CadburysFingers

Hi Guys.

After seeing at first hand hundreds of houses being built, we have come to the conclusion that it basically boils down to getting a good supervisor, as it seems to be their ability or lack of ability to coordinate the trades that results in a successful house build or not. With this in mind we have decided that we will be able to fulfill the supervisor role ourselves, and as we know reliable tradesmen in all the relevant trades, we can do it all ourselves. What we don't know is how to go about doing exactly that. Where would be our first point of call, do we need a license, or can we just go ahead and build. Also does anyone now of somebody that would be suitable to draw up the plans of any proposed house, as this is the only aspect of the build we are unsure about.

ANY help greatly appreciated.

Geelong Gent

- Go and have a chat firstly with your local council planning dept.
- Ask for things like details of overlays and specific construction restrictions.
- Read up on building regulations
- Use a local draftsmen rather than architect to do up your drawings. The draftsmen will also have some local planning knowledge (but rely more on your discussion with council and your own research).

You need to be registered as an owner builder, do a google for ownerbuilder or masterbuilders. There is also a website Buzzy--Bee keeps quoting which is very helpful.

Good luck

CadburysFingers

Thank you for that, I have done a search of Buzzy Bees posts but couldnt find the website in question ?

Any other help would be greatly appreciated.

Siren & Brian

Quite easy to do.

Get plans drawn up
Fill out Owner Builder form and pay $124 for a number.
Submit plans and O/B number to council and pay
Put sign at front of property with name and O/B number on it.

I used CAD Active Designs 9405 7270 he is a draftsman, very down to earth and cheap. I only needed it for extensions.

CadburysFingers

Thats a great reply thank you. Sounds like there may be less to it than I thought, bonus

Any other help will be great

Geelong Gent

Few more points:
Soil test report
Engineers report to enable your draftsmen to finalise working drawings and certain contractors to finalise quotes.
OH&S?
Temporary fencing? road control if needed?
Public liability insurance?
Changes too rules on asbestos clearing (responsibility of owner rather than contractor).

CadburysFingers

Thanks again GG.

Any more experiences and advice would be more than welcome.

Siren & Brian

Beer.

Brisbane Bob

I don't know what happens over in Western Australia, but here in Queensland after buying the land, and the costs involved in building the house there is also a rather large fee payable to the council for what they call "contributions to infrastructure".

These contributions are towards the community, sewerage, water, water ways and transport. The bill for a typical house would be about $40,000.

Petals

We have done it we built our own house and things have changed a bit so you need to do your homework. There is a magazine called Owner Builder which is very helpful these days not around when we built.

We knew what we wanted got a draftsman to draw up the plans and we got our own permit etc and off we went.

We registered with the tax office which has to be done because if any of the contractors are not registered with the tax office for tax exemption then we had to deduct the tax and forward to the tax office. They are strict on this and if the contractor does not pay it and they find out the owner builder gets to pay it.

Our concreters were not happy when we deducted tax but that is the way it is.

Its difficult to get public risk insurance as an owner builder but we were lucky and able to do this, you cannot rely on the fact that contractors have their own insurance and if they are hurt they may sue you. Also anyone coming onto the building site needs to be covered.

You need to erect a shed which can take materials as theft from building sites does happen. You need to arrange a toilet for people to use.

My oh did the frame himself as you just take the plans to a timber supplier and they build the frames for you and deliver them and the roof trusses to the site and you put them together.

We love our house, its warm in winter cool in summer and very well built with all the insulation we made sure went into it.

Our brickie was marvelous and wrapped the slab properly rather than what they do these days leaving the membrane flapping in the wind so that ants and damp can get into the house.

We had no problem with contractors as we paid them and they fitted us in with all their other work and knew money was coming at the end of the job not three months down the track.

If you do your homework and find out all about it success, if you do not do the homework then not so successful.

You need to register for guarantee as well and this is costly.

Good luck

Siren & Brian

Not sure about this. If a contractor supplies an ABN then you dont with hold tax

Generally, an owner builder is not considered as running an enterprise. However, under the PAYG legislation for business-to-business transactions, if the supplier does not quote an Australian Business Number (ABN), then 48.5 percent tax must be withheld from the payment.
However, if domestic building is carried out for you, as the owner builder, by a contractor and the building is for your personal use, not business, then you will not need to withhold tax if the business does not quote an ABN.

Petals

We built before GST but we got the forms and the booklet from the ATO and registered and we only had to withhold from the concreters all the other trades we used had exemption from the tax office which they provided to us.

So before work commences need to ask for the paperwork re taxation then there are no misunderstandings if the guys think they are getting cash in hand and then find out they are not

CadburysFingers

Some great replies, thank you all for those. Anyone else wishes to contribute, I will be very grateful.

Toe Dipper

To make it all pucka, you need to set out a programme which lists out all the activities that you need to do. This will help to avoid missing things out. This should start from meeting the planners right through the building process.

When considering the building itself, make sure that you get the right sequence of work packages, otherwise you might get the plasterer in before the electrician has run his cables etc.

Oh, while I remember, during the building stages, make generous 2 week allowances for the site to stand completely still with no one doing anything over several months. This will make the whole process look more professional and allow the tradies to fail to turn up when they say they would/ run out of materials/ chuck sickies etc.

Lastly, remember the only unreliable thing about building is humans. So what could possibly go wrong!

Do not trust everything you hear or are told. Use common sense. Above all, remember you are the owner. If you are good at planning then it should not be too hard.

Best of luck

TD

Ianevs

I`m thinking about doing the same thing. Firstly you`ll have to do a Owner builder course which costs around $300 and a white card $70 for health and safety,both can be done online or a two day weekend course, I`d recommend the course if you have no construction experience as you can pick the examiners brains. I`m going to be doing mine from the UK as I have enough experience in carpentry and construction.
Good luck with people management, in my experience it is difficult.Ozzie builders have a attitude of work to live!! And rightly so.