Thread: Renovations from start to finish Part A

I've now got together a works program, which comes in handy for a couple of reasons. It helps me firm up my budgets for labour costs. It also will guide me in my ordering process for materials, particularly given that some of the suppliers need upto 6 weeks lead. However most importantly it will help me decide where to lay stuff out in the backyard, as we only have limited space I dont want to be tripping over bits and pieces.

So therefore, within reason, I want to keep the stuff I am going to be using earliest closest to the job. I guess ideally the suppliers will deliver on the morning I need it, but I'll have to see how that goes.

Schedule Timeframe(days) Materials
Approvals 10
Site Levelling 1
Excavation 1
Sewerage 2
Footings 5 Reo/Concrete
Brickwork 3 Bricks
Stumps 3 Concrete Stumps
Termite Treatment 1
Bearers 2 Hardwood
Floor Joists 3 Hardwood
Framing 5 Pine
Trusses 5 Trusses
Roofing 5 Iron
Windows 3 Windows
Cladding 2 Harditex
Doors 2 Doors
Flooring 2 Cypress
Decking 3 Merbau
Plumbing 4 Taps, sinks etc
Wiring 4 Lights and fittings
Plaster 5 Gyprock
Tiling 2 Tiles
Kitchen 2 Cabinets
Ensuite 2 Basin, Toilet, Shower
Skirtings, Built-ins 5 Skirtings etc
Render 5 Render
TOTAL 87


That amounts to 17 weeks work or about 5 months, given that some of it overlays and some of it is contigent on prior work I reckon 5 months is pretty reasonable

Cheers

Originally Posted by silentC

Received our Owner Builder course in the mail last night. Cost $95.

schitt - mine cost $260 - but they included a 600 page "book" about construction though.

more more more ..... having just returned to Australia, (malaysia and Singapore on business) I am loving this documentation of the process ..... and FWIW, I am VERY happy you didnt demo your existing home - I think it is a great base to work from

Best wishes

As far as material costings are concerned- go to www.tradeconnect.com.au. This site has material costs which are pretty competitive for owner builders. Even if they do not supply you, all the prices are listed and you can use them to get a good idea of what you should be paying.

Subbies however can be a lot tougher as far a price is concerned. Like your builders, it really is a matter of how busy they are. Remember though, if you dont know the guy (and even if you do) go the the Dept of Fair Trading site and check their history.

Nowadays, even with people you know, get it in writing. It's not only a legal requirement but it protects all parties involved. I could tell you a number of stories about former friends who went to court because they trusted one another to do the right thing.

Good luck with the project. If you need any advice, whether on process or price, then feel free to ask.

Youve impired me, I'm building a shed 21x12m and attached office 9x12. I think I will post the progress on the forum.

It looks like they are really putting the owner builders through some hoops now. When I built my first house, I think I paid $240 which included the licence and insurance.

But in my opinion, most owner builders do a good job albeit a lot slower than most builders. I guess they have got the time and patience.

Originally Posted by boban

As far as material costings are concerned- go to www.tradeconnect.com.au. This site has material costs which are pretty competitive for owner builders................

TradeConnect is a great site, I had forgotten all about it. I use it when I'm doing landscaping jobs to give me a feel for prices, but more often than not I can get a better deal locally.

Originally Posted by boban

...........though, if you dont know the guy (and even if you do) go the the Dept of Fair Trading site and check their history........

The funny thing with the OFT is that I'm not sure that actually know where owner builders fit in the picture. I went into the local office here and asked what licence my two 'labourers' will need and she was really ambiguous saying they need a licence regardless, and I was arguing asking why would I need licenced builders - effectively, to work with us as labourers. In the end she said to ring the licence number and talk to someone there. I rang them and the lady was definitely unambiguous, she said (and I asked her 3 times!!) that (assuming we are correctly insured) the only licenced trades we as owner builders need are the plumber and the sparky. She said we could use family members, friends, passerbys as labourers as long as we were insured and they didnt do any of the plumbing/sparky work. This also goes hand in hand with the 4 council inspections!!

As part of our pre-planning processes we have broken the project down into a schedule. We are now about to sit down with the labourers and talk to them about which components are their responsibility and which are ours.

I have followed their last 6 or 7 jobs and we are pretty confident with their work. They work together well as a team (one is meticulous and one is fast). However we will still enter into a written agreement about responsibilities.

Originally Posted by boban

...........Good luck with the project. If you need any advice, whether on process or price, then feel free to ask............

As long as it is free to ask expect me to be asking a few

Originally Posted by boban

..........Youve impired me, I'm building a shed 21x12m and attached office 9x12. I think I will post the progress on the forum............

Glad to be an inspiration. And this would be great, because the shed will be our next project (10m by 4.5m) - as long as I can convince SWMBO that it is a priority

Cheers

As far as the licensing is concerned, what you have said is correct. What I mean though was if you have someone like a tiler, then they need a license to work as a tiler and so forth. You will be surprised how many unlicensed persons are out there calling themselves tradesmen. If they dont have it in their wallet ready to show you then watch out, it could be trouble. Be upfront and ask for it.

As far as the advice is concerned, it is free. You can call me on my mobile, I don't mind that either. I'm happy to help anyone who want's to help themselves. I learnt what I know by being on site, reading and most of all asking questions about matters I don't know about.

I will keep tabs on your progress with some interest.

boban if your measurements are correct...........................




I want your shed

Originally Posted by capedcrusader

schitt - mine cost $260 - but they included a 600 page "book" about construction though.

Only 600 pages? It must be the condensed version

[QUOTE=seriph1]boban if your measurements are correct...........................


I've wanted this for the last 15 years. You don't know how excited I am about building it. For me it's my dream come true.

I will post the plans and pictrures tonight some time as a new thread. Hope you guys have some ideas about setout and so forth.

For those that are interested I am busily typing my updates on our renos. The short story is - no work on the extensions yet!! However I have been beavering away on the existing house. I have attached some pics of the all but finished hallway. And I also have some feedback on the NECO downlights.

I will be providing more thorough updates on re-wiring, heating, finances and the strenuous state of our marriage!!!

As you may have gathered we had been going along swimmingly until we hit our financial hurdle.

We had done a lot of work to calculate the cost of all our additions to be around $137,000. This coupled with refinancing our existing loan meant we need a total loan of $240,000 to get everything done we need done, this is if we are owner builders and use subbies to do the big works. If we go with a licensed builder from start to finish we would need $290,000.

The CBA has advised us that they will lend us $210,000 in total if we go as owner builders, however we have to use licensed builders as our subcontractors and we have to sign a contract agreeing to sell our other house in Queensland. Sort of defeats the purpose. The have also said they will lend us $290,000 if we use licensed builders full stop. The NAB has offered $240,000, for us as owner builders with no requirements for licenced builders as subbies or for us to sell our house up North.

Before we jumped at the NAB we had about 8 weeks of mulling over our options. Consequently we have changed our plans. We are going for a smaller loan from the CBA of $180,000 to consolidate our debts, provide a new kitchen and ensuite, update the house up North plus update the car. We will then sell the house up North clear our debts and have about $40,000 in the bank to commence our renos, which less the kitchen and ensuite should come in at around $100,000. This will allow us to live in a 4 bedroom house with ensuite and next to no mortgage by the time we are forty. I guess we have something to thank the CBA for!!

Sorry for the convulated update but it gets you upto speed.

One of the first jobs we have had done is get the house rewired. We had a sparky and his offsider here for about a week and I helped them as much as I could. They worked while I was redoing the hallway because this gave them easy access into the roof.

Rewiring meant, aside from rewiring, new power points, new light switches, new light fittings and a new power box plus new feed from the power pole outside. The total cost was about $4900, which was about $2000 over budget but we went the hole hog and are pretty happy with the finished product.

The only caveat, and this refers to some earlier discussions regarding NECO flouro downlights is that, and this is unequivocal, the fluoro downlights are not bright enought to light high traffic areas. End of story!! There was some discussion regarding their brightness and effectiveness and we ran with them based on that discussion, however they dont cut it. We had 7 of them in 12 sqm area in our kitchen and it did not provide enough light to work by. We replaced two of them with halogens and are now happy with the setup. My advice would be, use them in hallways and corners, builtins etc, but if you are going to rely on them for working light then they need to be supplemented with halogens. Dont get me wrong we are happy with the NECO lights, but just keep in mind that they dont provide enough working light.

Once we removed the wall between the kitchen and hallway our next priority was to refurbish the kitchen. I have provided some pics showing the old kitchen once the wall was removed and then stages through the fitout to the benchtops going in. The kitchen wont be completed until the additions are done as we are building a servery above the sink, and as such we wont be tiling or finishing off until the servery is completed. But you'll get the idea. From the pics there is also an appliance cupboard and kitchen island which should go in over the next few days.

We got quotes from a variety of sources. From 4 chippies for a complete kitchen (quotes ranged from just under $7,000 to around $13,000), to 2 flatpack kitchen mobs (quotes from $4,000 to $7000) and for me to do it totally myself ($4,000). Keep in mind for these quotes that I am supplying and installing the benchtops my self.

We ended up going with a young chippie, who worked solo. His quote was just under $7,000. We didn't pick him because he was the cheapest (he wasn't) more because I could work in with him and help as we go. I also felt that getting a chippie took away the dangers of me measuring once and cutting three times regularly!!

The kitchen includes a slide out pantry which we are very happy with. The kitchen install will take three days, the plumbing took two days (and included moving the gas meter and continuous hot water system) and the wiring took one day. The preparation of the benches took me about 8 weeks, more or less.

For the benches I used Vicitorian Ash (which I suspect is a mix of timbers) which I laminated with a biscuit jointer and have so far coated 4 times with a floor polyutherane. I will probably do another 3 coats. I also coated under the benches and all cut edges. I edged the benches with 40mm by 30mm strips of Merbau.

The total cost of the kitchen, including appliances, plumbing and wiring is $11,400. Which I think isnt too bad, we could have saved about $2,000 if I had done the carcasses and doors myself, but given my inability to measure properly would have been a risk (and too stressful)