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.
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
I thought I would take the time to let all our owner builder students know we are about to launch a new series of videos over the next three weeks.
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
Owner Builders often ask me where do I start when it comes to planning or designing my new home?
I can’t draw a straight line they will often say, feeling that the task of putting down on paper what they can imagine as their dream home is far far beyond their capabilities.
Well, the good news is, you do not have to be Picasso to come up with a masterpiece.
I am going to discuss a few simple things you can do to get your ideas down on paper in a way that someone else, (possibly your designer or architect) can understand and interpret.
We have a section in our owner builder course on reading and interpreting plans at a fairly basic level, and we really believe this is a skill that is a must for owner builders, but getting your thoughts down on paper is a little different.
By the time you get to the design or planning stage hopefully you will have decided on what you like in home design. You should have looked at display homes, read through home magazines, found what you like and don’t like in friends or family homes. You should have a rough idea of how big a house you intend to build, how many bedrooms, how many bathrooms etc and we are going to assume you have your block of land.
Firstly, the overall design, layout and size of your home will largely be controlled or constrained by the block of land you intend to build on, it may even affect the type of construction you choose. So lets think about what you need.
Have you got views, which way is the block facing, do you want your living areas at the front, back or a particular side (elevation) of the house?
How many bedrooms do you want, is your family young and growing or are they approaching the age where they may move out? Do you want a media room, a butlers pantry or a florida room?
Once you have decided on the required features, try this.
Roughly sketch out the shape of the block, trying to keep some sense of scale and proportion. (using a scaled graph paper can make this exercise a lot easier) Using circles, rough out a layout for the new home, positioning rooms where you wnat them in relation to each other and on the block. Again try to keep a sense of scale if you can. (1:100 is good if you can get that to work on your paper size, where 10mm equals a meter) This is a fairly standard scale for a plan view of a house used in construction drawings.
Once you have fiddled around a bit and got a rough idea of the layout, we can start to firm up the design.
Have you considered the prevailing breeze, the location of the sun (morning and afternoon) and the slope of the block?
Does the design flow, and allow you to make the most of windows and opening to get a good ‘cross flow’ for ventilation and cooling?
Are the room sizes roughly appropriate, does the size of the home and type of construction match the budget you will have to work with?
These are all question you will have to consider in the design of your new home.
Until reasonably recently, the design of the roof could be problematic where an other that ‘normal’ layout was considered. Do not be too put off by this, these day, given the range of roofing materials and forming processes, a good designer can usually work within your requirements to come up with a roofing solution that will fit your design and budget.
If possible, involve the whole family in the design process, it makes for involvement and interest in the overall project, who knows, you may even get the kids to lend a hand on site!
Anyway, back to the design process. using your initial concept sketch as the basis of your design, on another piece of paper block out the design in straigth line format and see if the room sizes make sense. A good size for a bedroom these days is 4 meters by 4 meters, and I would not consider building a house with bedrooms smaller than 3.5 by 3.0 meters. (considering a typical house block of not less than 500 square meters.)
By the end of this exercise, you should have a rough sketch of your house floor plan, with rooms sizes and general layout considered. You may still change this several times in the design phase, but now you have something you can continue to work on and develop.
Next you need to start again, redraw the design, this time placing built in robes, linen cupboards, hallways, and open areas, you can even now start to consider where door openings and windows should be located to make the most of views and prevailing conditions.
Owner Builders generally know what they want and are pretty good at expressing their ideas to their chosen designers, but this exercise is aimed at helping ou to better create your layout that suits the land and your requirements in the new home.
Finally, using the aid of a sketch pad, scaled and graphed, put it all tgether in a final concept or sketch plan, take your time, include windows, opening walls, doorways, cupboards, position of fixtures like baths, shower recesses toilet suites etc. When that is done start to draw in paths, carports, free standing garages, landscapes areas and consider the roof line.
Now, that was not that hard was it?
Owner Builders in my experience are pretty resourceful and very capable given just a little help to point them in the right direction.
In the next couple of weeks, I am going to put up a screenflow tutorial on this design topic for my owner builder students, I will go through each of the stages on screen so they can follow through and get the basics.
Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words, keep an eye on our website for more great owner builder information.
Best Regards and Happy Building
Rick Heaton
Hi Everyone,
Just a very short blog letting you know the first of a series of videos produced for our owner builders is now online and available to view at www.ownerbuildercourses.com This is just an intro video into what will be an amazing collection of information and tutorial videos for our owner buider students and clients.
Have a look, let us know what you think.
Best Regards and happy building
Rick
I get asked all the time, how to best go about appplying for an owner builder permit.
The best and easiest answer depends on which state you intend to build in.
Having said that, there does exist, a common theme right across all the states and territories in Australia, that is you need to prove that you are competent and can handle all the task required to take on an owner builder project and or build your own house.
What does that mean?
Again, it depends on the state and terrritory, for example, in Queensland you would need to complete the Nationally accredited short course 39219QLD which is the course approved and accepted by the Queenalnd Building Services Authority as evidence of your competence to undertake an owner builder project.
In New South Wales, at this point no nationally accredited course is required howver there are several courses which are approved by the New South Wales Department of Fair Trading and satisfy the requirements for the issue of an owner builder permit in that state.
Anyone considering building their own home in Victoria, needs to satisfy the Building Commision that they understand the rules and responsibilities that are associated with taking on an owner built construction project. This can be acheived by reading the application kit for the issue of a Certificate of Consent and completing a declaration that states you have the knowledge and ability to undertake such a project. No formal course is required, but the courses that are around now, available on the web or via correspondence make it easy to gain the required knowledge to successfully complete an owner builder project.
The ACT has an approved course and the other states each have a requirement to make a declaration that you understand the obligations and responsibilities of being an owner builder.
Other than either the course or the declaration, in most states you will need to satisfy the governing authority that, you intend to live in the completed dwelling, are the owner or have a legal interest through a company, trust or lease in the property , that you are over 18 years of age and that you have not had an previous owner builder permit in the period specified in the applicable legislation for that state. (Queensland 6 years, Victoria 3.5 years and New South Wales 5 years)
More information on this and many more owner builder topics can be found on the website:
Australian Owner Builder Courses Online
Best Regards,
Rick Heaton
Owner Builders have a many responsibilities that they need to be aware of, this is the main reason you should complete an accredited course with a Registered Training Organisation such as the one provided online at Australian Owner Builder Courses.
One of the areas that must be considered is the responsibility you have to yourself and others in respect to workplace health and safety or occupational health and safety.
In most cases you will be required to undertake a course of instruction in General Site Safety Induction (construction) to satisfy your local requirements.
A card system is in place in most states (Blue Card) for example in Queensland Red Card in New South Wales and Green Card in Victoria.
These courses provide an introduction into compliance with relevant laws, the Regulaations and the Act, detail common construction workplace hazards and introduce the concept of risk management as it applies to a building site.
Do not underestimate the importance of this training, the course will generally cost around $80.00 and take about 4 hours of your time to complete. This really is one of the most important areas of your training to assume the many responsibilities of an owner builder.
In recent times, across the states and territories there have been a number of serious accidents and even a few fatalities on owner builder sites.
You need to be aware that as an owner builder you are responsible for all activities on your site and for ensuring they are conducted in a safe manner, you assume the reponsibilities of the principal contractor under the workplace health and safety laws.
Just one of the areas you are responsible for is the upkeep of a register of training in site safety for all person working on your site. You must site their Site Safety Induction Cards and you must keep records of their induction both general and site specific..
The courses provided by Australian Owner Builder Courses Online give you access to forms and registers to keep this important information and instruct you on how to correctly use them.
Safety does not happen by accident, take your training seriously and make certain you understand your workplace health and safety obligations as an owner builder.
Happy Building – Rick
Tough times? … Sure
But you know what, there is always a little good that comes out of the bad.
One of the hardest things for an owner builder to do is get good trades people at a realistic rate.
Unless that is, they have done one of our courses and understand how to manage the tender process and how to deal confidently and professionally with trades and suppliers.
That said, when things are booming and there exists a real skills shortage in the building and construction industry, it is next to near on impossible to get a contractor to take the time to quote on a project for an owner builder that he or she knows very little about.
Fact of life …
Good news is, that during this economic slow down the time may be right, depending on your individual circumstances to build your new home as an owner builder.
Let’s think about it, traddies are a little less confident about where the next project is coming from, suppliers are more likely to cut a deal on materials in order to boost sales and professionals such as engineers, architects, designers etc possibly have more time to spend and give real good old fashion service.
Sounds like utopia doesn’t it?
Well maybe it is, if you have your finances in place, a project ready to go and the time to spare to truly manage the construction of your new home, then perhaps the time is right.
The potential savings we have just considered, do not even take into account low interest rates, government grants, rebates for smart eco or green friendly design.
You might just save thousands, and if you consider those savings over the term of a loan, imagine the hundreds of thousands of dollars you could keep away from the banks and in your pocket.
Now, before I go any further, all of this is only possible andshould onbly be considered if you believe your financial situation is strong enough and you are confident in you employment.
If you are not, you should wait for ‘better’ times which will return.
But right now, while things are a little slower you should go for it and get that new home underway.
Take a look at our website and learn how you could get the skills needed to successfully manage your owner builder project.
If nothing else you may discover whether owner building is right for you or not.
Do you know what it takes to be a good owner builder?
1) Confidence in your skills and knowledge
2) An understanding of contract requirements as they relate to owner builders
3) An understanding of what insurance you will need to consider for your owner builder project
4) Skills in plan reading, scheduling, administration and communication
All of these things are important to be in the ’skills set’ of an owner builder.
If you do not think you can manage these things then do not do it, some people (very few) honestly cannot be successful owner builders, it is rare but we have seen it.
Being an organised and informed owner builder is not just good for you but it is also good for the industry, as the trades start to take more notice of professional owner builders representing a sound income stream where there progress and final payments are assured.
That all takes a little bit of knowledge and a lot of discipline.
If we can get this to happen, then maybe, just maybe we can get the financial institutions to look more favourably at lending to owner builders. Guess we will cover that side of things in another blogpost.
Best Regards and Happy Owner Building
Rick Heaton
Insurance, it is one of those things we just love to hate, can’t do without it and always think we are paying too much.
But just what insurance will you need as you take on your owner builder project?
I can tell you, having been in the building industry for over 30 years you can never have too much insurance.
It is not just that on building sites things seem to grow legs, it is also necessary to have coverage against someone getting injured or property being damaged as a result of the works being done on your site.
As an owner builder, you are responsible for making certain that everyine on site is doing the right thing in respect to health and safety.
All states and territories in Australia have laws which detail the minimum standards of risk management and control measures that need to be in place to satisfy the requirements of safe work practises.
In most cases they will also specify the minimum insurances whci need to be hel by an owner builder in respect their project works.
For example, in most cases you will either be responsible for providing workcover for anyone employed directly on the ite or paid a wage and ensuring all contractors hold adequate workcover insurance for themselves and their employees.
In New South Wales, owner builders are responsible for taking out home warranty insurance to cover those works which are completed under the owner builder permit.
Home warranty insurance (also known as home owner’s warranty or builder’s warranty insurance) generally protects consumers of residential building services from financial loss caused by the builder’s failure to rectify or compensate for defective or incomplete work.
In New South Wales and Victoria, the cover applies when the builder has died, disappeared or is insolvent.While the insurer enters into a contract of insurance with the builder as the insured, it is the homeowner who is protected against loss.
In New South Wales and Victoria, home warranty insurance is compulsory for all residential building work carried out by builders valued at over $12,000.
For professional builders, generally Home Warranty Insurance is either paid as a levy against each project they undertake or is a provision of the licensing act for the particular state.
In the case of the owner buider, it must be held for the works undertaken, for the specified period and with an approved insurance provider.
In respect to other insurances:
Builders All Risk Insurance
Sometimes known as Construction Insurance.
This policy covers the works on the site and the material securely stored on site from theft, fire, storm, wilful damage etc.
It can also be extended to cover items in transit and other defined events as specified in the policy.
As with all insurance, be certain you understand the specific inclusion and more importantly exclusions.
Also what if any excess is included and how it affects the premium paid.
Public Liability Insurance
While it remains your responsibility to make the site as safe as is possible and to put in place certain risk management strategies, accident still do happen.
It may be a visitor to the site, a friend, a relative or even a member of the general public who falls, trips or in some way injures themselves on the construction site.
Should they seek to claim damages, you will need to be insured to cover any associated costs.
Quite often, a lower premium can be achieved through insuring for Construction (All Risk) and Public Liability with the one insurer.
Workers Compensation Insurance
WorkCover, or workers compensation insurance is to provide for loss of income due to accident or injuries received during the conduct of works on or associated with the a workplace.
It remains a legal obligation for anyone who employ staff on a full or part time basis to provide adequate workcover insurance.
As the Owner-Builder and therefore the Principal Contractor, it is your responsibility to:
Provide Workers Compensation for people employed on your site, or
Ensure all trades people and contractor carry their own policies and that these policies are current and appropriate.
You should contact workcover prior to engaging contractors to ensure you have an understanding of your liability in respect workers compensation should anyone you have engaged fail to meet their workcover obligations.
For more information on insurances for owner builders, visit the Owner Builder Courses website.
