Sounds like you haven't nailed anything down?
BTW, Have the contract docs, drawings' finalised include Siteworks
variations and engineering. LOL, You won't be the first to get the phone call
Saying there…

You'll need an engineered suspended concrete slab on Steel Columns ie
Typical column and beam/slab construction, the timber stud frames adds nothing structural...
OT, If your block is small with spectacular…

Hi All

The misses and myself recently completed an owner builder house project in NSW for us to live in. We decided to have a crack at owner building due…

We have RBV in some areas of our ground floor. None on the upper storey, for thermal mass there we used PCM.

Any solid concrete house (if airtight enough) won't be able to provide the highest indoor conditions without proper ventilation system, and I have lived in so many of those in…

There was a topic from someone in Perth who built concrete home with precast concrete panels.
Concrete home would require additional insulation and waterproof finishes (e.g. render), services installation would require…

Nope, lighter house would need lighter footings due to the fact that calculated house weight will be much lower.
E.g. solid concrete is 2400 kg/m3 while Hebel is only around 500…

I dont believe the footings would differ much between ICF concrete walls, Solid Hebel or Double brick. They would be considered masonry construction for slab/footing design.
Although double brick is not…

A structural concrete wall will support your terrace
Take your sketch to a construction engineer and have the preliminary engineering design costed
Here apply realistic rate to the quantities
Do the…

Hi mumstheword,
I am currently building with the same builder. Please pm and I’ll share his details.

Thanks TC, I'm not in love with my facade, just like it. I think I'll review the colours once the build starts just. The slow progress is getting me…

As the above poster pointed out, sorry but I'm not in Sydney.

Same thing here. I had to push the structural consultants to confirm details on the slab and also DM for finer details on what would be outstanding for final OC.
Don't…

I am in Victoria.
If you know all the standards and can read all the plans and understand all the terminology at the start of a build then might not be…

It is extremely difficult to find builders and engineers for "boutique" building materials. Both Hebel (solid block) and ICF have suffered from this difficulty.
The ICF does not work as a…

I would agree that unfortunately, the number of builders are limited, but always worth checking with the material vendors themselves, who generally can provide you with the list of approved…

Mr ChelseaFC.
Sorry to take so long to reply, I am not a social media type of person, just an old buggy.
Our roof is 200mm thick solarspan…

To carry on from Steely Dans excellent compilation work..........
I have added a couple of "categories" and tidied the list up a bit.
I also added in the new suggestions from Steely…

One very important thing I forgot to add last post was at the end of your build, prior to final inspection check your provisional Sums and ask your builder to…

Great tips on this list. I would like to make one correction though.
Under the "House" topic:
"Double glaze north facing windows"
this needs to be corrected to "double glaze…