How to be an Owner Builder in Victoria? Is that a question on your mind.
Any one considering to become an owner builder in Victoria should start with the – Victorian Building Authority’s website.
Starting at this place will ensure that you understand some very important bits and that you are on the right side of the law and the legalities of being an owner builder.
VBA outline the entire process to make sure owner builders are successful with their build.
There is a PDF guide that you can download from their website which outlines the entire process and you would need to take an online exam to demonstrate that you understand the process and you have to pass the exam.
Once you are done with the VBA exam, the journey starts, be ready for easy days and some really difficult days.
You will have to get used to the waiting game. Most likely you will end up strengthening your patience “muscle” by the time you finish your project.
One thing which I found towards the end of the project – I had started to swear (a lot) in general conversations. Maybe its the stress, the frustration or may be you started hanging out with others who swear a lot.
A word of advise I was given by a veteran of the building game “just roll with the punches” which I am still practicing.
Fortunately our journey so far has been free of any “mega stressful” events.
Don’t get me wrong, unless you are very lucky or some sort of a mind master who knows how to notice your own thoughts and centre yourself complete i.e. a trained Zen master, you will find the entire thing stressful as I found.
I have felt as if the build has been constantly on my mind. A builder gets paid to take on this stress and has the experience behind them to deal with it.
You don’t get paid but you reap the rewards of either cost savings or building your dream home but the cost you pay is in the form of “stress dollars.”