Going owner-builder might have saved us over one hundred grand on our build, but it also shaved about ten years off my life. Let’s break it down.

Going owner-builder does NOT mean we built our house with our bare hands (although some people do) and it also doesn’t mean we are qualified or registered builders.

What it does mean is we managed the build from start to finish, including taking responsibility for all works, organising permits and insurances, employing trades… the list goes on.

Now the money we saved by going owner-builder might be great, but was it really worth the stress?

For us… very much so.

Here are the reasons it worked well for us…

✔️ We both knew I was going to micromanage the build regardless, so we might as well save the money

✔️ Ability to complete work that did not require a qualified trade, for example, painting, daily site cleaning and insulating
✔️ Ability to choose our own builders and trades, we chose trades based on communication - I don’t mind if you’re delayed, but I do mind if you don’t tell me
✔️ Control of timelines - we got the job done in under six months
✔️ Ability to make changes along the way - our builder is a highly experienced wonder machine, so when he suggested things could be done better, or I had a big design idea, we could implement it on the fly
✔️ Did I mention it saved us a s#@t tonne of money, which equates to unshackling from the bank sooner
✔️ The process was mostly enjoyable - although council red tape and general box-ticking suuuuuck
✔️ Sense of achievement

However, perhaps the most important key to our success was that owner-building played to our strengths.

Boots and I are a pretty great team when it comes to these types of projects - I’m the planner (*organising, spread-sheet-loving zealot) and Boots is the doer.

Throughout the build, I completed the paperwork, compiled and tracked budgets, liaised with council and coordinated trades, and Boots provided infinite amounts of physical labour, picking off any job he could that did not require a trade.

*Boots breaking up reclaimed apple bins to line the lounge room wall*

Now all this may sound rather romantic, and yes, owner-building was a positive experience for us, but I’m fully aware that most of my friends and family would rather eat their own hat than put themselves through this.

So let’s talk about the bad bits of owner-building

Owner-builder is an unrelenting process.

It literally sucked the life out of me, although perhaps I hadn’t adhered to number one on my must-have list below because at the time of building Booken House Boots and I both worked full-time, were raising four kids and running a business.

Life was already hectic and adding owner-builder into the equation was like adding another full-time job on top of an already overflowing pile of commitments.

There is no off switch when you owner-build, you can’t decide you’ve had enough halfway through and pull out - well technically I suppose you can, but then you’d have a half-built house, and that’s not ideal.

You continually find yourself wading around in jargon, paperwork and red tape that you’ve never come across before, so mustering the energy to learn new things on the fly is critical.

And I’m not sure if you’ve ever coordinated a group of tradies before? But it’s a little akin to herding cats.

But probably the most daunting part of the process for us was taking on the legal responsibility of the build, and for this reason, there are a few must-haves to tick off before going down this path.

*Everyone was dragged in to help, this is my litte brother on site to help paint*

Must-haves for owner building:

Time (bucket loads of it)

A builder you trust (or be a builder!)

Access to good trades

Clear communication

Establish early expectations

An affinity for organisation and paperwork

Preferably a love of budgets and wielding a broom around a building site

{We expand on these issues in our Simple Sustainable Build workshops, and you can drop your email here to receive your free Sustainable Build Checklist.}

At the end of the day, there is no real way of knowing exactly how much money owner-building saved us - I have estimated the 100K figure based on the difference between our lowest builder-managed quote and what we completed the build for back in 2016 - however, I suspect the figure is much larger than this.

What I do know is, the race to pay off our home loan and unshackle from the bank has been significantly shortened due to the time, hard work and passion we threw at the project, and for that reason alone I would do it all again in a heartbeat.