Reducing Your Mortgage By Owner-Building

Let's start by saying that finances are subjective and what's a good saving or level of affordability for one person may not be for another, and that anything said after this is not proffessional financial advice.

People choose Owner-Building for a few reasons. The "House that ........... built" sense of achievement, the freedom to make their home exactly the way they want it, and the ability to make substantial savings getting the home they truly desire.

Owner-building a steel framed home is a great way to get more home for less. Yes it may take longer...or not, and yes it will require some hard work, but with a great prefabricated frame system it won't be difficult. A good wall and roof frame system like the clients of Statewide Building Solutions recieve will be numbered and labelled with clear plans showing where everything goes. How does this save you money? Well if you employ subcontractors then speed of construction will create the savings, and if you do it yourself, then the savings are obvious. Two qualified tradesman (carpenters are most popular) can set you back $4000 to $4400 per week assuming an eight hour day in a five day working week. So the message here is the more you do the more you save.

The big saving comes from purchasing your own building materials. Once you buy a kit home you own it. Once you buy your tiles, cabinets, carpets, timber floors, plumbing and electrical fittings and so on, you own them. The budget for these things is yours to set and follow, and as a result you're not locked into a plan or package that may at best, mostly please you.

Location location location! Owner-Building gives you the opportunity (depending on your finances of course) to put a little more into the land purchase. If you're the kind of person who is willing to get their hands dirty and save on labour costs, then getting yourself a block that appeals to you more is very possible. Saving a couple of weeks labour can add about $8000 to your war chest for land purchase.

My personal plan of attack in building a steel framed home would be as follows. Assuming I am building on a concrete slab the components I would assemble or install myself are as follows.
- Wall and roof frames. It's hardwork and requires diligence, but it's not actually difficult.
- Wrapping the house in Aircell. Really...it's a bubble paper and silver tape. I am not paying my hardearned to someone to giftwrap my house in silver bubblewrap.
- Install my windows and sliding doors. The frames are made with a tolerance to fit the windows, so armed with a spirit level, a screw gun, confidence and bribed friend you'll have no trouble.
- For my external cladding I would hire one professional and work as his offsider if he allowed it. Cladding like Roof sheeting makes a home and I'd want it to look as good as can be.
- Install my own insulation batts. I recomment a dust suit and mask. You can install them the day before the plasterboard is fixed and hold the insulation batts in place by running some tape across the frames.
- Second fix items such as internal door frames, skirting boards, and hanging doors are all very doable.

The things to pay for;
- Earthworks and concrete slab.
- Installation of gutters, fascias, eaves linings, and the roof sheeting. A bad roof kills dreams and it's worth paying someone who can make it look great.
- Installing my external cladding as mentioned.
- The licenced trades that take care of your plumbing and electrical work.
- Fitting and flushing of plasterboard. A good fit and flush makes the home look great. I recommend running a vacuum cleaner over the walls after it's all dried to get the dust off.

Most clients will have floor covering and tiling professionally done, but a few have opted to go down the DIY route for cabinets.

As you can see there are quite a few things that you can do yourself if you have the time and inclination, and there's no doubt doing these things will save you dollars. Maybe you'll want to put those dollars into other parts of the home, and maybe you'll want to save for the sake of saving and keep your mortage at a level you're comfortable with.

Owner-Building your new home using a high quality Steel Framed Kit Home , and taking advantage of owning your materials outright from day one, and the speed of construction will certainly give you that opportunity.

STEEL FRAMED FLOOR SYSTEM OR A CONCRETE SLAB?

So, you're thinking about Owner Building a Steel Framed Home in Perth, or an outlying area, and your site appears to be offering a few challenges.

In a perfect world all sites would be flat, sandy, and offering great views. As we all know it doesn't always work out that way and we're faced with a choice on how to handle what our new site has given us.

My first port of call when buying a new block is to get a soil test. The results of this test will help you decide on the best way to build a base for your new home.Your site will be given a classification which indicates the expected moveement of the foundation soils, and is generally related to the soils capacity to shrink or swell. The report would be submitted with your working drawings to shire when applying for your building approval.

The Soil Classifications are as follows;
       Class 'A'    - Little or no ground movement.
       Class 'S'    -  Slightly reactive sites
       Class 'M'   -  Moderately reactive sites
       Class 'H'    -  Highly reactive sites
       Class 'E'    -  Extremely reactive sites
       Class 'P'    -  Problem sites

I am happy to report that I have not come accross a Class 'E' or 'P' site and hope none of my clients do either.

If you have a level site that is classed 'A', through to 'H'  I wouldn't be too concerned. Each will require a different type of footing and there is always a solution available. An 'A' site will require no more than a minimal sandpad and footing, while an 'H' will require some digging and subsoil drainage to try and create the Class 'A' environment under your footing.

The siteworks for the more reactive sites is going to be more expensive, but depending on your budget the cost might not be prohibitive. However in some country areas it's very expensive to get earthworks done and to bring in clean sandfill to make the site suitable for a slab to be poured. This is where a Steel Framed Suspended Floor System could be just the answer.

Not only do Steel framed Suspended Floor Systems offer you views, decks, and a solution to sloping sites, they can be the ideal alternative to spending big dollars on earthworks to counteract the reactivity on a difficult site. Floor Systems have a minimal impact on the environment and will require many seperate footings for the individual floor columns. The depth and diameter of the footings will be determined by the soil classification and accompanying footing design that has been certified by an engineer as suitable. The best part is that once you have pegged out where all your columns will be placed you can employ a contractor with an Auger. He can dig each hole easily assuming there is no rock in the way, and following that you can start putting your floor together.

One of the things I love about putting a home up on stumps this way is that it takes termites out of the equation for the most part. At Straight Edge Steel Frame Homes we cap both ends of the columns so there's no chance of the critters making there way up the inside to the yummy decking above. Termite detection would be easy as they would have to build a mud tunnel on the outside surface of the steel to make the climb, and detection would be easy.

A decorative addition to your off the ground lifestyle is your new Balustrade. They can be constructed in timber or metal and there is bound to be a style that will suit the theme of your new home. Remember to consult properly before going ahead with any DIY installations, as what you may think looks the goods in your mind may not conform to the standards set by the Building Code of Australia. At Straight Edge Steel Frame Homes we can help you choose the right balustrade for your new home.

Apart from using a Steel Framed Floor System, building your new home in steel makes perfect sence. If you haven't done so already please read my previous blog at...
http://steelframedhomes.blogspot.com/2011/03/so-you-want-to-build-steel-framed-home.html?spref=fb
Steel Floor Systems offer more than just a solution to difficult sites. The can really make a home. The ability to build decks up high, make use of views, and artistry of modern and traditional balustrading, feeling wood under foot and the general ambiance of a home built off the ground can make Steel Floor Systems a very attractive option.