Thread: Owner Building - YES or NO?

i feel sorry for subys that are working on project homes, they get screwed to low fixed price rates and see the same crap every day, on the good side for them is regluar work and payments. A few years back i put together a price for a major project home builder, i would have been doing 3 to 4 houses a week of timber floor laying then polishing. At the end of the day i did not get the contract my price's were fair for a quality job, there is no point doing twice.

Project home builders get rebates from the manufacters IE csr will rebate the builder % of the money paid for the product no matter who it was purchased from.

Thanks every one. :confused:
Here I am thinking about building a kit home, starting early next year and we have this discussion.
Make me wonder if it will be worth the trouble. :eek: :eek:


At least I will be doing everything possible my self.
except the sparkie and ?? plumber ??
(Do I need a plumber if not connected to town water???)

Dunno about ACT but in vic a plumber isnt necessary if no town water and no local stormwater drainage systen

Originally Posted by Gaza

Project home builders get rebates from the manufacters IE csr will rebate the builder % of the money paid for the product no matter who it was purchased from.

Another one for the Mythbusters.

Al

Mythbusters

This is for real, we know the guys at csr and they even have reps that go on to site to ensure that all CSR is used, also Tilling timber is now doing the same thing with there enginered wood products. You have to be a BIG home builder for these % to add up to any thing decent.

I watch a show on cable called property ladder, in which they produces a show around novice owner builders, 100% of them go over budget and schedule and many of them don’t make enough in real wages to justify the stress they put themselves through.

Some make 1000 pounds for 6 months work and very few clean up 40000 pounds around the same time frame and there are the ones who make a good wages. But they all finish the job and almost all do a good job at that!

My observation of the reason why some do better than others are the false expectations of some and their inability to understand the real cost of building, materials and regulation; if you allow $8ooo for a kitchen but want a $20000 kitchen, it’s just not going to work out when you fork over the other $12000 causing your budget to blow out! Same with tradies if you allow $200 a day for tradies that charge between $300 and $400 a day GST inclusive it’s going to bite big time!

Or believing you can build a first floor addiction but failing to check and see if your footing can take the extra load or your neighbors are cool with it or anything else you might want to do!

Draw up a budget, a realistic one, if you want to spend 10 grand on a kitchen go see what you get for 10 grand, you don’t wait till you need one before you start running around on the hunt for something that’s not there and the same with tradies case them up before you need them not when you need them, same for the rest of the project. (Tiles, bath, basin, roofing, flooring, door, windows and so on)

Basically if you are going to renovate, do you home work before you even think of starting!

I’m confident I can perform brain surgery, what I not sure about, is the longevity of the patient.

Originally Posted by Auspiciousdna

Same with tradies if you allow $200 a day for tradies that charge between $300 and $400 a day GST inclusive it’s going to bite big time!

Hahahaha,

Send me the names of the tradies, I need cheap labour.

Al

property ladder

That show is a classic, i laugh every time i whatch it. The things the do some times make me wonder about how stupid the people are who are buying these places.

havent seen a thread that causes so much emotion, so in summary tradies will tell you not to owner build and owner builders say go for it, is this the general consensus

Wow - what a debate!
I think all the general risks/benefits of owner building have been more than adequately covered, so I will just contribute a bit from a female owner-builder perspective. I (together with my male partner) have met some fantastic, professional, helpful, flexible and honest subbies in the course of building our house (granted it is in the country so perhaps it's a bit easier). And some we won't hire again. We have also met some that we instinctively did not trust, and hence didn't hire.
Never once did we make a decision based on quotation alone - they were just to tell us if the quote was in the ball park. We have never had to withold money, we always managed to resolve problems at the time (through effective organisation and supervision and being really clear about the specific requirements from the start).
Occasionally I had some communication problems with a couple of tradies, due to my gender, but it wasn't a huge problem, we just did the practical thing and my partner took on the role of dealing with them.
Hard work, no weekends for months, very expensive. If I did it again, I would probably find an excellent builder that I could communicate really well with, (wait the 12 noths for them to be free because they're so good), and pay them enough to do a good job.
Good luck, Justine

Originally Posted by ozwinner

Hahahaha,

Send me the names of the tradies, I need cheap labour.

Al

On a day labour rate, there are plenty available within the 300-400 range.

Who would be a builder?

A bugger of a job I reckon.

Every morning you wake up you know that your day is going to be full of hassles that have to be solved.

On the one side you've got the client wanting to know why you haven't been onsite for a week (they don't know about the other two jobs you are juggling)
on the other you've got the subbies wanting to know what they are supposed to do next and by the way, when do you plan on paying them?

I've been through a couple of renno's, I've not built from scratch yet, and I have to say I've hated each one of them.

I hated the tradies turning up at sparrow's fart every morning with their bloody radioes blaring out some right wing wanker's opinionated garbage.

I hated being put on the spot because "suddenly" an unforseen circumstance had arisen that absolutely had to be solved right now

Would I be an owner builder?

I think I'd rather put my head in a vice.

Its really a matter of personalities, those that can't handle problems and those that let problems roll off their backs

The tradesmen here have only pointed out that there are pitfalls for owner builders and that it can be a frustrating task for some personalities.

If you get frustrated every time the person you asked for a quote doesn't show up then its not your scene. (btw the same crap happens to builders too its not an exclusive OB thing)

Other personalities will owner build and do it very well.

I think a big thing that has come out is that you need to plan and research and have a fall back plan. The one thing that no one has brought up is trying to get money out of the bank as an owner builder. Due to the reputations of owner builders the banks are very reluctant to fork over the money. Some want 25% of the cost and you must use this before they give the loan.