Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum 1 Aug 28, 2008 5:58 pm HI - Is $34K a reasonable offer to have a person project manage my construction for a duel story house that is 40squares in total? Re: Project management/building supervisor 2Aug 28, 2008 6:04 pm We were told you could expect to be charged 10% by a project manager.
Thats 10% of the total price of your house. Same goes for an independant builder 15% and about 25% for a project builder goes on top of what it actually costs. Re: Project management/building supervisor 3Aug 28, 2008 6:18 pm what is a project builder? How is a project builder different to a project manager?
gweluphome We were told you could expect to be charged 10% by a project manager. Thats 10% of the total price of your house. Same goes for an independant builder 15% and about 25% for a project builder goes on top of what it actually costs. Re: Project management/building supervisor 4Aug 28, 2008 6:24 pm Project builder is one of the big home comapnies that have display homes and build the house for you based on one of their designs.
If you are an owner builder you can employ a project manager to oversee the build for you and on behalf of you. Are you owner building? Re: Project management/building supervisor 5Aug 28, 2008 6:27 pm Yes, i'm an owner builder. Do you have any links to project managers?
gweluphome Project builder is one of the big home comapnies that have display homes and build the house for you based on one of their designs. If you are an owner builder you can employ a project manager to oversee the build for you and on behalf of you. Are you owner building? Re: Project management/building supervisor 6Aug 28, 2008 6:33 pm Sorry I don't, we didn't end up taking this path and I have complete;y forgotten the name of the guy we were looking at using here in Perth Re: Project management/building supervisor 7Aug 28, 2008 10:46 pm Hi homebuilder, I am not sure about $34k! What does this arrangement involve? IS the PM going to manage every aspect of your build or are you still going to have to do some work yourself??
Out of interest, why are you going OB? Its a big decision to make!! We are going OB because we got sick of builders not returning phone calls and did not want to be at their beckncall anymore!! We wanted full control over all options available to us re fixtures & fittings as well. At one stage were looking at getting a project manager to coordinate the build for us, however decided once we looked at the main list of things we needed to do that we could manage it ourselves....the proof will be in the pudding I guess....we are up to the very first stage of construction (the plumber is currently doing sewer and drain). To date, we have managed the WHOLE process ourselves by engaging sub-contractors and doing A LOT of research, I have developed a detailed spreadsheet that I am using as a tool to track the entire job, its actually been fun so far, and no major disasters to date!! It is very time consuming though, and you have to be dedicated to doing your homework!! Good luck!! Ruth Ruth -Bought house in Melbourne inner burbs, knocked it down & now...we are owner builders! Completed OB project and moved in to our new home with our new baby in May 2009! Re: Project management/building supervisor 8Aug 29, 2008 10:02 pm Hi All have read up in this post as we are considering owner building now too. Ruth, you mentioned you had developed a detailed spreadsheet to manage the build. I am trying to find information on the order of construction, etc... and was wondering if you got any of your information from decent publications please?
Figure that we would like to have control of things too, but with 3 kids under 7yrs am I taking on too much???? Thanks Re: Project management/building supervisor 9Aug 29, 2008 11:56 pm Hi house3wa
First, I went to the library and borrowed a stack of books, all of which had some useful information and some irrelevant! I also googled building to death for a few months and visited a LOT of display homes all over the place...we also picked the brains of whoever was willing to talk about building!! It also depends on what you are building (we are going with a single story, waffle slab as it suits our block perfectly and causes less issues with excavation etc!) So it is a relatively straightforward build! My recommendation for a good basic introduction is "tricks of the trade" by http://buildingsite.com.au...it costs $15, but we got it for free at our local council! I can send you my spreadsheet, like I said it is detailed and has been my master planning tool for budgets and timeframes.... let me know if you want it, I am not charging a fee for it just yet!! Re taking on too much, my DH works full time and I work 3 days a week and we have an 18mth old to look after as well as my volunteering committments....however I think if you are organised well in advance (we bought our block over a year ago!) and know what you want (AND have a strong robust and very healthy relationship with your other half!) then you can do it!! Cheers Ruth -Bought house in Melbourne inner burbs, knocked it down & now...we are owner builders! Completed OB project and moved in to our new home with our new baby in May 2009! Re: Project management/building supervisor 11Aug 30, 2008 10:56 am Hello house3wa,
I'm commited to O-B, having got the licence, planning approval, plans, spreadhsheets, cost estimate, quotes, etc. I've read a few books and in my view the best one for learning the sequence and doing the labour and cost assignments is "Australian Home Building and Renovation" by Laurie Ryan. Another one on the sequence is "Not just bricks and mortar" by George Kallidis, but it's more general and light on practical aspects of managing the build. Allan Staines' "The Australian owner builders manual" and "Building your own home" by George Wilkie are oriented more towards the technical aspects, but have some advice on budgeting, etc, especially Wilkie. 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: Project management/building supervisor 13Aug 30, 2008 12:41 pm gweluphome We were told you could expect to be charged 10% by a project manager. Thats 10% of the total price of your house. Same goes for an independant builder 15% and about 25% for a project builder goes on top of what it actually costs. Independent (or custom builders) usually charge 20% of the cost of the build. I haven't heard of a custom builder asking for a 15% margin, I have however heard of a few that are asking 25%. Re: Project management/building supervisor 14Aug 30, 2008 2:38 pm All books I mentioned are in Perth libraries, 'though some, especially Wilke and Staines ones are quite old editions. Ryan's book's out of print (it was published in 1996), but can be bought 2-nd hand. If you're in WA, Boffins on Hay St is the best place to buy/order.
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: Project management/building supervisor 15Aug 30, 2008 6:10 pm Chris, completely agree with your comments re those books, I borrowed all those books from the library and learnt something different from each one! Well worth borrowing from the library, but we didn't feel they were worth buying outright!
Cheers Ruth Ruth -Bought house in Melbourne inner burbs, knocked it down & now...we are owner builders! Completed OB project and moved in to our new home with our new baby in May 2009! Re: Project management/building supervisor 16Sep 01, 2008 9:47 am Hi Ruth - thanks heaps for your info.
The reason I decided OB is because of the same reason as you. The big builders just hide everything and I got fed up. The PM is willing to oversee everything and do what is needed. All I need to do is go out and find quotes or beat the prices he has provided me... Basically, he is charging me 10% of the final building price. PS: I've sent you a PM regarding the spreadsheet. Thanks. rerob1 Hi homebuilder, I am not sure about $34k! What does this arrangement involve? IS the PM going to manage every aspect of your build or are you still going to have to do some work yourself?? Out of interest, why are you going OB? Its a big decision to make!! We are going OB because we got sick of builders not returning phone calls and did not want to be at their beckncall anymore!! We wanted full control over all options available to us re fixtures & fittings as well. At one stage were looking at getting a project manager to coordinate the build for us, however decided once we looked at the main list of things we needed to do that we could manage it ourselves....the proof will be in the pudding I guess....we are up to the very first stage of construction (the plumber is currently doing sewer and drain). To date, we have managed the WHOLE process ourselves by engaging sub-contractors and doing A LOT of research, I have developed a detailed spreadsheet that I am using as a tool to track the entire job, its actually been fun so far, and no major disasters to date!! It is very time consuming though, and you have to be dedicated to doing your homework!! Good luck!! Ruth Re: Project management/building supervisor 17Sep 01, 2008 7:06 pm Hi Leanne
I have emailed you a sanitised version of my spreadsheet (i.e. I have removed any personal finance details etc) I have left all our budget estimates & confirmed monies spent to date, for your reference, you may find it helpful! To all the others that sent me requests for my spreadsheet, its on its way...now I hope it lives up to expectations!! I will update our build with pics when I have a bit more time, now its back to discussing benchtop quotes & sizes with DH! cheers Ruth Ruth -Bought house in Melbourne inner burbs, knocked it down & now...we are owner builders! Completed OB project and moved in to our new home with our new baby in May 2009! Re: Project management/building supervisor 18Sep 01, 2008 7:39 pm Hi Homebuilder, considering PM will do everything for you, 10% is not too bad I guess it depends on how much time you have...one piece of advice - it's important to know what you want, because it would be all too easy for the PM to just go off and do things their way and not give you enough choice, a lot like a builder may approach things?!? I would get the PM to focus on the technical aspects of manging the project, the logistics and the timeframes, but make sure you are always available to make decisions for yourselves! Ultimately you will hold all the liability and responsibility for the project so you have to be confident and in control!
I have sent you the spreadsheet as well! Cheers Ruth Ruth -Bought house in Melbourne inner burbs, knocked it down & now...we are owner builders! Completed OB project and moved in to our new home with our new baby in May 2009! Re: Project management/building supervisor 19Sep 03, 2008 10:38 pm Sooooo posted this in the wrong thread.....
Re: Project management/building supervisor 20Sep 04, 2008 8:36 pm gweluphome Hey guys I have my life line back.....I know H1 is only reasonably new to me but it I did actually get withdrawls a little bit. Hubby understands now that without my computer at home I ring him a little to much at work for ideas and inspiration for the new house and we don't even have costings back yet! Anyway I am about to do some catching up and see how you are all going and where you are all up to via your posts. Speak soon....Kristie Ps. The Virus was called Antivirus XP 2008.....with no warning and we have virus detection and firewalls........I guess we just are not immune sometimes. It actually disguises itself as antivirus software..... Thank you so much everyone. This all makes a lot of sense. I guess when you talk to a builder who butters up everything to look very polished, you get to start believing… 7 17591 Following these simple steps will help you mitigate unwanted costs, have your expectations met and give… 0 4534 DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair That laser level looks lovely! We bought one for less than a quarter of that price off eBay. It worked really well for us and it's still going now, five years later. After… 1 16711 |