Build Your Own House

Hi everyone I'm an owner builder just about to start construction of a 340sqm house just outside Geelong in Victoria. I have set up a blog to follow the process. At the moment i have info about building permits, fire assessments etc but want to put as much info up there as possible to help anyone out who is about to or going through the same thing to give them a help about what they might need to do and where to start. I'm an graduate architect as well, I designed the house and now my dad an me are going to be the main people building it apart from specialist stuff.

so check out the blog and let me know if there is stuff i should add or more info about stuff that is there already.

http://www.beinganownerbuilderinaus.blogspot.com

Leave a comment on there if you have suggestions or on here.

Cheers Michael

G'day and welcome,

I asume you are in Geelong council. What septic are you going to install? How have you found the council for owner building? I am also in Geelong council area.

Chris.

Gday Chris,

I'm not in City of Greater Geelong but in Golden Plains and as my zoning is low density I actually have very little to do with council in terms of planning etc. But the city themselves shouldn't have much to do with the fact your an owner builder they should be more concerned about planning approval and what it looks like but im not 100% sure. Have you started yet are they giving you a hard time?

The septic system we are using is based on a sand filter with 250sqm of irrigation system and chlorination chamber, now we have a bit of land so ours shouldn't need to be emptied but im not sure about your situation.

lets us know how you go and ill try to keep updating my blog so you can see how ours is going. Im going to get some photos up soon so everyone can track how we are going.

No I haven't started yet, just reno'ing the existing house at the moment until we save some more cash for the dream house...., so no dramas, just curious to find how others have gone with council. Same with septic, always curious to see what others are doing, I have 5 acres so no drama there as well.

Cheers.

hey michael welcome to the forum
will watch your build love seeing other obs
we can all learn something from each other its a great site

Hi guys thanks for the comments so far i have just added some photos of our site and of a 3d model that we have had done by a mate of ours. The photos give a bit of an idea of the size and proportions of the building and has been really handy to make a few changes once we have seen how things look. I think it will also look pretty good on the coffee table once the house is finished. Its also been a great tool for showing my family and friends what the house is going to look like cause im a graduate architect its been in my head for soo long its great to be able to show other people what im thinking. We have just received our energy assessment too and we achieved 7.1 stars based on the building fabric without taking appliances into account so should push 8 or 9 once these have been taken into account. I'll try to keep you all posted on here and my blog with regular updates.