Building Your Own Place, Self Managing

Ldextr3k on 08/01/2017 - 15:49

Hi Ozbargin,

I have a few questions about housing and regulations. I am Canadian, married to an Australian, and we moved over to Melbourne. We have decided to purchase a place, just land with an old house. I understand it is very popular these days to build your own place, in this case, we want to build a Side-by-side (I don’t know the Australian name?) and sell the other unit to help offset our financial situation.

Now, since I have just relocated over here, I am in a unique situation where I don’t have a job lined up yet. So, I have been considering undertaking the build job myself.

I know the easiest way is just to get a large company like Carlisle to undertake the whole project while I sit back. But between horror stories and just being able to go farther with my money, it doesn’t seem like the best option for me right now. Plus I have lots of time on my hands.

The first question is, do I need an architect? Through my research, its more like they hold your hand and is your 3rd party check and balance guy, after the initial design of the house. More of a project manager than just a designer. It seems like I can get away with hiring a great architect and not hiring a building company. In which case the architect can advise me of when and which subcontractors to hire?

This doesn’t qualify under an Owner-Builder, as it is 2 units, I need to get a building surveyor to survey the entire work phase, or can he just check at the end?

I kind of feel like I need to go back to school and get a Builder’s License to undertake this project. Is there a project manager company that I can hire to kind of do what I want to do, which is save money and build bigger and better by doing small work (painting, planning, scheduling) myself and hiring subbies at bigger jobs.

Thanks for any help anyone can provide!

Home & Garden

Comments

  • chumlee on 08/01/2017 - 16:34

    You can do owner builder and just organise your own tradies. It may stretch the construction time out as you wait for quotes to come in for various works. Paying an architect isn't necessary and could be quite costly.

    Just remember with owner builder you are going to have to warranty both houses.

    I did owner builder for my extension and renovation and it was a mostly an enjoyable learning experience. The thing I liked was I was able to control the build in some respect and I inspected the work throughout the day and made sure it was done right with quality materials.

    • dextr3k on 08/01/2017 - 16:43

      Thats very interesting. I was reading about owner buiilder and I had to intend to live in the property for it to qualify, and warranty can be up to 10 years. I personally dont have a problem with that as one of them is my own residence, so I will not be skimping. And any bigger work like plumbing and electrical, I would have gotten qualified subbies to sign off on that. Its just I am not sure if it is legal, and if I am biting off more than I can chew with 2 houses.

      Thanks for the insight tho!

  • chumlee on 08/01/2017 - 17:43
    +3

    You need certificates of compliance for all plumbing and electrical work. Also you will need a glazing certificate which you can get from your window supplier. You also need a termite certificate as well as roofing. A copy of these goes to your surveyor before he/she can sign off for occupancy.

    Surveyor will also need to inspect footings prior to you laying your slab as well as after and also needs to inspect your framing after carpenter has erected it.

    • dextr3k on 08/01/2017 - 18:00

      So this means I can contact a surveyor and start from there, he will give me a list of what compliances he needs?

      Thanks, that is useful information

  • oscargamer on 08/01/2017 - 19:14

    could i suggest you find a good local architect that works regularly with a good local small builder that will in turn know a good local building surveyor

    that combination worked well with us, and i did a fair bit of work with/for the builder and his subbies, with them signing off on work that needed to be signed off on

    if you can liaise directly with the subbies, that takes a lot of time away from the builder to do what he does best

    • dextr3k on 08/01/2017 - 19:20

      We are in melbourne, so it wouldnt be hard to find a good local architect. I need to do a lot more research, thanks!

      • chumlee on 08/01/2017 - 21:05

        The architect I used has a surveyor and engineer he always uses who prices was in line with others which would be the case with many architects.

        Whilst owner builder can save you money and give you control over the build you need to be around a lot to answer any questions that come up

      • dextr3k on 08/01/2017 - 22:27

        Yeah, That is what I am planning to do. Since I do have a lot of time on my hands to go about doing this.

  • dextr3k on 18/01/2017 - 20:12

    Also, as a secondary question,

    How much extra to the the budget am I looking at if I was to build an underground carport or even basement living area?

    • Hksmaso69 on 07/02/2017 - 15:33

      it really depends how big of the basement area you want and weather you use concrete block but for a average basement for 2 cars and and a small room will be be around 120000 including escalation floor and bricklayers

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