An Owner Builder is a home owner that is interested in carrying out a construction project on their residential property. DIY-ing construction and renovation projects has recently gained a lot of popularity, and more people are moving towards not choosing a contractor.
Owner builders take all the responsibility and duties of a general contractor on themselves. While they might not be well-trained like a contractor, they can seek help from them on certain matters.
Apart from the general construction responsibility, it is your job as an owner builder, to take care of the following things:
- Obtaining a building permit.
- Arrangement of certificate of completed work.
- Ensuring complete safety on the construction site, both for the crew, and others.
- Getting a public liability insurance. It will protect you in cases of damage to someone else’s property during your construction projects. Modern public liability insurance companies in QLD offer their services online.
What happens once you have applied for owner builder VBA form?
VBA or Victorian Building Authority provides useful information to guide you through the building process. Most importantly, its guides you with the law and regulation that affects the ongoing care of commercial building and domestic construction.
If the value of domestic building construction is over $16,000, you must have a certificate of consent from VBA to be an owner builder.
Once the form has been filled-out and submitted, it takes approximately twenty-eight days calendar days to process the form for further certification.
What are the key risk factors with Owner builders?
Owner builders must be extra careful than general contractors. Some of the key risk areas are:
- Owner builder’s negligence is the highest risk included
- Design and construction overview can go wrong
- Weather conditions
- Visitors or people visiting the sites can lead to injury, death or disablement
- Fire conditions including bush fire, subcontractors mistake or grass fire
- Public or civil property damaged due to construction
- Loss or damage to neighbor’s property
To save oneself from such hazardous situation, it is important for owner builders to get insurance against them. Some of the risk factors against which owner builders should get insurance are:
- Third party property loss insurance
- Public liability insurance Qld
- Fire situation
- Injuries caused due to circumstances
- Owner builder negligence
- Design errors are made by the architect
- On site damage or loss caused by subcontractors
Conclusion
If you’re planning to be an owner builder for your own dream house, you need to be careful with the risk and disaster management. A bit of negligence can cause you a big amount, therefore please be careful with all the procedures. Before leaving everything on the subcontractor, get an insurance of the risks mentioned above.
Many companies offer owner builder guarantees. You can contact them for legal advice and insurance policies. Whether you require insurance coverage for owner builder’s negligence or risk management – everything is available with insurance companies.
