Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum 1 Nov 20, 2013 3:59 pm I'm going the owner builder route for this house, as these building companies like to take their 'slice of flesh' at every single opportunity, rapidly increasing the cost of the house, and I can do a lot of things myself, even including sweeping the floor and getting rid of rubbish amongst many other things. As this is the first time I've ever built a new home, I'm slowly coming to grips with terminology and order of building. I'm hoping that people in here can point me in the right direction for the many things that need to be done in order as well as the usual 'gotchas'. Just about to commission the architect to do the drawings (the basic design is not all that disimilar to a Hallmark Ascent 253), and are getting the soil tests done, as well as getting an engineer in to design the slab requirements, and on top of that we've got to put in a MCU to the Logan Council as we want to build the house further up the 1 acre block, which is outside the building envelope. I really don't understand why the building envelope isn't over the whole block, subject to the normal provisos of being suitably away from boundary fences. It's not like I'm going to build a 5 storey house bumped right up to the fence line.... doh ! Appreciate your comments and suggestions. Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . Re: Owner building in Jimboomba 2Dec 26, 2013 7:26 pm Got the plans and sent in to Logan Council, only to have the enviromental section knock back the house going 4 metres beyond the building envelope, even though the back fence line is still another 28 metres further back! Anyway, moved the house location 4 metres closer to the front, and they approved the plans to build. Sorting out the excavations and slab (waffle pod according to engineers), and hopefully get a start on it in the new year. Now to find a decent certifier that isn't too pedantic, but is good, and also doesn't want to charge an arm and a leg.... anyone got a suggestion for one ? Still trying to get on to a plumber/drainer that can read the plans given to them.... one quoted connecting the water up to a maximum of 25LM, when the plan clearly shows the house is 100m from the front of the block ! Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . Re: Owner building in Jimboomba 3Apr 02, 2014 9:54 am Just an update to bring this topic back up from page 23 of this sub forum. Since my last post we've had the drainage done, slab poured, water tank install, and worm farm treatment plant installed. Frame and trusses have been ordered and should be delivered in around 2 weeks or so. Biggest hassle I've had has been the neighbours next door who probably should wear tin foil hats I'm an amateur radio (ham) operator, and whilst those neighbours were doing another unauthorised examination of our block, they worked out that I was putting in a mast for my antennae. Once they confirmed what it was, then claimed whilst on a MOBILE phone that it would affect the health of her unborn baby and lower the value of her house by $200,000 !! I've done my own research on EMR and on the frequencies that I will be using, and the safe distance from the aerials is 5 metres, and their house is 60+ metres from that. They claimed there's no studies been done on long term effects, but most amateur operators are well past 60 years of age, and have been doing this for 50+ years. One would think if there were any long term effects, they should have shown up by then. One important thing to remember is that no ham is going to put themselves or family members at risk by EMR, and we're always going to be the closest to the radio equipment. Why you ask am I posting about this? It's so that you know some facts about amateur radio, and not be afraid of it should someone in your neighbourhood put up their own aerials and the like. There's more EMR in the air than any amateur radio operator would put out when they move in. I'm more than happy to answer any questions anyone might have, and if you hear of any amateur radio operator moving in to your area, please go and introduce yourself as they will be happy to answer any question you might have... we're not a bunch of ogres ! Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . Re: Owner building in Jimboomba 5Apr 02, 2014 12:53 pm Stewie D When I come and visit Brendan I'll make sure to wear my tinfoil hat just to be on the safe side. Conslabulations too are in order as they say. Just be sure to check that your microwave oven hasn't developed a leak that you don't know about... like who checks their microwaves for leaks ? Thanks, it took a while to get around to having the slab laid. We'll be getting better views of the hills in the distance than we thought we were going to. Have just got to do some more regarding erosion protection, and trying to stop the overland water from those neighbours from rushing through our block. Put down some Jap Millet seed to get something growing in the disturbed soil to try and lock it all together so it doesn't wash away. Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . Re: Owner building in Jimboomba 7May 10, 2014 5:07 pm Going ahead bit by bit. Since my last post we've had the frame and trusses go up, which reminds me I have to update my blog with some photos of the changes. When the trusses were delivered, the driver cut the corner and totally mashed our letter box. The letter box was some 5-8 metres from the gutter, so there was no excuse hitting it. So whilst he was lucky and didn't damage the stormwater drain in the street that he ran over the top of, the letter box has been totalled. I emailed the truss company, and they've promised to replace it, but it's now a few weeks since it happened. Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . Re: Owner building in Jimboomba 8Jun 14, 2014 3:07 pm Just following up since my thread got moved in to the Owner builder section. thanks admin The truss company made good on their promise, a replacement letter box got delivered to the block, and I put it back up again several weeks ago now. Anyway, I had the roofing guy I got from h!pages come out, quote me, then come back and tell me that he didn't know I wanted the front patio bull nosed, even though the plans I sent him had it clearly marked on them. Just before he takes on the job, he says it's going to cost me more for the bull nose on the verandah, and that he'd do it at cost price, so another $2800 expected. To top that off, he said that he did not quote for roof battens, as he expected the builder to have put them on already, so that's another $1400 thank you! As you can expect going from a reasonable quote, it's now another $4000+ and he was talking about extra for the anti-con blanket/insulation, I decided enough is enough, so went looking for some more quotes, and ended up with a bloke 2 streets away who said he quoted me cheaper because I was close to his home. I took him up on the quote and he's just about finished doing it now. When it is all finished, I'll get some photo's and put them up on my blog for viewing. Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . Re: Owner building in Jimboomba 10Jun 27, 2014 1:50 pm Would love to see some photos Build thread http://tinyurl.com/llgc7yk Re: Owner building in Jimboomba 11Jun 27, 2014 4:59 pm Just added some photos to the blog, albeit just two new'ish ones of the roof. I must take some more and add them there too. Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . Re: Owner building in Jimboomba 12Aug 13, 2014 11:22 pm We now have bricks !! .. woo hoo ! Got the Termimesh guy in the other day after the brickie did the first course. Our problem now is that the brickie won't brick up the rest of the house until the door frames are in, as the issue is that they don't want to end up with gaps between the bricks and the door frames, and I think it is good that they stated this before I started asking questions as to why haven't they finished yet! Anyway, I went and got some door frames for all the outside doors, and called the chippies to do them, and they don't want to install the frames without the doors. I'd rather have someone to blame for ill-fitting doors, than doing them myself, at least the outside doors. The catch is now that I only ordered the doors last week when I got the bricks in, and the catch is one of the doors is a pivot door, and Hume apparently make these only on an order being placed, and there's a 4 week wait for delivery! Where the other special order doors are 10 working days i.e. 2 weeks, and this week effectively has 2 non-working days in it due to Ekka and local show days. That said, it's going to be about a month before we can get the placed bricked up. Although I'm going to see if I can get the other external doors picked up and installed sooner, so that I can get some of the house bricked up sooner. The wonders of owner building, you only find out these things after you really need to know! Still having 'dramas' with the 'neighbours from hell'.... latest from them is a complaint to workplace health and safety against the roofer.... apparently they got his details from the rubbish pile on our place. Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . Re: Owner building in Jimboomba 14Aug 14, 2014 12:27 am AKB Bugger about your neighbours BPratt yay re Bricks though Yes, it's great to see the bricks there, but it's going to be a while before they all go on the house though. Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . Re: Owner building in Jimboomba 16Aug 14, 2014 10:16 am I think a bit of both, with some paranoia thrown in for good measure. She is in the health sector, as in occupational therapist at the local hospital, i.e. not a medical professional, who believes that amateur radio is satan's spawn, yet yacking on a mobile phone is totally safe because everyone does it. Who claims that because there's be no medical studies done on the effect of amateur radio, there's no proof that it is safe from the EMR, yet ignores the fact that the large majority of 'hams' are well in to their 60's, 70's, and 80's, that have shown no ill effects after 50+ years of being in the hobby. If there were any issues they should have shown up by now, as we're the closest to the transmitters ! Anyway, our new home is build much higher up and further back off the street than their house, even though it is aimed due north, when the blocks are more north east than north facing, so we're not looking in on them. She is or was pregnant due very soon, as I saw an ambulance leave their place last week, so I guess she hasn't had anything better to do than to dream up issues on our block whilst looking out her windows, as you can see by a complaint lodged to WH&S against the roofer recently. Sort of think that I should put up a 10m flagpole in the building envelope, which I am legally allowed to do by the council, and put a skull and crossbones flag, or a outlaw motorcycle gang flag up there. There's a lot of things I could legally do there that is a lot more dangerous/toxic/annoying that AR could ever be. Just think of building drag racing engines that use nitro methanol fuels... she should consider herself lucky that that isn't my hobby instead. Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . Re: Owner building in Jimboomba 17Aug 14, 2014 12:23 pm Reminds me of a friend who didn't get along with his next door neighbour and so he decided to get a heap of old motor mowers and put them on his garage roof and point all of the handles at the neighbour's kitchen window. He ignored several council orders to take them down but finally did so. I have always regretted not taking a photo. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using siphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost, siphonic, eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Owner building in Jimboomba 18Aug 14, 2014 1:54 pm Quote: Our problem now is that the brickie won't brick up the rest of the house until the door frames are in, My bricklayers were the opposite. They only used my timber door jambs as a template to form the openings to the exact size. Once the walls were bricked up the frames were removed and went back into storage in my shed This way the frames would not be damaged by other building activities or the weather. I will install them after all the walls and ceilings are sheeted. Re: Owner building in Jimboomba 19Aug 14, 2014 8:14 pm SaveH2O Reminds me of a friend who didn't get along with his next door neighbour and so he decided to get a heap of old motor mowers and put them on his garage roof and point all of the handles at the neighbour's kitchen window. He ignored several council orders to take them down but finally did so. I have always regretted not taking a photo. What an excellent trick. However whilst it would be fun to do something like that to these neighbours, I certainly don't want to upset any of the other neighbours, even though a few of them would probably probably get a laugh out of it. Spoke to the neighbour on the other side, who told me that they no longer wave to him as they go past, and he's not worried about that. Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . Re: Owner building in Jimboomba 20Aug 14, 2014 8:21 pm Beetaloo Quote: Our problem now is that the brickie won't brick up the rest of the house until the door frames are in, My bricklayers were the opposite. They only used my timber door jambs as a template to form the openings to the exact size. Once the walls were bricked up the frames were removed and went back into storage in my shed. Now that's a good option. I've got the frames for all except the pivot door, but I'm sure I could dummy one up from measurements of the frames at Bunnings, as I only need to get the outside measurements right. I'll put it to the brickie tomorrow to see what he says. Thanks for the idea. Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . If I went ahead and got a licensed builder to build up to Lock up - do I need to get an Owner Builder Permit to finish the work for OC? 0 2623 While i was across this behavior's pre appointing my (the builders) surveyor, I did tell the builder i was aware what they were doing and while i disagreed with it, they… 13 17448 Nothing yet, have been distracted this year with work related projects and a new kid but hoping to start building one way or another early next year. Will keep you posted 3 17967 |