Owner Building - Feasible?

A lot of people are currently looking into Owner Builder solutions to build their homes, but is this feasible?

Well, there is a lot of merit in the Owner Builder process for people who want to ensure quality and budgetary constraints on their home construction (you won't save time), but this method alone will not resolve these issues.

An Owner Builder takes on all the risk in undertaking this process, so unless you know something about building, the contracting process and how to maintain quality standards in construction, it can be a challenging process. But people say to me....

"As a culture we have been building our own homes for 100's, if not thousands of years, why can't I?" - good point! Simple answer - knowledge & time.

Prior to Regulations (LGA 1915) & building permits (1920s), things were fairly lax and building standards were based on the honour system without any real supervision or liabilities in place. In around 1958, things started to tighten up and you couldn't just go and build a house with no permits in place. The building regulations, the building code and related standards were put in place to safeguard people.

later on in the 70s and 80s, the need for standards of quality and inspections were introduced to maintain the safety, quality and durability of buildings, hence the system we have today and, in reality, those standards would not exist if there hadn't been any issues,

but I digress...

From an Owner Builder stand point. We cannot expect someone who does not work in the industry to be fully conversant with all the regulations, codes and standards that are required to build a home, but there is an expectation that when you Owner Build, you put in place the connections to experts, research the standards and understand your limitations when building your home. Some criteria are set (like the electrical and plumbing standards) that you cannot undertake this work yourself and must employ a registered and qualified professional. And these limitations extend to other building elements where you may be able to undertaken these by yourself, but not doing them well will cause major problems.

Moisture is the #1 enemy of buildings. If you do not have the knowledge to understand what is needed to make your building watertight, you should not owner build for any reason. It's a recipe for disaster and one way to kiss your money good bye.

How do you know what you don't know? Go online, watch videos of roofers and cladding experts in their fields talk about detailing and issues. If you understand the technicalities they are talking about and can familiarise yourself with the terms they are using (pressure flashing, air seal, skin resistance, capillery action, etc) then you are probably in a good position and have enough intelligence to be able to Owner Build. Remember, to become a qualified tradie , most builders study between 2-4 years at TAFE to get their Cert 4 and have 3 - 4 years of onsite training to be able to understand the technicalities of building a home.

Why am I singling out cladding specifically? While it is possible you could engage a builder to get you to "lock up" stage, the savings and quality impact of you self-managing is unlikely to offset the cost of undertaking the owner builder process.

If you believe that going Owner Build will allow you to control the quality of your home, then you need to understand that unless you know what you are looking at and have the expertise to understand how something should be, that will not be the case.

Now, I'm not saying don't undertake an Owner Build. If you have the right contacts and advice, it is a great learning process, but understand you are on the hook liability wise forever with any issues that might happen with the home and you will need to pay big $$$ for the insurance for the priviledge to build your own home. And don't get me started on the hoops to jump through if you sell and how the market percieves owner build. My advice is this..

If you are building your forever home and you are knowledgable and can do the majority of the work yourself, sure, have a crack at it. But this is not the Block and it will take significantly longer and cost significantly more than you would pay a decent custom home builder to do the process for you. I offer an Owner Builder consultation service where I can help you through the process, but it doesn't matter who you use, get someone who has built lots of homes before and understands the process to help you through it. Even if you have to pay them, it will save you sleepless nights in the long run.

Signing off.....

Revell