In case you missed it, we are not tradies. And yet we were able to make our dream home happen and do it as owner-builders. 12 months ago we were probably a bit sceptical that we were up to it, but we seemed to be going through an uncharacteristically whimsical phase. That led to deciding to build a house and buying a property within a week. A WEEK!
And THEN we looked into what was involved in creating the Homemade House.
That makes no sense. But it worked out for us - phew!
You should probably do it the other way around, especially if you are like us and constrained by the dimensions of a suburban block.
We didn't know anything at all about setbacks etc or even what the dimensions of the house would be. Lucky for us, it fit.
Well.
Plan B fit. Plan A was a house with a return verandah but we couldn't do that and have a driveway and get our setbacks from the side boundary approved.
Lesson learned: you can have a long-held vision AND you can also be flexible. It all worked out beautifully.
Many of the visitors to this blog are thinking about a similar path, either with the Lovely Building Company or another option and I'm very happy answering your questions and hearing your plans. In response to a request from Brierley and Clover (gorgeous vintage style blog), here are my musings on useful things to know.
As mentioned, we are not tradies. We are not experts. We had not done this before. This is simply our individual experience and opinion, for what that is worth.
Which is the perfect lead-in for my first piece of advice if you decide to be an owner-builder:
1. Start educating yourself. I made full use of those 24 hours in a day to trawl through mountains of information. I read everything I could get my hands on. I read the Building Commission website, Consumer Affairs website, all sorts of web articles, I lurked on renovation/building discussion boards so I could soak up the issues that others were grappling with, I did an online owner-builder course, and even earned my "white card". I also purchased a couple of books that explain exactly how to build a house so I could grasp the process and the lingo. And I asked lots of questions. The Lovely Building Company never seems to get sick of answering the most mundane of building-related questions.
That researching did not stop during the entire process. As each stage arrived, so I became a "mini-expert" for a short while.
2. You cannot be too organised. It was 6 and a half months from when the slab was poured to when we moved in. There are two keys to that. The first is being very clear on what the sequence is going to be. How do you know that? Everything time I spoke to a trade during their quote phase I would ask them exactly at what stage they needed to come in, and I also asked them for some idea of when I could bring in the trade after them. Get that all scheduled into whatever kind of chart works for you.
The second key is to know what you want well in advance and have your fittings etc good to go. We had a room at our home stacked from end to end and to the rafters with baths, vanities, tiles, taps, hinges, toilets, exhaust fans, light fittings and so on. Start buying ASAP!
We were determined that any delays were not going to be due to us.
3. Always get three quotes. ALWAYS. Every time we sought quotes there was one business that wanted to charge us twice what the other two proposed. Imagine if the pricey one was the only one we received and we accepted it? That literally saved us tens of thousands of dollars.
4. Don't just accept the cheapest quote. Factor in whether they have been recommended by someone else, are they registered in their trade, do they have insurance, will they give you a written quote, and do you feel you can communicate well with them? The Very Lovely Building Company provides a list of recommended trades - I can happily recommend their recommendations!
5. Be present: plan to visit the site every single day. Each morning I would arrive and ask two questions: "what do you need?" And "what else?". Usually enough of a conversation starter for me to be across what was happening that day and for whoever was there to know I was paying attention and available to answer any questions and run the occasional errands.
Even on the weekends? Yes. As owner-builder you need to go there and do a bit of a tidy up each weekend, including giving the house a weekly sweep out and clearing out rubbish. It's also the best time to have a really good look at the work done during the week.
6. Final tip: love your tradies. Arrive with a smile, provide tea,coffee,cold drinks and a supply of snacks. Lash out on the soft toilet paper. Send in the pizzas on the cold miserable days.
Our home was built by happy chappies hopped up on sugar.
