Well, November 14th was a day to celebrate.

Our Private Certifier gave us the green light and sent 2 inches of documentation to council.  Happily, this part of the process is relatively seamless and we could carry on with the Surveyor, SA Water, AGL and the Gas people.

There is a colossal amount of co-ordinating and your are reliant on your trades to work with you and use their experience to provide the best outcome.

I received a question about owner builders which I will address briefly.  Firstly, financing is very difficult and there are 2 immutable laws with building.  These 2 laws are critical to enjoyable process and a good relationship with all concerned.  It’s interesting than on my first building project I contacted many clients who had built new homes and only one builder was given a good recommendation.  It is also curious that people will spend millions of dollars buying a home at auction after 2 inspections and a building approval.  When building you think about it every day, sometimes for most of the day and if you are constructing you also dream about it, lose sleep over it and hence become certifiable.

So the two rules – It will cost more and it will take longer.

It costs more because even a fixed priced contract cannot allow for footing issues and until you select and buy your PC sums ie A/C, floor coverings, tiles, kitchen items you have no real idea of the cost of the item or importantly the labour component to get it all working.

In SA an owner builder needs to appoint a licensed supervisor to oversee the task and sign off to say it complies with council requirements when occupancy is possible and the warranty period commences.

Wont this cost money?  Yes but less than a builder and using their suppliers and experience will save you more money than the their cost.