Thread: My Man Cave

Makes you wonder exactly how free we are, or whether you really own your own property.

If you are hamstrung, perhaps get the owner builder licence in your wifes name?

Hi,

All ready considered that, all owners of the property must be on the application form and I'm sure my name will flag as a builder when they process. Naturally even though its our place I cannot go owner builder because I have a builders license go figure, anyway just gotta laugh and move forward.

Brian

Hi,

Long time between posts. To say things have been up and down is an understatement and my stress level has at time been in a bad place. I Have the final plans all stamped by the engineer, had a builder organised asked him to come around lets sign it up and get a start. He never turned up waited 3 weeks gave up and started the process again. Found another builder and he had a couple of issues with a couple of part of the job. In the end it got to much. So without a Henry Lawson and believe me there a whole lot between all the lines to get me to this stage.

So - I have been beaten and I am now doing the shed myself well as mush as I can with my limitations.
Building Permit with certifier and being lodged, Pest controller contacted, Drainer has been organise, concreter organised, deposit for prefab steel frame will be sorted tomorrow, Solar also arranged. Need to contact the window mob and get that in play.

I am now looking at starting in a couple of weeks the ONLY thing I need to start now is the building permit. Been advised about a week, add NT time, so I expect two weeks.

Now to clean all the trenches out again, I've been trying to beat the NT wet season, however we have had a few showers and my trenches have partially collapsed, dammit. If I get the slab down before the wet hits I'll be surprised. Think I'll have to put the XXXX sign up on the slab not the roof lol. Only kidding will still put it on the roof .

Anyway things are moving in the right direction.

It never seems to be as easy as it should be. Hopefully once you get going the rest will be smoother.

I'm curious as to why you guys down under wouldn't make temporary forms of 2 x material in the trench to pour the concrete into, rather than the open trench? I've never seen anyone build anything here without forms. Saves on concrete if nothing else. Most of the 2 x would be used for some other part of the construction after the concrete set.

Pete

Hi,

If things had panned out as I expected forming the trenches would not have been an issue. I did weigh up the cost of materials in building a trench and the cost outweighed the extra cost of the concrete. The other issue here is I would have had to build it. I'm in enough trouble putting the bloody frame up at this stage and my daughters are not aware of me doing this so more trouble on the way.

This is a fully steel frame construction so the use of the form work and reusing would have been in the completed shed only and was not anything I had planned on using so this would have been another matter. Guess I could have given to the Men Shed I an in.

Anyway I'm bloody exciting things are moving forward, hope the rains can stay away for till I get the slab down. After that I can build in the rain

Brian

Well been awhile since I last posted. I thought I had covered all and yet I more delays have occurred. I finally cracked it, in the delays I've been subjected too for a simple bloody shed and BBQ area. So much so I drafted a letter with all parties involved and expressed by view point and basically said If there are any more delays I will take this rubbish to the media. Well it did the trick ended up getting my building permit the following day with lots of apologies. So I now have my building permit. This basically set in motion a mad rush to get the drainage and my slab poured before the wet season came in earnest.

Of course since the footings had been dug sometime ago with the expectation the concrete would be poured in a few days. Suffice to say my trenches had to be cleaned out from vegetation and collapsed sides. My plumber I had ready (neighbour) went away the same day I received my permit for two weeks, so had to arrange another plumber, I was not waiting. Plumber organised, now I have put a pool in excavated post holes for my steel post s1.2 x 600 deep and no rock, of course where the drainage has to go we strike ROCK every trench so I'm on a jack hammer for hours to make it happen. I have not been on a jack hammer for many years and the following day reinforced to me I'll never be on one again.

The concreter contacted me mid after noon Monday last week and said they will be there the following day to set up, two days ahead to schedule, damn it. So a lot had to be put in place to accommodate this, not to mention arrange the pest man I had organised for the job a few weeks back, only to find out spraying under the slab is no longer allowed and you must lay plastic impregnated with chemicals. Get this sorted and now I have to set my steel posts in place which had me and a couple of others up till 10 pm the night before the slab pour. A bit of rushing around an hour or so before the pour checking everything was in place and ready, as I had to go to hospital. I left my son in charge who has no building experience so a nervous 3 hours away while the slab was poured, lol my son was nervous as I was taking a number of phone calls with questions. Slab down and up goes my XXXX sign, I have only ever wet a roof however the hassles to get to this point lots of BEER was in order. Now I can settle down a bit.

Ok Not sure how to load photos seems not accepting mine. Will sort it out and post up.

If the end result wasn't worth the pain none of us would ever bother with the hobby. Your closer to the end than you were when you started.

Ho! Ho! Ho!
Pete

Welcome to the everyday world of a builder and bureaucracy

lol yes rebuild. The sad part is I am a builder, however this job has tested my mental. The biggest delays were in fact from builders. Basically due to health reasons my family did not want me to build the shed so I had builders price the shed and my BBQ area. To say the prices varied is an understatement. Even so I gave the go ahead to one builder and he never returned or called back --- like how's that work, so had to start the process again, ahhhhhh. My positive here was it was a blessing he never started. Organised another builder he would not put two post up for my BBQ area unless he got that job as well, I just wanted the post up so all the footing were certified at one time and when the slab was poured these posts would be done as well. Damn easier with a concrete pump than barrows.

Anyway I'm now the builder, just need to find a couple of carpenters to put the frame up, I'm not well enough to do that . Looks like I will fly my mates up from Qld to do the job). I would prefer to use locals will see how that goes.

Brian

Some earlier phots, The wet season is play havoc. This was the forth time my trenches filled
IMG_1981.jpg
Finally a dry spell and the plumber can get a start.
IMG_2017.jpg
Well it looks like I have sorted out the photos, I will post some more later today and an update of where I'm at.

Brian

Originally Posted by Brian45

Some earlier phots, The wet season is play havoc. This was the forth time my trenches filled
IMG_1981.jpg
Finally a dry spell and the plumber can get a start.
IMG_2017.jpg
Well it looks like I have sorted out the photos, I will post some more later today and an update of where I'm at.

Brian

I'm following your build. I can't help but empathize with your problems.
What's the plumbing for specifically?

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Not many sheds with a moat around them!

Good for termite control

Originally Posted by woodPixel

Not many sheds with a moat around them!

Good for termite control

Yes. You could get a remote control battleship with night vision camera and sail around shooting bbs at cane toads.

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Hi

Well my health basically took a hit last year and I retired from work and moved from Qld to NT to be with family. The shed is my workshop however I have put the plumbing in so the wife can have it converted as a self contained building at a later stage to bring in a bit of income. Hence why everything I'm doing is to suit a residential build such as the insulation etc. lol except the electrical which will have heaps of power points and lights. It will have two air conditioners and they will be placed where they wont have to be moved.

I was hoping the shed and BBQ would have been done months ago so I could get my boat and do some fishing alas it will be mid next year before that happens. This is why I'm off with the delays they are F**king with my time.

Although it seems things are on the improve, I have two carpenters who are not stopping over Christmas apart from Christmas to New Year Day and they wanted some work. So Tuesday this week my shed should start to immerge. I will post an update later today with more photos. As of now I gotta mix cement and top up a couple of post holes.

Brian