Two areas must be tied together to allow the owner builder to competently plan and co-ordinate the building operations.

These are:

1. The financial plan and budget; and

2. The schedule of work activities, logically sequenced to enable continuous performance until completion.

The problem for the owner builder in attempting to determine a final cost of his/her house is generally difficult as tenders for work are usually only called prior to the work activity being carried out.

Although a lot of estimates can be obtained at the planning stage, they all have life of between 30 and 90 days. So after this time, a percentage would have to be added.

This percentage may vary, again making a dollar figure hard to determine. Often a ball park figure is adopted but from experience ball park figures can be notoriously rubbery. This presents the problem then of trying to work within a cast iron budget with an elastic program.

The principal objective when working with a finite amount of money (the budget) is to keep the brake on from day one; not to weaken and believe that savings made (or appearing to be made) on some activities can be immediately spent on other activities.

Remember - no savings have been made until the final overall figure has been calculated, i.e:

• Amount borrowed - $72,000
• Amount spent (house completed) - $69,272
• Saving - $ 2,728

• Plumber (estimated cost including PC items) $4,700
• Cheque to plumber $4,570

You have kept PC items under amount allowed and kept plumbing costs down. This is not a saving as such, as many more activities have to be undertaken and completed, and any one of these could blow out using up any small saving on previous activity.

Schedule of Work Activities

This is not as difficult to achieve as it may at first appear, but should be set out allowing a reasonable gap between activities.

This will then allow for some of the unexpected delays that can occur; subcontractors held up on other jobs, wet weather, unavailability of material or delays in delivery.

There are many reasons for delays - too numerous to itemise here - so by building in a small amount of time to allow for delays, hold ups, council inspections, etc - this time can be used by you for:

• Quality control
• Site housekeeping
• Salvage or clean up of excess material
• Reinstatement of site
• Removal of rubbish
• Planning updates

Remember, you are the builder, so activities such as these will be your problem and from a safety aspect, avoiding accidents on site, and stopping vermin getting on site, will improve your status in the eyes of your new neighbours and give the Council and sub-contractors a warm glow about you.

Setting out a Work Schedule

The aim is to set out the schedule of activities by estimating the number of days to be taken by each trade and sequencing the trades in the order they will follow on the job.

To begin with, list the trades required and estimate their time on the job separately. When this is completed, place the trades and their time on a bar chart/calendar. Finally, attach the value of their work to the bar chart to enable you to budget for the work.

This part of the plan will also indicate your cash flow required to keep the job going. Perhaps you might have to slow or delay the next activity to allow you to obtain, borrow or save the money for the following trade.

INSERT DIAGRAM CARPENTER ERCTING FRAME/ROOF

This is a suggested schedule that will allow you to attach both time and money value to work as it progresses.

Remember, there will be quite a few unseen or hidden expenses you may forget to include.

These could be cost traveling to the job each day (for yourself), buying small items for trades that you forget to itemise and add to the list.

Get receipts for all purchases relating to the house and make sure they are written onto the financial ledger. Without adding in these items you will tend to get a distorted picture of your costs and start to think that the house cost $1000 or more below the actual cost.

Listing the Trades

This is normally achieved by working out how the house will be constructed and in what order the subcontractors will do the work.

1. Excavator - clear site, dig footings
2. Concreter - fix steel, pour concrete
3. Bricklayer - subfloor walls to d.p.c height
4. Termite treatment - pest spray
5. Drainer - sewer and storm water lines
6. Carpenter - bearers and joists, possibly flooring, frames and trusses, including facia. Install windows and door frames
7. Plumber - rough out pipework
8. Bricklayer - brickwork to walls
9. Electrician - rough out wiring
10. Roof tiler - sark and tile roof
11. Roof plumber - valleys and rainwater gutters/downpipes
12. Carpenter/joiner - internal door frames
13. Plasterboard - fix plasterboard to ceilings and walls
14. Carpenter/joiner - fix skirtings, architraves, doors, cupboards
15. Wall and floor tiler - fix tiles to kitchen, bathroom, toilet, laundry
16. Plumber - complete installation
17. Electrician - complete installation and commission
18. Gas supply -
19. Painter and decorator -
20. Other - blinds, flyscreens, security doors, carpet layer, landscaper, pavior/concreter for paths/driveways.

Things to Consider

It can be advantageous to arrange with one subcontractor to allow another part of the work to be completed off their scaffold. This can be done as follows:

Bricklayer has scaffold up to complete the walls: carpenter can have soffit cut and ready to fix and as soon bricklayer is finished, carpenter jumps up on scaffold to fit soffit.

Roof tiler generally works off ladders: roof plumbers might fit rainwater gutters also if bricklayers scaffold is available.

This system will only work if no hold ups are incurred and timetabling of work fits in.

Subcontractors also need to be on good terms.

Needless to say, care in planning will assist you to achieve your aim, a good quality house with a good finish to give you many years of service with minimum maintenance.