Insurances
-
The OB obtained owner builder Insurance for public liability
-
Theft and damage of materials and tools
-
Property damage
-
Workers compensation for friends and protection for a contractors worker
-
Contactors were asked to provide
workers compensation policies and public liability insurance
Home Warranty Insurance
According to the Department of Fair Trading, any work
over $5000 requires a contractor to supply home warranty insurance to protect
the owner from the contactor not completing the job, bankruptcy of the
contractor and faulty or bad workmanship.
It was discovered, that many contractors did not or were not willing to provide this
type of insurance.
Seeking between 15 to 20 brick layers from the phone book
approx only 3 supplied the insurance. A higher percentage of carpenters
supplied the insurance and were unable to find a concreter that supplied the
insurance.
Having a tradesperson that can offer home warranty
insurance does not mean the tradesperson is reputable or performs
work to a high standard as it was discovered in this case. The Owner
Builder should ask samples of work completed and references by other
owners to research the tradesperson's background and quality of work.
Note: recently changes have/will
be made to the Home Warrant Insurance System and the above information
was based on the old previous year policy. (2001)
Some
Checks to Carry Out on Contractors and Tradespersons prior to engagement
-
Licence Checks on the tradespersons/contractor
-
Complaint Checks against tradesperson/contractor
-
Can you view any previous work
-
length in Business and whether a change of business
name has occurred
-
If the contractor states the can offer Home Warranty
Insurance check with the dept of fair trading
-
Do they have workers comp for their workers.
-
Do they have public liability insurance.
Obtaining
and Ordering Material
The trades person/contractor, civil/structural engineer,
building code may usually advise of a list of materials needed to complete
their task.
When you have identified and determined quantity of the
Building Material needed
-
Phone around for quotes
-
Search phone books, local newspapers and local areas for
building supplies
-
Ask friends, neighbours tradespersons for recommended
suppliers
-
Try to negotiate prices with suppliers
-
Introduce yourself to the sales rep of the local hardware
store and building supplies to arrange discounts.
-
Use bargaining power with large order
Roof Tiles
-
Contact the roof tile companies for discounted roof tiles
-
Tiles can be discounted because of a number of reasons
-
Unwanted orders
-
Colour variation/discolouration
-
Dimples on tiles
-
Too much or not enough glaze on tiles
-
Down-graded tiles due to quality control that may still be
adequate for building
-
The OB obtained Swiss style terracotta tiles for approx 40%
discount off the retail price as The tiles were "A" grade
sellable made for a special unwanted order from a non standard
colour.
Kitchen
The OB attended a auction at MJS Auctions behind Bankstown airport and bought
a new 30 door polyurethane kitchen for $3500 total
Brick wall ties, Alcor dampcourse, Gal lintels
Being close to salt water stainless steel brick wall ties were used.
supplies at (Harry K Evans Building Supplies at) North Parramatta were cheaper
than any quotes obtained elsewhere.
The OB also found Harry K Evans Building Supplies were cheaper
for Alcor flashing for 30 metres 300 mm wide and Gal Lintels with the next
best price for Gal Lintels was from Coast Reo on the Central Coast.
Toilets/Basins/Vanities/Tap Sets
Prices and Quality were compared with a range of suppliers across the
Central Coast and Sydney and found Knutsons at Erina were reasonable overall.
Timber/Flooring
Quotes were obtained for material from a number of building suppliers
and hardware stores and found Harpers timbers at Pendle Hill the
most reasonable for Timber beams, wall frame timbers, weathertex, fibre
cement flooring, Cyprus Floor Boards, and yellow tongue flooring.
The quality of the materials were also good quality.
On the central coast the OB found Timberfast reasonable
value at Tuggerah for frame timbers and extra wooden beams with large orders
The quality of the materials were also good.
Home Hardware at Woy Woy for fibro and Villaboard.
Windows (W41 rated)
Aluminium windows and sliding door/window combos were purchased from a
window manufacture.
Windows delivered showing signs of water damage to some
window revels, some damaged flashing and wrong sized revels installed on
some windows, wrong handles on some windows + other problems.
Sliding door combos were not the configurations ordered.
Construction set back because of these problems.
The OB had a independent glass audit carried out on the
windows and one of the windows does not pass the current Australian
Standards AS1288;1994 according to the audit.
The window manufacture has now replaced the labelling,
exchanged the wrong sliding door combos, replaced the handles and has cleaned
up the glass. Supplied extra flashing.
The window manufacturer agreed to replace the glass
panel of the window which does not pass AS1288;1994.
Note:
The NSW dept of Fair Trading may not be able to advise if a manufacturing
company that does not install the product has had complaints made against
them. (do checks yourself and ask around )
Standards Australia advised of the business which carries out
glass audits.
(the glass audit cost the OB less than AUD $100)
Check delivery dockets/goods (quality) and read the fine print
on the docket before signing to accepting the goods.
Make sure all quotes include a detailed description of the
window/door, size, glass type, glass thickness and rating.
Floor and Wall Tiles (coming
soon)
Plasterboard (coming
soon)
Waterproofing (coming
soon)
Construction
Not to scale
Structural Ply bracing was cut to size and nailed(clouts) to the upper and
lower story external wall frames using an adhesive (liquid nails or similar
product) then nailing in galvanised clouts to hold the ply wood sheets.
(clouts were spaced between 50 to 100mm apart).
If the edges of the ply sheet did not line up with the
wall frame. Extra noggings or studs were fitted so all the edges of the
ply sheet was supported.
Rough In Stage
Contractors such as the Plumber and Electrician rough in the
internal services. At this stage with the wall and roof frames and
trusses and roof tiles in place and before the wall lining careful
consideration should be given to the services and future needs.
Electrician - Only
licensed electrical tradesman can carry out electrician work to comply
to the Electrical standards.
Things to consider - Additional power and light circuits. More power and
light circuits were run in this construction with splitting the
kitchen power circuits on different circuits.
5 power circuits and 4 light circuits were run.
Alarm System should be
considered - ask your alarm specialist on wired in systems and wireless.
Smart Wired - The owner
builder chose a system where a phone outlet could be either a phone
outlet or data outlet(broadband) or tv outlet. These oulets were
wired into every room in the house with a number of outlets in
each room enabling flexibility for the future.
Supplier/Contractor: Radio Active Networks
Website: www.radio-active.net.au
(external link)
Suppliers
Contact Details
Timber Beams, Yellow
Tongue Flooring, Fiber Cement Sheets,
Wethertex, Cyprus Floor Boards.
Material were off good quality
and prices with delivery to the Central Coast
very reasonable.
Main Supplier: Harper Timber
Address: 353 Wentworth Av, Pendle Hill Sydney NSW 2145
Phone: (02) 9896 1000
Website: www.harpertimber.com.au
(external link)
Stainless Steel Brick
ties, Alcor and Lead flashing, Gal Lintels
Supplier:
Harry K Evans Building Supplies
Address: 9 Ferris St, North Parramatta, 2151
Phone: (02) 9683 3022
Builders Membrane
- membrane made up to go over the
whole house.
The membrane was laid over the yellow tongue flooring of the second floor
to help protect against the weather. The second floor frames were built on
top of the membrane and later cut out after the roof tiles were fixed,
bricking and windows was completed.
Supplier: Brett's Canvas & PVC
Address: 1 Rivers St Silverwater NSW 2128
Phone: (02) 9648 5622
Website: www. brettproducts.com.au
Vanitys, Bathtub, Taps,
Toilets, Hip Baths
Supplier: Knutsons Plumbing Supplies
Address: 245 The Entrance Rd Erina NSW 2250
Phone: (02) 4367 6031
Window & Door
Locks-
Installed and supplied all window locks and
exterior door locks.
Supplier/Contractor: Brisbane Waters Locksmiths
Address: 32 The Entrance Rd The Entrance NSW 2261
Phone: (02) 4334 2363
Landscape
Supplies: Sand, Brickies Sand, Cement, Blue Metal
Warnervale Landscapes Supplies always delivered on time.
Brickies Sand was clean.
OB Tip: Smaller amounts of
Brickies Sand and Cement were ordered at a time to ensure the the sand
stayed clean for the brickie. The brickies sand was stored away from the
work area on plastic and covered with plastic every afternoon.
Supplier: Warnervale
Landscape Supplies
Address:Cnr Sparks Rd and F3 Warnervale
Phone: 4392 5013
