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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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The first of these videos “What Will I Learn” takes an indepth look at the contents of our owner builder courses.

This owner builder video will outline the basic legal requirements that exist for each of the states and territories in Australia and discuss general responsibilites that an owner builder must assume when building or rennovating their own home.

In the second section of the video, we discuss each of the topics that the owner builder course covers and provides basic instructional information to help anyone thinking of becoming an owner builder to  better realise the importance of choosing the correct owner builder course.

Yes it is a promotional video and it will be available to anyone visiting our website, but it does provided vital information for anyone considering building a new home or rennovating an existing dwelling.

The next few videos we will release over the coming weeks will be more in depth and specific to each of the topics covered in our owner builder courses, including demonstrations on how to get the most from the free resources we offer each of our owner builder students.

These will of course be available to our owner builder students and client and controlled/accessed through a password protected page on our website.

Keep an eye out for them.

Oh and I forgot to mention, we are about to relaunch the student forum, sorry about the delay, but the forum hosts had a ferw server issues,we are hoping to get old posts and topics back up online but this may take a few weks.

Best Regards and Happy Owner Building

Rick Heaton

www.ownerbuildercourses.com

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We have been working on several areas and now offer each of our owner builder courses both on lin and in the more traditional hard copy version.

The price for our online courses will remain the same throughout 2010, with $117.00 in our opinioin being the best value owner builder course offered anywhere in Australia.

That is not to say we are the cheapest, we have never claimed to be, we know of one course out there that is available for about $85.00, but when you look at the additional content, resources and support we offer, we still believe our course to be the best value.

There is a lot of confusion out there at the moment about who needs to do a course and who does not.

The need to complete a recognised owner builder course depends basically on two things:

1) Which State or Territory you are building in, and

2) The value of the proposed work that will be covered by the owner builder permit.

At this time, there are only three states or territories where you need to complete a mandatory approved course, they are New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory.

Our owner builder courses are approved in Queensland and New South Wales by the relevant authority and we are at present working with the Land and Planning Authority in the ACT to get approval to provide an approved course that will be recognised by them.

This new owner builder course for the ACT will be submitted for approval mid January so wach this space if you are considering owner building in our capital.

Hard copy correspondence courses are now available for all states at $177.00, the additional $60.00 over the online course proce covers our production and administrative fees such as, printing, postage and hand marking of the assessment once it is submitted.

Correspondence students have access to all the online materials, resources and support, but we have been asked to make the hard copy version available for those of you who are not that comfortable learnining on a computer.

Why do an owner builder course if you are building in a state or territory where it is not mandatory?

Simply because our courses are more thatn just tick box exercises to get you through the owner builder application.

Each of our courses is designed and delivered in two parts:

1) Covering the legal aspects and responsibilities of owner building in you particular state or territory.

2) Giving you skills, knowledge and resources to manage you owner builder project effectively, covering the important areas of:

• Contract Administration
• Working with Consultants/Professionals
• Workplace Health and Safety
• Plan Reading and Baasic Estimating
• Design
• On Site and Off Site Administration
• Tendering and
• Scheduling

Each of these area is covered and you are introduced to the basics to provide an awareness of your roles and responsibilities as an owner builder.

We give you access to tools such as forms, letters, registers and schedules to assist you to keep track of your project and to help you have the best owner builder experience.

I hope this has answered some of the questions that many of you are asking and I would like to take this opportunity to wish each and everyone of you a Happy New Year.

Best Regards and Happy Building

Rick

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