Owner Builder eductaion and resources just got a whole lot better, again! Now each of our owner builder students will have access to a website dedicated to Project Management. Keep an eye on this blog and the website for details as this is developed and launched over the next couple of weeks.

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You know, sometimes it just makes good sense to go against your gut.

Other times you simply need to listen to what everybody else is saying.

Well, I guess that is one of those times.

As much as I have resisted it, the demand and requests for a traditional hard copy correspondence version has overcome me.

We now offer the same great content and courseware in a hard copy format. I was against this because of the increase in our costs which I have to pass on to the end usre (student).

With the online course, almost everything you get is off the net and downloadable. We have no real costs in either time or materials to get the information to you.

The hard copy course is different, we have to compile and collate the manual content, print and bind the manuals, pay for postage and then mark the assessment when it comes back. All work we would rather not do, but hey, you asked for it.

So we now offer a correspondence course (printed versions) for $220.00.

You will still have access to the forums and the ability to join our owner builder community sharing resources (downloadable) and experiences.

The course content is the same and the assessment is simply undertaken in the traditional manner with you sending us back your completed works.

Anyway, more on this soon, don’t forget to visit us at www.ownerbuildercourses.com

Best Regards,

Rick

Technorati Tags: australian owner builders, build you own home, owner builder course, owner building, owner projects

We are excited to announce our latest offering for owner builders.

Online courses that are interactive, informative and a whole lot of fun.

Completing one of our courses will give you the knowledge and confidence to successfully complete an owner builder project on time and on budget.

The course covers all aspect of administering your project including onsite and offsite activities for owner builders.

Discover how to manage each of the sub trades, what you should expect of them and what they will expect from you in your role of general contractor, or principal contractor.

Learn the basics of plan reading and estimating and what information is need when writing a contract between yourself, suppliers or contractors.

Best of all do this from you own home and in your own time.

Of course as with all our products and courseware, help is only an email away or you can join the forums, ask question or access our owner builder resources.

Keep an eye on this blog for the launch date which is schedule for later this month.

For the first few months, we will be offering several free owner builder resources to anyone purchasing and completing an online course, don’t miss out, we are going to include an ecopy of our highly acclaimed Owner Builder Project Management System, our newly released Safety Management System for Owner Builders and access to an online Basic First Aid course.

Also in the upcoming month of March, we will be announcing our 2009 schedule for podcasts, webinars adn even ownerbuilderTV to give our clients even greater support during their owner builder project.

Visit our website and have a look around, please leave a comment, we love feedback.

www.ownerbuildercourses.com

Talk Soon and

Happy Owner Building

Rick Heaton

Technorati Tags: build your own home, owner builder courses, owner building

Owner Builders from all over the world have been coming to us for advice and assistance for over 20 years.

In this time we have helped thousand of you to save your hard earned cash by showing you how to best manage your owner builder construction project.

This blog is about getting the information out to more and more people and to help you exchange information and ideas on how to find great deals on materials suppliers and contractors.

We hope you find the articles interesting and helpful, you can always have alook at what we have to offer owner builders in Australia and across the world atour website ownerbuildercourses and keep an eye on this blog for the latest in owner builder ideas, news and innovations.

Best Regards and Happy Building

Rick Heaton

Technorati Tags: australian owner builder, build my own house, owner builder

Since I last posted, some very important changes have occured to both our organisation and the way in which the New South Wales Department of Fair Trading are processing owner builder applications.

Firstly, we are continuing to build our business to be the ultimate information portal for owner builders across the country.

We have acheived accrediation and approval in our own right as a Registered Training Organisation and offer the following nationally accredited courses:

• 39129QLD Course in preparation for owner builder permit, which is the recognised course for the issue of an owner builder permit by the Building Services Authority in Queensland
• 91498NSW Course in owner builder compliance, which is the new course developed by the Department of Fair Trading in New South Wales, for the issue of an owner builder lecense in New South Wales.
• CPCCOHS1001A Work safely in the construction industry, which for our Queensland students will allow us to issue the general safety induction card for the construction industry.

The changes to the New South Wales owner builder course come into affect on Septmeber 1st, 2010.

Our existing course will remain approved and be offered until this date, at which time we will transistion to the new course.

Anyone undertaking the course currently will have until the end of December to receive their permit based on the ‘old’ qualifiaction.

In moving to the new course, the format will change and we are at present developing new owner builder resources which are consistent with the new course content and satisfy the requirements under the Australian Quality Training Framework.

Two new videos have been posted to our owner builder course website, with three more to follow over the next three weeks. Keep an eye out for those.

If you have any questions on owner building in any state or territory in Australia, please do not hesitate to drop us an email or browse around our website.

Happy Building.

Rick

Technorati Tags: owner builder course, owner builder course new south wales, owner builder course qld, owner builder course queensland, owner builder courses nsw

It is extremely interesting and one of the minefields that you can run into if your builder ‘does a runner’.

Question:

We were undertaking a regular renovation job with a licensed builder.  The full value of the works was $240,000  but, with only the $12,000 Practical Completion stage left to go, the builder suddenly went AWOL.  1.5 years (of not being able to live in our house) later we have just finished up at the Tribunal and the builder (of course) ended up paying us a (paltry in comparison to legal fees) amount to cover the cost of defects and some amount towards completion of the project.

Now, in undertaking to complete the project under an owner-builder license, how do we estimate the cost of the project?  We will only be overseeing about $25,000 worth of work.  But we are, effectively, continuing the larger project.  On forms, is our estimate of the work to be undertaken the amount that WE will personally be overseeing under our OB license, or the full value of the renovation our original builder abandoned?

My Response:

Hi,

This will come down to an interpretation of what the Department of Fair Trading and your certifier consider is ‘fair’.

I would be only paying the fees on the actual amount you are going to oversee as an owner builder, that is your legal responsibility.

The sticking point will be the HOW insurance (Home Owner Warranty).

Without seeing the transcripts of the findings, it would be reasonable to assume that if the original builder was appropriately licenced and contracted, then he would have he HOW insurance on the full amount of the works.

HOW insurance is to cover exactly the situation you are in, so if it was insufficient to cover your costs, that is disappointing.

Another issue will arise if you sell the property within the 5 year period of the Owner Builder Permit or before all structural and statutory warranties expire.

I would seek the advice of the insurance provider who covered the original project.

I hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Rick Heaton

As you can see, it is a difficult uestion to answer but it reinforces the advice we give to owner builder that they ensure they understand the requirements of insurances and use correct and complete contractural processes when engaging any tradseperson.

It also highlight the fact that anyone building a new dwelling or renovating their existing home should undertake a course like ours to  increase their awareness of the potential pitfalls and areas they should carefully consider.

Doing a course such as our owner builder courses will not stop these things happening, but they will make you all that better prepared to handle and resolve these issues.

Best Regards and Happy Building

Rick Heaton

Abacus Training

Technorati Tags: owner builder, owner builder new south wales, owner builder nsw, owner building

Over the last couple of weeks, wwe have had a name change and would like to introduce Abacus Training.

The name change has occured due to a change in business direction.

The nationall recognised Queensland Owner Builder Course 39219QLD will remain and continue to be provided through our parent company Owner Building Solutions Australia Pty Ltd.

Abacus will provide the approved NSW Owner Builder Course and the ACT approved Owner Builder Course.

Abacus will now povide all non accredited courses and support for the remaining states and territories.

Over time, all courseware and delivery will be handled solely through Abacus Training.

There is no change to the management structure or the company in terms of commttment and quality of services provided to our owner builders, just a need for a change and a refocus on our most important clients.

The owner builders of Australia.

Stay tuned for more exciting roll outs and news over the comming weeks.

Best Regards and Happy Building

Rick

Technorati Tags: building your own home, owner builder, owner builder courses, owner builders, owner building

Over the last couple of months, we have been working with the Australian Capital Territory Planning Authourity to have our online and correspondence courses approved for delivery in the ACT.

The online owner builder course is $117.00, with the correspondence course costing just $177.00 (the additional is to cover our printing and postage cost of course reading and resources plus manual marking of assessments)

As one of only 4 recognised course providers in the ACT, we have already had three satisfied students successfully undertake the course and gain their Certificate of Completion.

So if you are thinking of building your own home as an owner builder, in the ACT then consider our course.

Like all our products, we offer full support via email during the course and throughout the construction of your owner builder project.

Keep watching for more news and innovations from our owner builder website.

Best Regards and Happy Building

Rick

Technorati Tags: build your own home, owner builder, owner builder courses, owner builder courses act

There is not a simple answer and of course it depends on how disciplined, organised and prepared the owner builder is.

Just last week, I got a call from one of my students who is doing an owner builder project on the Gold Coast. The block is quite steep and there are substantial earthworks and concrete foundations required to accomodate the design.

She told me she had three quotes from concrete suppliers ranging from $260.00 per cubic meter (delivered) to $176.00 per cubic meter delivered. Thats an eighty four dollar difference, by simply making three phone calls.

Lets use these figures and consider an average home of standard design at around 280 square meters floor area including the garage. We could assume a minimum of 6 cubic meters required for the strip footings and 28 cubic meters for the slab.

A total of 34 cubic meters.

An owner builder saving $84.00 a cubic meter can potentially put $2856.00 in their pocket or borrow that much less.

Now I know, a well organised builder will probably pay the lower of the prices, but if his mark up to cover profit, overheads and administration is a modest 15% you will still effectively pay $202.00 a cubic meter.

At that figure the saving is $26.00 a cubic meter or $884.00.

Now this is only one item of the hundreds of opportunites that owner builders have to save money, and this is a commodity item where the prices between suppliers is reasonably constant.

The big money is saved on one off or designer type fittings and fitments that with a bit of shopping around can realise huge savings.

I recently purchased a front door on behalf of an owner builder client and foud prices ranging from $4200.00 to $1800.00 for the same quality and design. We ultimately purchased the door for $2720.00 from the supplier who originally quoted $4200.00, saving the owner builder $1480.00.

So yes, owner builders can and shohuld save money when building their own home.

Owner builders should save between 15% and 30% when building a custom home, however it is very difficult to compete with project builders who have their prices and margins trimmed to the bone.

A final note for anyine thinking of becoming an owner builder and building their own home;

On a standard home loan of $300,000 over 25 years at 7% interest, every dollar you save in the building of your own home will save you roughly the same amount in interest payments over the term of the loan, effectively doubling the savings.

Not bad hey?

Don’t forget to visit our website at www.ownerbuildercourses.com

Happy Building

Rick

Technorati Tags: being an owner builder, building your own home, courses in owner building, owner builder, owner builder courses, owner building

I am often asked how to put a value on owner builder works for the purpose of making an application to the relevant authority for the issue of an owner builder permit or licence.

Each of the states and territories have varying requirements on the value of works which require the applicant to hold an owner builder permit and in some cases determines whether or not an approved course is required.

Following is a recent question and my subsequent answer to a visitor to our website.

“Hello RIck, 

Please explain how a value of $11,000 or more is substantiated – see BSA statement below: 

 ”It is a requirement under the Queensland Building Services Authority Act 1991 (QBSA Act) that if you wish to

perform or coordinate domestic building work on your property for a single project of a value of $11,000 or more you must hold an owner builder permit.”

In other words, who will know if I submit a building application to the council, without a Owner Builder Permit, and the value turns out to be $12,000?

 I need to determine whether I need untertake an Owner Builder course.”

Hi Scott,

The value of the works are based on an estimation of what would be fair and reasonable costs for labour and materials if it were completed by a licensed contractor.

 One of the ways they would determine this is through applying an appropriate square meter rate that would be typical for the type of project your are constructing.

 For example in the greater Brisbane region, it might be reasonable to estimate that a four bedroom home, brick veneer, tile and of traditional construction methods and average standard of finishes and fittings would cost $1250.00 per square meter for a builder to complete.

 So I guess they could, if they got serious about it, put the project out to tender to determine the value of the works.

 Keep in mind that extensions and renovations are generally more costly than new construction and that pergolas, decks, sheds etc may come down to $1000.00 per square meter or less depending on the type of construction.

 Hope this helps.

So, you see the authorities will check on your estimate of the value of works when you submit your plans for approval.

Remember, always err on the side of caution, you do not want to get off on the wrong foot with your council or local authority.

Best Regards and Happy Building

Rick

Technorati Tags: owner builder, owner builder licence, owner builder permit, owner building