Owner Builders Savings

To me, there are two reasons to become and owner builder.
Firstly it is the overall experience and the satisfaction you can get from being able to say "I built that!"
Secondly, is the obvious potential to save money.
It is possible to save a considerable amount of money by being an owner builder.
You should be able to save at least the builders margins which can run at around 20% on most standard domestic construction projects.
These savings are made through buying well and 'haggling' with suppliers to get the best possible price.
This may sound easy, but it requires discipline.
Abacus Training is here to help you to stay disciplined throughout our owner builder project, give you access to the required knowledge and provided you with easy to use tools to track and manage your project.
Tools we provide include the Tendering documents and templates included in our Owner Builder Project Management System.
We are working on video tutorials that will better explain the use of the templates and support the information provided in the course notes.
Tendering and letting of the major contracts for the works you are going to 'let out' to appropriately qualified trade contractors is possibly the most important function you will undertake as an Owner Builder.
Being organised and having a plan to manage the tendering process is key:

You will need to:

• Develop your documentation
  
• Identify potential contractors
  
• Distribute plans, specifications, scopes of work etc
  
• Chase, Chase and Chase (did I mention you will need to chase contractors to submit there offers?)
  
• Compare and consider offers
  
• Check insurances, qualifications and referees
  
• Let the contract
  

Sounds like a lot of work, and it is, but this is where you will set yourself up for success in the project.

Owner building is a lot of commonsense. Couple this with a good system, education and discipline and the owner builder experience should be very rewarding.

Happy Building,

Rick Heaton