One of the decisions you have to make early in the process of building who is going to be your main contractor (the person ultimately responsible for delivering the building project). You've really got two main options:
- Do it yourself - this is "owner building". Pros: you get to be very involved in the process. Cons: you have to be very involved in the process, retaining control over time and budget limits is up to your skill. Nobody else to point your finger at. Sub-contractors are famous for not turning up or offering the best deals to owner-builders, as there is no repeat business.
Some people owner build for many years, this ultimately was our reason not to do this for our dwelling.
- Pay someone - this is "using a builder". Pros: since it's their job and they are getting paid, they have to meet deadlines and often cost limits too. Cons: Probably more expensive. Less involved in the process.
We have ultimately settled on a combination of the two - I am owner-building the sheds and services like water and septic, but the "real" house is being built by our builder Mick Kennedy. This combination allows - no
requires - me to be heavily involved in the infrastructure and project management of the sheds and overall site, but it's nice to know that the difficult job of building the house we are going to end up living in is completely the responsibility of an expert in such matters.
Becoming an owner-builder when I got my license in 2009 was pretty straight forward - pay any of the several accredited online training providers $80 or so for a course and an exam. If you pass this (mine was less than an hour) that's it - you're an owner builder. Since then the system has quite rightly been made more complex with you needing to attend a multi-day course.
Having your license is of course only the start of the complex string of paperwork required for any project like this - the next step once you have some plans is to take your license and the plans to the Department of Fair Trading and get a
permit for the actual job you intend to complete. I did this fairly quickly once we had our shed plans ready to go, but was sweating for a while in fair trading as the guy in front of me was being told "sorry your license is from the old system, you'll have to go and do the new course". For whatever reason, I was called to the desk and given my permit with a smile. I'm certainly not complaining!
All this really means is that I have to organise all the sub-contractors (concreters, carpenters, shed builders, plumbers, electricians, etc.) to get the sheds up. Then get them on site at the right time - current challenge is dodging the weather - and push the project through.
It's rather satisfying - I can see why people do choose to do their entire house this way, but ultimately we wanted our children to live in this house while they were still children, not be in temporary accommodation for years while I built an entire house between a full-time job.