OWNER BUILDER

How to owner build without fear.

"We saved 43% on the cost of our new build".

How you may ask?

By Building your own home.

Let me explain how in a quick story.

We went along to a large nationwide kitchen manufacturer. Being an Owner builder we had our own design to be priced up, including the stone bench top we specified. We were after it in 2 pac but they insisted that their product was as good as 2 pac and included that in the quote. They drew a 3D model of our plan that looked fantastic.

The whole kitchen quote came in at $55 k and the bench top made up for nearly half of that price.

I was blown away, really! Fortuitously it was not our first kitchen that we had build.

So, we contacted some local kitchen/cabinet manufactures and they priced our Kitchen design up in 2 pac. One sent us direct to the stone top supplier direct for the bench top. Their whole kitchen including the stone bench came in at $32 k.

The exact specified stone bench top was half the price! A saving of $23k, just by shopping around.

How do you think companies can do a 40 to 50% off sale… Margins.

Who is the Owner Builder program for?

For those that are beginner owner builders, you’ll get the tools, the knowledge and the mentor ship to be able to manage to build your own home at a professional level. During this time you will be guided through the owner building process. It’s like your first driving lesson, with the comfort of an empathetic instructor compared to being in a rally car with your co-pilot barking directions at you. For the experienced owner builders, who want to streamline the process to meet timelines, improve quality control and have absolute budget control, the program will give you the tools and guidance to achieve these outcomes. For Heather, an owner builder was never about holding a hammer or working a paint brush, the program is designed so we hire others to do that work.

We all start somewhere

When I first started down this road I too, never thought I would be able to be a building company professional. However together with my business knowledge and my business partner’s 20 years as a licensed builder experience, we combined our skills and knowledge to create the complete package ,developing this into our own building company.

As a business coach, with this compounded knowledge, we would like to create the same opportunity for others to achieve success with their Owner Builder Licence.
Like many who become good at something over a period of time, I actually underestimated how much knowledge and expertise in this field I had gained. It was only through the process recently, when my partner Heather got her Owner builder Permit, then I realized how valuable the knowledge was that I had gained.

I am concerned about how many people are in the dark when it comes to building options and the industry is happy with that, just to achieve their own profitable outcomes.

This has made me more motivated than ever to help those who want it. Getting an Owner Build Licence is the easy part, being an Owner Builder, learning all the skills in Project management, estimating and dealing with the complex issues, is why we set up this program. You are never left challenged alone.

What does take to be a professional Owner Builder.

Owner Builder Permit
Get the Owner builder Program
Owner Builder Insurances.
Owner Builder License by Completing an Owner Builder Course (you can check out one below).

What you need to know

Site requirements, design requirements, Product selecting, reading the plans and understanding engineer requirements, Cost calculating, quantifying material amounts, Insurances, licences and contract agreements, Ordering and deciding on appropriate trades/suppliers for the labour side, Job scheduling and project management, Book keeping, administration and Back costing the job.

Sounds a lot, and it is. But to keep it simple we break it into steps.

Site requirements,
Design requirements and design
Product selecting,
Reading the plans and understanding engineer requirements,
Cost calculating, quantifying material amounts,
Insurances, licences and contract agreements,
Ordering and deciding on appropriate trades/suppliers for the labor side,
Job scheduling and project management,
Book keeping, administration and
Back costing the job.

So if you were to learn 10 things over a 10 week period, would it be achievable then?

Here is the really fantastic part that we offer: We teach you the how to and continue our guidance throughout your entire build project.

Can you see yourself doing this?

We cover what is little known that makes the big difference.

What is real and what is not?

If you have ever shopped around for a product, you will know that there is always more than one option.

We love sharing our experience and success and would love to enable others to achieve this happiness too.

Frequently asked Questions

Most of the questions that come up for the owner builder are caused by fear. They have come from someone spreading doubt upon the owner builders ability to do what the industry requires. However these are mainly just industry myths that have been able to get traction due to fear they create. We go over some of the most common ones below.

The Complete Owner Builder Program

Set up for people like Heather, who are entrepreneurial, but want certainty, require it to be systematic and want to achieve a better lifestyle. Kinda like following a recipe, when you are open to cooking new things.

Certainty plus a System = Success.

Certainty comes from having done something many times before and that is why he have included the personal guidance through the entire process.

The System 5 Key components, with complete guidance through them

Quantifying and costing the job on our take off software

Professional guided Take off
Costing of all materials and trades
Quantities of all materials required
Color selection forms part of the take-off.

Snap shot of part of the Prelim summary sheet

2. Procuring and excepting quotes

Ensuring all criteria are meet in the quote
Ensuring products meet the Product Certification scheme
Due diligence on the product/trade

3 Project management, scheduling and running the job.

Set up your schedule on the program
Program prompts you on upcoming events, week in advance, and monthly in advance.
Work progress marked off on the program in relation to payment and inspection obligations
Guide you through Project management as a professional
Ensure all your health and safety requirements are being observed.

Snap shot of the Project scheduling

4 Financial Payments and back costing

Program tracks what is due and ready for payment
Program tracks costs verse quotes or budgeted amounts against invoicing

5 Meeting code and plan requirements.

Program tracks Completed tasks verse inspections required

The sophisticated part made into a simple recipe to follow. For today’s modern owner builder we have incorporated such a recipe in a computer program that informs and guides you. But there is still the old school of thought, when humans are involved, there is emotion and thoughts. A computer might give you the answer within the system but it cannot deal with your emotions. Building a new home should fun and exciting but if uninformed and unfamiliar can be scary and stressful.

It doesn’t matter if you are building with a building company or as an owner builder, you should never be in a situation where you don’t know what is going on.

The program is designed to keep you informed, so you can be on time, within budget and on course in control.

For more understanding and information on how this would work for your build, give us a call.

Every build has slight differences but they follow a similar structural process in how they are constructed. We offer a limited number of positions per year in order to give the highest level of service to our customers.

Basic Starter

Preliminary price and quantises

We also offer a preliminary price estimate for the prospectus of doing an owner build on your desired plans.

This is done in order to give you the confidence to go ahead with your desired design. Often square meter rates are bantered around at this early stage. Good builders will tent to shy away from this generalisation as the accuracy can be wildly out.

We can however give a preliminary cost quantified off based on the concepts. This is pretty close and can be even more accurate dependent on the amount of information regarding the specifications that you have available.

Recent plans that we have priced this way with have come in just a few % away from the original costing estimate. It can be very accurate, the more information that is provided.

You are supplied with a summary sheet of the costs and quantities of the design supplied.

Feel free to send your plans through and we will price and quantify them for you at cost.

Working hours

Monday- Friday: 7:00-18:30

We are here

Sunshine Coast
Queensland
Australia
Phone: 045 044 5258
Email: colin@lifesaboutyou.com.au

OWNER BUILDER

How to owner build without fear.

"We saved 43% on the cost of our new build".

How you may ask?

Who is the Owner Builder program for?

We all start somewhere

What does take to be a professional Owner Builder.

Owner Builder Permit

Get the Owner builder Program

Owner Builder Insurances.

Owner Builder License by Completing an Owner Builder Course (you can check out one below).

What you need to know

Frequently asked Questions

The Complete Owner Builder Program

Basic Starter

Working hours

We are here

Program Video Demo available on request

Program Custom Build Video demonstration available on request

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Legal Notices

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