trek, I've heard to be careful because of the risk and the things that can go wrong and that can end up costing a lot in the long run. I was wondering if everyone out there who has encountered some things that have gone wrong to share their experiences and this maybe a lot of us newbies can gain a lot of benefit from you're experiences. Thank You for Sharing and Helping Re: Things That Could and/or Did go Wrong With Owner Buildin 2Sep 19, 2011 2:39 pm I think if you read through alot of the owner/building threads on this forum you will see that time is one of the biggest things that can go wrong. Most take longer than they hope. Having been down the road twice and about to do a third I can tell you it is not all smooth sailing but can be very rewarding. I guess it depends on just how much you plan to do with your own bare hands!!! Be super organised and plan and learn as much as you can before you start. Ask as many people as many questions as you can (which I guess you are doing with this thread - well done!) BUDGET and TIMEFRAME are the 2 biggest things I can think of that could go very wrong!! Owner/building requires the coordination of tradies and getting them started at the right times. If you lose even 2-3weeks each time you are waiting on the next job to be started then your build can take alot longer than you plan. So allow yourself a reasonable timeframe. You have to be prepared for your budget to 'flex' a little. Even if you do very detailed costing before you start, there will come times when you decide you want to upgrade something or a bill will end up being more than you estimated (e.g. hitting rock during excavation). My other suggestion would be to not just go with the lowest quote for a job just because they were the cheapest. Someone on a post recently wrote about owner building, 'if it was easy everyone would be doing it' (sorry I can't recall who it was) but it is so true. Go into owner/building with your eyes wide open and be prepared for hard work and sleepless nights but also, hopefully, a very fantastic reward at the end. Best wishes. Re: Things That Could and/or Did go Wrong With Owner Buildin 3Sep 19, 2011 4:16 pm I totally agree with 'Rocketship'. We are in the middle of our Owner build right now and TIME has been the biggest factor. When you are doing particular elements of the build yourself it takes a lot longer than if a team of trades get in and do it! We have had a number of set back with our build and it is taking longer than we had hoped. But I am enjoying the process. The ability to make decisions and minor changes as you go is good. Plan as much as you can. And get you house plans drawn up correctly, with lots and lots of detail in them - that has caused us the biggest problems! Goodluck BLOG: thehousewebuilt2010.blogspot.com (And are still building!) Re: Things That Could and/or Did go Wrong With Owner Buildin 4Sep 20, 2011 7:33 pm Thx for your tips, Danni may I ask what set backs you have had you say have heaps of details in your plans, what details would you recommend? My plans are already drawn up and approved by council, but if I can add some more detail my self for the contractors that would be good. Thx All Re: Things That Could and/or Did go Wrong With Owner Buildin 5Sep 21, 2011 5:30 am My major advice would be to spend longer in the planning stages and then stick to your plan. Plans on Sketch-up cost nothing to play with, but once you start building changes cost you money (time) and will compromise your building. Issues when building usually arise because it was not thought through enough, so plan and play when it is free to change your mind and not when your building. I would also suggest you take all advice (mine included) with a grain of salt because no two owner built buildings are the same (unless they are ugly brick venereal project homes which I do not consider owner built). No one will know more about your building than you, if they do then you have no business owner building (or even managing such a project) You have too (and do) eat, sleep and dream your building from start to finish, hence I am sitting here at 5 am wide awake.... You can never have too much money when you OB but spend it wisely and be careful about borrowing money, many OB'er go broke trying to build 'the Dream' with unrealistic budgets and timeframes. Having said that I have no budget or time frame for my building project but I am doing everything myself, not borrowing any money and am not prepared to compromise at all, hence I am only approaching the half way point after 3 years. I will however own a very unique house without debt after just 6 or 7 years whilst others will still have 15 -20 years of mortgage payments to go. This route is probably only for the extreme hard-core OBer but it is a good way to go if you want something very different or are time rich. Be nice to yourself and those you love, it can be very tough at times and no building is worth loosing your family and friends over. I am lucky to have wife that is in it for the adventure, shares the vision and works by my side with the same desire to create something special. Celebrate triumphs and don’t beat yourself up about the ‘learning experiences’. Stay safe and don’t ruin your health for the sake of time of a few dollars. I could go on but I think I covered my top few. Steve My building project - Hill House viewtopic.php?f=38&t=13537 Who you have in your life is more important than what you have Depends what you're current inclusions are, but we're not including wardrobes and will just use second hand ones until we can save later on to get them built. Also have a… 3 11647 2 31355 there is only 20% difference in concrete strength between 20 mpa and 25 mpa, so check with your engineer first if it fits his calculation tolerances. There are ways to… 6 18304 |