So You Want To Be An Owner Builder?

Like most people, their dream of owning their own home is becoming harder and harder. Therefore, people are looking at all types of options that will allow them to realise this dream. Among these options, open to everyone is the idea of becoming an Owner Builder.

All unknowns come into play when people look for ways of doing things on the cheap. In this industry, there can be a lot of Pros as well as Cons and it is with this in mind that many stories are heard of people that have had bad experiences in this field. Of course, you will always here of more bad instances that good ones and the reason for this is that if you yourself has had a bad experience, you want to warn people about it, but if you have a good experience you don't necessarily share this unless directly asked about it.

When you look into the concept of building your own home, it can be quite daunting. In fact, you sometimes reach a point where you don't have the time to investigate all the options and you settle for the one you think will be right for you. Then comes all the things you didn't realise that you were responsible for as well as the costs that you didn't allow for and before you know it you can only afford to build three quarters of your house because you run out of money.

When you start looking into this venture, you must have a starting point and generally, the first starting point you must look at is your finances. Once you have realised how much you can afford, you then start looking at your design of your house. The design of your home can be influenced by many influences ranging from the size of your family, how long you intend to live in this house and the list goes on.

Use your existing home as a starting point; it doesn't matter whether you are renting or you are upgrading or even down grading, look around your existing home and make lists that include the things you are satisfied with and the things that you would like to improve upon. For instance, do you have an adequate number of bedrooms or do you need more, do you have an adequate number of bathrooms or do you need more. Remember you have to determine what is right for you.

Many Kit Home companies have a compendium of designs that could be suitable for your needs. Shop around, gather as much information, and designs as possible without making any commitment. Collect or buy magazines that relate to this area. After you have collected all of these ideas, sit yourself down and see whether any suit your needs or start selecting different parts from different plans that you see could fit into your idea of your home.

You will possibly reach a stage where you start to draw a simple plan. Use a graph paper that has squares that represent a dimension that will give you a true ideal. Try and keep the scale to 1:100 and then you can obtain a better prospective as to whether you need more room or whether this design is getting too big.

Remember that when you intend to build your home, you will need to determine whether you want your frames to be made from timber, steel, bricks, etc. Sometimes this can be determined by where you live and whether or not you have white ants or termites or whether it is prone to floods, fire or even cyclones.

Now that you have selected the style of your home, and you think that decision was long winded, now comes the decision of where to go to obtain the materials, council approvals, engineering, drafting of plans, finance, etc.
Alan Collins

Why not visit http://www.ownerbuildersdirect.com and let this site answer all of your necessary questions and more.

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