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Building your own home
Hi all,
Prickly Pete wrote this to me about building his own home, and I thought it was too good a story to keep to myself. Does anyone else have any tales about building their own home, or at the very least doing renovations on their home?
Miffy
"Hi Miffy,
Jeee, what have I done? But I can not just ignore you. Are you ready?
Several of my friends suggested that I should write a book about my owner-builder experience. Some were fascinated by the story. I guess some people find these things interesting enough but I think there are some good books on the topic available already. I wish I found and had time to read them before I started building.
But to answer your question, no - I was not in the business, not even close to it. When we moved to Newcastle, from a country town in mid 1999, my wife and I found that we could not agree on a house to buy. It was either something rather far too expensive (as far as I was concerned) or too small and not good enough (as far as my better half was concerned. We then looked at house and land packages. Again, I was not impressed. There were some my wife liked and I would settle on just for the sake of it but I thought they were all overpriced (for the quality they offered). But the real disappointment for both of us was that the slightest modifications we'd ask for seemed like a good reason to skin us alive if we were going to be lucky or simply could not be 'delivered' if not. Feeling quite disappointed and exhausted by our searching, a relative suggested he'd help us to build a home. Like he knew what to do, we'd do it ourselves under his command, using his skills and experience. The chap was not a licensed builder professional but he demonstrated some skills when he built a fine looking hose for himself and earned what seemed like good money by doing od building jobs here and there. We had no experience with or even the slightest clue about building a house but having lost the perspective on things and perhaps a bit desperate, we decided to try it. Huge mistake! It turned out the man did not really know what to do, had little time to spend on our project and I felt he did not commit to the task at all. Our limited budget, put together by my 'expert' was a joke, the job he did was a joke. I had to sack him. I was forced to take time off work (unplanned) and hired a carpenter/builder who knew what to do and was decent not to screw me. Over a period of three months the two of us fixed the initial shonky job and built the house designed by myself exactly as intended. I did many things by myself (under his guidance and instructions). The outcome is very satisfying. We and our friends love the building inside out. There is nothing I would change if I had to do it again (well perhaps one rather insignificat matter). The best of all, it is what we wanted, there is nothing like it around (well I do not see anything like it anywhere around) and it did not cost us an arm and a leg. It is very comfortable and healthy place. Having said all that, there were times, when we were still building, when I regreted going into it. I found that some tradesmen I dealt with were or would not be worth a fraction of the price they were asking for their services and that I (average, reasonably handy person) easily outperformed these 'professionals. Just one example - take the man who rocked up one day just after I had the roof installed (I got about 6 quotes for the roof - they ranged from $13000 to $28000) and offered to instal the guttering and downpipes. He asked what I wanted. I said I did not really know and instructed him to do what he thought 'needed' to be done (the roof area is 300 square meters - it includes a wrap around verandah - and because it is not a regular, straight edge shape it was important to place adequate number of downpipes in the right places). The man installed 6 downpipes along the entire roof's perimeter. Two of them although needed drain only a tiny section of the roof area. Some 95% of the area was serviced with the remaining 4 downpipes; the first modest rainfall overwhelmed the system - of course. Thus, to fix this dodgy outcome, I removed one of the downpipes, carefully took it apart to see how it was constructed and learnt to make and fit fine downpipes myself (it is not that difficult - trust me!). I added 7 more sets and now, even when we have a downpoor, our gutters and downpipes handle the runoff very well. I then installed an elaborate system of pipes under the house (it is a Queenslander on piers) and catch every drop of rain that falls on our roof. I can catch 300 000 litres of water annually. Pity I do not have water tanks yet but I will get them. I will not have to use the Hunter Water's water when I am set up. All up, it was a worthwhile exercise but I am not recommending it as a matter of course. I think if I had known how stressful it was going to be like during the building stage, I would have never started. The point to make is that once you start and can not afford to walk away, you must keep going. Of course, once we moved in, and ever since, we think it was worth it. We have been living in our all timber inside - out (natural timber look) house since 2001. Love it! "
Prickly Pete wrote this to me about building his own home, and I thought it was too good a story to keep to myself. Does anyone else have any tales about building their own home, or at the very least doing renovations on their home?
Miffy
"Hi Miffy,
Jeee, what have I done? But I can not just ignore you. Are you ready?
Several of my friends suggested that I should write a book about my owner-builder experience. Some were fascinated by the story. I guess some people find these things interesting enough but I think there are some good books on the topic available already. I wish I found and had time to read them before I started building.
But to answer your question, no - I was not in the business, not even close to it. When we moved to Newcastle, from a country town in mid 1999, my wife and I found that we could not agree on a house to buy. It was either something rather far too expensive (as far as I was concerned) or too small and not good enough (as far as my better half was concerned. We then looked at house and land packages. Again, I was not impressed. There were some my wife liked and I would settle on just for the sake of it but I thought they were all overpriced (for the quality they offered). But the real disappointment for both of us was that the slightest modifications we'd ask for seemed like a good reason to skin us alive if we were going to be lucky or simply could not be 'delivered' if not. Feeling quite disappointed and exhausted by our searching, a relative suggested he'd help us to build a home. Like he knew what to do, we'd do it ourselves under his command, using his skills and experience. The chap was not a licensed builder professional but he demonstrated some skills when he built a fine looking hose for himself and earned what seemed like good money by doing od building jobs here and there. We had no experience with or even the slightest clue about building a house but having lost the perspective on things and perhaps a bit desperate, we decided to try it. Huge mistake! It turned out the man did not really know what to do, had little time to spend on our project and I felt he did not commit to the task at all. Our limited budget, put together by my 'expert' was a joke, the job he did was a joke. I had to sack him. I was forced to take time off work (unplanned) and hired a carpenter/builder who knew what to do and was decent not to screw me. Over a period of three months the two of us fixed the initial shonky job and built the house designed by myself exactly as intended. I did many things by myself (under his guidance and instructions). The outcome is very satisfying. We and our friends love the building inside out. There is nothing I would change if I had to do it again (well perhaps one rather insignificat matter). The best of all, it is what we wanted, there is nothing like it around (well I do not see anything like it anywhere around) and it did not cost us an arm and a leg. It is very comfortable and healthy place. Having said all that, there were times, when we were still building, when I regreted going into it. I found that some tradesmen I dealt with were or would not be worth a fraction of the price they were asking for their services and that I (average, reasonably handy person) easily outperformed these 'professionals. Just one example - take the man who rocked up one day just after I had the roof installed (I got about 6 quotes for the roof - they ranged from $13000 to $28000) and offered to instal the guttering and downpipes. He asked what I wanted. I said I did not really know and instructed him to do what he thought 'needed' to be done (the roof area is 300 square meters - it includes a wrap around verandah - and because it is not a regular, straight edge shape it was important to place adequate number of downpipes in the right places). The man installed 6 downpipes along the entire roof's perimeter. Two of them although needed drain only a tiny section of the roof area. Some 95% of the area was serviced with the remaining 4 downpipes; the first modest rainfall overwhelmed the system - of course. Thus, to fix this dodgy outcome, I removed one of the downpipes, carefully took it apart to see how it was constructed and learnt to make and fit fine downpipes myself (it is not that difficult - trust me!). I added 7 more sets and now, even when we have a downpoor, our gutters and downpipes handle the runoff very well. I then installed an elaborate system of pipes under the house (it is a Queenslander on piers) and catch every drop of rain that falls on our roof. I can catch 300 000 litres of water annually. Pity I do not have water tanks yet but I will get them. I will not have to use the Hunter Water's water when I am set up. All up, it was a worthwhile exercise but I am not recommending it as a matter of course. I think if I had known how stressful it was going to be like during the building stage, I would have never started. The point to make is that once you start and can not afford to walk away, you must keep going. Of course, once we moved in, and ever since, we think it was worth it. We have been living in our all timber inside - out (natural timber look) house since 2001. Love it! "
Tags: builder, building, home, owner
Views: 38
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Vonny on -
I am jealous! I wish I was as handy as he is! Thanks for sharing the story Miffy. Prickly Pete deserves his beautiful house.
I remember when my parents were building their house. It was a project home so there wasn't as much effort involved on their part as Pete's, but it was still a stressful, tiring but rewarding experience. They took a risk buying a slightly sloping piece of land (so it took the previous owners a while to sell) in a nice suburb and the risk paid off. They made some mistakes but now their house is probably double what they paid for it about 10 years ago.
Also, one of my friends' had her house designed and built by a builder who had a similar house in the area. It seems like you really need a passion to be able to do this so that you can see the project through. Now she has a beautiful house but the effort involved does make me think twice about whether I wish to do the same.
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Permalink Reply by Jodie on -
We just finished building our home in Dec last year. We built through a highly respectable company only to find that they didn't live up to our expectations.
We signed the building contract in Nov 2005. It took 25 months before we got the keys. It seemed more like an nigtmare then the Australian dream.
What made it worse is that the builders kept telling us that the house would be finished in Jan 07, then Jun 07, then Spet 07 etc etc. Meanwhile I had our 2nd child (which we were hoping to have while in our own home), so we're paying mortgage, rent on a single income with two kids to support. We got by, so that was the least of our worries. The big worry was that 3 days after my baby was born (Jan 07), I had to go home (from hosptal) to let in a real estate agent because the owners had decided to put the rental property on the market. From there on it was home opens every 2nd Sunday for 5 months!! With a new bubby, a 2yr old toddler and on going problems with the c-setion site and the stress of open homes and having to keep the place spotless (eventally hired a cleaner at $60 a fortnight, extra expense) and the stress of having the property sell to non investors and waiting for "dream home" to be completed, was just too much. I became insomiac with depression and was constantly sick living off anti-biotics.
When the house finally did sell, it of course sold to non investors who handed us an eviction notice the day the property settled. Now we had 60 days to get out and the builders still kept promising that the house would be ready in time and not to worry (which was hard, given their track record). The day came when we had to move out and the house was still nowhere near finished. I didn't get another rental because the shortest term you can get is 6 months and we only needed a week by week thing and hotel accomodation is $1000+ per week. I had tried calling caravan parks (no vacanies anywhere) and was begging real estate agents to let us hve a month by month lease at 50% on top of the regular rent cost. They all said no. :S
So we had no choice but to put everything into storage and be homless. My 2yr old loved the adventure, but it freaked my 9mth old out. the only positive thing for her was that she was forced onto solids and she loved it. Literally going from home cooked mashed veggies to Subway rolls every night for dinner. lol I was amazed at how she handled it.
We were homeless for a month when the builders admitted they were out of contract date and paid for our accomodation until the house was finished. The short term accomodation was $950 a week which was something we wouldn't have been able to afford otherwise (adding in furniture storage costs).
I think of it as going through hell and wouldn't recommend building to anyone, because what happened to us (having the rental sell from with under you and delayed building time) could happen to anyone.
Now that we're in our house though, it really is our dream home. Not many people can say that. I'm very happy with the finished product. :)
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Permalink Reply by Kbot on -
Wow, that's pretty full on Jodie. I feel for you having to go through all that. Thankfully you managed to get through it and come out the other side OK. At least you ended up with your dream home - imagine if the finished product was shoddy!!! I think you would have just about killed someone!
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Permalink Reply by Prickly Pete on -
Jodie, what a story! It reminded me of many stressful moments we had but also that I have very little to complain about. Would you believe, we too were kicked out (after the first 5 months into our lease agreement; got 1 month notice when the landlord's niece moved to town and needed a place of her own; in fact I think that was an important thing that happened to us in the end because I remember making a vow at the time - I was determined to get our own place and never ever in my life pay a single dollar to someone else for letting me stay in their house. I'd rather live in a wine barrel on a beach somewhere (well that was my plan). The anger and frustration generated by other people's selfishness and greed fueled us for months towards our goal. But, at least we were lucky in that we found something else straight away and had at least six months ahead of us.
We, however, built as owner builders and did not have to rely on builders and companies that could not meet their commitments. My biggest worries were not knowing what I was doing but it turned out to be a plus in a way in that most of what we did, we did to perfection after reading a lot and getting advice from several sources on all relevant subjects. It is strange but I think it is true that we can profit from being ignorant because 'there are no limitations' to stop us. It is useful to remind ourselves every now and then that that many discoveries and achievements were accomplished by people who 'stumbled' over something because they 'did not know enough' about what they were doing. They did not 'know' why things could not be accomplished. They simply got on with their projects. For example, would a well informed person commence to build with $60k thinking that perhaps another $60K -if necessary - was all that was needed to complete a project? Unlikely. I still shake my head in disbelief. We now live in a suburb where a block of land 4 times smaller than ours sells for not much less than what it cost us to buy our block and build a house on it. I confess that I still do not know the exact building costs but the truth is I do not really care. We had $63K of our own money and we never owed more than $120K to the lender (including for the land). The building, when finished was worth at least twice what it cost us in direct expenditure when we moved in 5 months after we started building. For example, I remember reading about an average bathroom budget in a magazine of some kind before we got stuck into tiles, hardware etc. Based on the surface area (it scared the hell out of us - two bathrooms, one 4 m x 4.5 m the other 2.5 x 2.8 m and 2.7m high walls), according to the industry estimates, we were looking at more than $20K. From memory, we did not spend much more than $10k (floors and walls tiled). This is where people can get control and come out on top. Nerves of steel and support within the family are essential items.
My advice and warning to anyone who contemplates this: Read a lot, get as much advice as possible from various sources and on the same subject - IN ADVANCE! (I was a step behind on many occasions because I was unaware of this strategy before I started). If you are a reasonable organizer, can manage/control your money and do not allow wool to be pulled over your eyes by people who are ready to take advantage of you and your ignorance then you are most likely going to succeed. Remember, it is essential to get the advice in advance. But sorry, there is one more thing (not insignificant if you want to save a lot of money) - you need to know how to use a hammer. Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by shannon on -
Prickly Pete! - Cool - so impressive that you have managed to acheive your own home for a great price - What makes me happy is that it confirms my belief that it can be done - i have been doubting myself lately as we are about to do EXACTLY what you have done - our rental is sold, we have two months to be out and we have decided to build a new home with our owner builders. My husband is in fabrication adn is going to do the steel framework himself, but everything else is either going to be subbied out or done by us I guess...ANy hints and tips would be greatfully accepted - anything from the cheapest exterior finishes to tackling painting and tiling... I firmly believe that we can do this on a budget without sacrificing quality and style - but a few examples of how would be great!!!! keep up the good work!!!!
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