New Reno Problems - Cant get a builder for a small job.....No one wants to work

Hi All,

Im new to the forums, well this is my first post, but I have been reading for quite some time now.

To give you a bit of a background, we are planning renovations in the near future, We live in Pine Rivers Council (Northside of BRisbane for those who do not know).

Our house is about 11 years old and has a detached Brick garage (built at same time as house).

As mum is alone now days (Sister is about to move out west and I have moved out long ago) we have decided to convert the Garage to a Granny flat and we will move in to her house(We been Myself, wife and two young kids) and she(mum) can have the granny flat.

We have spoken to our financial planner who has basically said, plan it get quotes come back to me and we will organise the finance.........We are happy to do work ourselves, having in previous houses, tiled, layed flooring, painted, layed concrete, paved and list goes on however, there is still certain things like, the two new "structural" walls and the slab etc we want done professionally....oh and the roofing but I will get to that soon.

The problem is we can not get anyone to come and have a look at it for us because in reality it is not a huge job. Obviously and before anyone says anything to the contrary PLUMBING AND SPARKIES I WILL BE EMPLOYING YOUR SERVICES TOO............(I wont be playing with that stuff myself)

I have attached a few photos below (although not the greatest and also a rough flooplan.
Basically to keep costs down, we have designed the new granny flat so that all plumbing can run through the external rear wall of the garage.
......and with the addition of two walls between the garage and house we also gain a 4th bedroom for the main house.

If anyone could assist us with any tips or tricks on getting builders to come and look give us some estimates it would be appreciated, I have literally called 18 since last tuesday....some never turned up and the rest are too busy or not interested in such a small project.

Perhaps there is someone semi-retired floating about or a building looking for a small job between slabs curing or something I dont know.

We will also be building carports, laying new driveway, and the roof has a few small leaks nothing major but because work will be completed on the roof line anyway we are considering swapping the entire roof to colourbond.

So our wish list is
So Colorbond roofing
House Rendering

Our essentials are
Garage conversion to granny flat
New bedroom addition

So wonderful helpful people of the forum.........help me:P I need builder that is willing to work on a small job.... :D

Have you thought about doing it as an owner builder? You can do as much of the work as you want/are allowed to and get in contractors for the rest.

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Originally Posted by silentC

Have you thought about doing it as an owner builder? You can do as much of the work as you want/are allowed to and get in contractors for the rest.

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Hi Silent

Yeah we certainly have, and possibly will, atleast so far as the internal non load bearing stuff, but basically the ladies(mum and wife) have said I am not aloud on the roof and they would rather the load bearing stuff be done professionally.

So That cuts the work down even further. SO i really only need a builder for the roofing, New external walls, slab etc......I guess....but the other consideration i guess is the finance considerations with owner builders, although so far the finance guy doesnt seem to preturbed by that.

It looks similar to my reno where I converted an attached garage to a rumpus room. I would get some plans done up by a draughtsman or the like and get it engineered. Then contact the relevant sub contractors:

Concreter
Electrician
Plumber
Bricklayer

to get quotes. Get a carpenter to quote you but you might find that getting a frame and truss mob to do you some wall frames and trusses/stick timber will be cheaper and to install is not a big problem.

I think the biggest cost will be the concreting, as you will more than likely need a new garage slab/overpour and a slab or footing for the new room.

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Originally Posted by Mattles

Hi Silent

Yeah we certainly have, and possibly will, atleast so far as the internal non load bearing stuff, but basically the ladies(mum and wife) have said I am not aloud on the roof and they would rather the load bearing stuff be done professionally.

So That cuts the work down even further. SO i really only need a builder for the roofing, New external walls, slab etc......I guess....but the other consideration i guess is the finance considerations with owner builders, although so far the finance guy doesnt seem to preturbed by that.

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I can't see your costs getting much over $20-25k
Mine cost less than $5k but there was no extra roofing and not concrete.

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Originally Posted by DvdHntr

I can't see your costs getting much over $20-25k
Mine cost less than $5k but there was no extra roofing and not concrete.

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Gee that would be nice.....we are working on a ball budget in the 50-60k range.....so once the fitout or kitchen and batch was done, then the girls will have to fight over reroofing entirley in colorbond or rendering i guess........

Your roofing needs to be done by a licensed contractor anyway. You would hire a roof plumber for that. As above, you will be able to get trusses and wall frames pre-fab (only way to get trusses that I know of anyway) and these will be covered by the engineering designs provided by the truss company. You basically give them your floor plan and they engineer them for you. Slab can be designed by an engineer, or you can sub the whole job out to a concreter - but council will want your engineer's drawings for the construction certificate.

Most important jobs for an owner builder are making sure the council/govt is kept happy, making sure your materials are on site when you need them, and getting the trades on site. You'll need some idea of the sequence of things beforehand so you can plan ahead.

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Originally Posted by silentC

............Most important jobs for an owner builder are making sure the council/govt is kept happy, making sure your materials are on site when you need them, and getting the trades on site. You'll need some idea of the sequence of things beforehand so you can plan ahead.

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This is true,

Pretty much we are thinking along the lines of the new slab >> new external walls >> Roof >>

This would basically give us the new bedroom, so that we have a little more room, and then we could concentrate on the fit out of the granny flat would this make sense?......

The other thing is getting a builder/contractor on siteto try and get some estimates......as I am sure we can agree it is a small job, and no one seems to be interested.

You'll probably have plumbing to rough in before the slab, unless you're going to run all the plumbing through the wall - P-trap toilet, raised shower etc. You'll also need to consider things like termite protection and waterproofing.

I think your first step is to get a design done. Then you can see what you need to do first. But even before that, I'd give council a call and ask to speak to a planner, then find out how favourably they look at this type of thing in your neck of the woods. Our council used to be very much against garage conversions. Hopefully they're a bit more open minded about it where you are.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by silentC

..........I think your first step is to get a design done. Then you can see what you need to do first. But even before that, I'd give council a call and ask to speak to a planner, then find out how favourably they look at this type of thing in your neck of the woods. Our council used to be very much against garage conversions. Hopefully they're a bit more open minded about it where you are.

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Yeah with "The housing afforability" crisis yahdahyahdah it seems they dont mind, there have been a few in the area in the not so recent past, one even has a brick carport(replacing the now converted garage) on the boundry line because of it..................

Well I called the council and.....I just called the council and in their words, they are basically just record keepers now days, and so all I need to do is speak to building certifier to approve the plans and thats it........sounds simple or should I be worried?

I can understand why builders aren't interested in "smaller" jobs. When you phone them do you tell them it is just a small job and you will be doing a lot of stuff yourself ? You may have a much better success rate if you ask them to quote on the whole job.

They will also want to see detailed plans before quoting. When it comes to renovation and add ons - quoting can get tiresome, you have to visit the site, check availibilities, examine existing structures in detail etc , so for all your mucking around you at least want to think the client is serious and has plans drawn up.

The bottom line is that builders are likely booked out for 12 months + now around your area - New development around Bridgeman Downs has about 50 builders and gangs working flat out. 3,800 new residences have been approved in 4035 4034 postcodes alone with a mean build value of 280 k.

Under these conditions even trying to Owner Build in a reasonable timeframe is going to be a nightmare as the trades could well be on contract to local crews.

It may be best to contact builders who specialise in renovations.

As I understand it, there are two hurdles in the approval process - the Development Application which makes sure it is compliant with the local development guidelines; and the Construction Certificate which makes sure it is designed according to building and energy conservation standards. The latter part can be done by any building certifier - but I'd have thought the former would be in the domain of the town planning department (it was when I did mine 2 1/2 years ago).

Anyway, all you can do is put in your plans and see where it goes. I'd recommend you get a building designer or architect to do it for you - it will streamline the whole process and they'll generally know what is and isn't acceptable in your area.

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Originally Posted by Dirty Doogie

I can understand why builders aren't interested in "smaller" jobs. When you phone them do you tell them it is just a small job and you will be doing a lot of stuff yourself ? You may have a much better success rate if you ask them to quote on the whole job.

They will also want to see detailed plans before quoting. When it comes to renovation and add ons - quoting can get tiresome, you have to visit the site, check availibilities, examine existing structures in detail etc , so for all your mucking around you at least want to think the client is serious and has plans drawn up.

The bottom line is that builders are likely booked out for 12 months + now around your area - New development around Bridgeman Downs has about 50 builders and gangs working flat out. 3,800 new residences have been approved in 4035 4034 postcodes alone with a mean build value of 280 k.

Under these conditions even trying to Owner Build in a reasonable timeframe is going to be a nightmare as the trades could well be on contract to local crews.

It may be best to contact builders who specialise in renovations.

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Yeah I have explaining the project as a whole, I was given advice not to mention we may be doing work ourselves, way back when this project was just a twinkle in the eye so to speak.


As I have mentioned previously though isnt a small job an attractive thing though? I mean it is the sort of job that can be done between jobs, or between slabs and roof tiling or what ever do you get what I mean???

Trouble is you have to cart tools and stuff around from job to job. Better to get as much done as possible in one hit before moving on. The other problem is the mongrels wont come back. I made the mistake of letting the plasterers go to another job before mine was finished - do you think I could get them to come back and finish mine?

It's a shame you're in Brisbane because I actually know a guy who loves jobs like yours. The point is, they are around but they don't advertise - the bloke I know gets all his work through word of mouth. He works under an owner builder permit - so you do the paperwork and take the risk - he runs the job and charges a rate or a fixed price depending on the job. Someone like that would be perfect for you. Do you play golf? That's how I got onto him :)