Owner builder reno

Has anyone done a renovation as an owner/builder?

We are planning a balcony extension plus an extension to the kitchen to add a room, the guy who did our bathroom wants to do it ( we trust his quality of work) as the project manager and use people he knows for the carpenter work etc, and have us register as owner builders.

We trust his work etc but we are a bit clueless in this stuff, so are paranoid that we will be taking too much of a risk insurance wise and we aren't rally sure if it is even legal to do it this way.

Any advice?

Do you know why he wants to do it this way? Seems a bit odd, that he wants to run it all but not have a contract for the work?

How will pricing be worked out? How will he be liable for workmanship etc? What about the other trades? Will you pay them direct? Who will be in charge of their quality?

Will you have to do all the council applications and insurances? The drawings etc?

Just some questions to think about :)

I've just been through the renovation process so it's still fresh lol

I would be wary as you would be the ones doing on all the permit applications and would probably be liable if anything goes wrong as you would be the owner builder rather than him being the builder. It seems a strange way to do it he should be registered himself already if he already does this work. I would see if he has recently lost any VCAT or similar hearings in your state or gone bankrupt.

I would say he wants to do it this way because he doesn't have his building license, and doesn't want to take out the liability insurance, but wants to be paid to project manage.

It can be done, but you'll need to draw up a very detailed contract with saying that he is financially liable for any issues that may arise, and with a detailed quote. You'll also need to include what your expectations and requirements are in great detail. Eg. What tiles, grout colour... Every little thing you can think of so if it's not right, you have something to fall back on.

Financially, it'll probably cost you the same to get a builder vs pay him to project manage, so it just depends on if you're willing to take a risk with him. Having said that - you'll always be taking a risk with renos and building.

If he's just a carpenter, it would mean he needs you to be the registered owner builder because he wouldn't have the licensing to be a fully qualified builder (who is then legally allowed and insured to employ other tradies). By becoming the owner builder, the buck stops with you. You have to sign it all off and you are accepting some of the responsibilities of the job. So a bit of a concern if something does go wrong. Are you sure of the licensing and quality of the trades he uses? Are the electrician and plumber licenced? Everyone's insurances up to date? Are you prepared to organise your council inspections? Go for permits etc? That's your responsibility as the owner builder.

We've talked about being owner builder but the only reason we would do that is we know a lot of trades, (DH is a tradie), we understand the building process and the overall builder/carpenter is DH's best friend.

The other thing is if you're going to a bank to have it financed, you'll be looked at less favourably if you're owner builder than if you employ a builder.

The position of owner builder IMO requires some experience, to understand the legalities of it all.

Thanks for the replies, sorry I was in a rush before so missed some details-

Yes, he is NOT a registered builder that is why he wants to do it that way, he just does kitchen/ bathroom renos mainly but has done some bigger jobs. his son did the plumbing in our bathroom and is a liscensed plumber, otherwise not sure about the other tradies.

We have the drawings already done and are in the process of getting permits which is why we have started getting cold feet as the legal side of the applications has made us nervous. DH is going to ring the surveyer tomorrow to get his take on it.

I just spoke to my uncle who is a plumber and worked on building sites all his life, he thinks it's ok and quite common but is checking with his brother who is a builder.

We are mostly going to pay cash as DH got a redundancy payout but it will probably be around $10-20k more than we have so will need to borrow.

I think with our non experience we need to seriously think about taking our drawings to a builder and get a quote, we are still waiting for the original guy to work out his quote, but it seems like for peace of mind, paying a bit more might be worth it. DH and I are both a bit useless with going through things with a fine tooth comb to be honest.