You own the land
The owner-builder must be on the title. You can only take out one owner-builder permit every five years, and only for a home you intend to live in.
Owner builders
Your permit. Your call. Our trades.
Owner building can save 15–25% of a build — but only if the schedule holds. We sell the parts of a builder's operation you can't easily buy on your own: drawings that pass first time, engineering, and a trade base that turns up.
Before you start
In Victoria, three things have to be true.
You hold a Certificate of Consent
Issued by the Victorian Building Authority for work over $16,000. You'll complete an approved course and sit the assessment before applying.
You carry the responsibility
Site safety, insurances, defects and warranty obligations sit with you — including for six years after completion if you sell.
This is a plain-English summary, not legal advice. Check the current requirements with the Victorian Building Authority before you commit, and get your own legal and insurance advice.
The sequence
Six stages. Buy the ones you want.
These run in order — that's why they're numbered. Most owner builders take us to lock-up and run the fit-out themselves.
01
Plans and permits
Working drawings adapted to your block and orientation, energy rating, soil report, and the building permit lodgement. You get DWG and PDF sets you own outright.
02
Engineering and site set-out
Slab design to your soil class, footing details, and a surveyor's set-out on the day. This is the stage owner builders most often get wrong on their own.
03
Slab
Excavation, plumbing rough-in under slab, mesh, pour and cure. Includes the inspection booking and the certificate.
04
Frame and roof
Truss and frame supply, erection, roof cover and fascia. Scaffold hire is included in this stage and off site by the end of it.
05
Lock-up
External cladding or brickwork, windows, external doors, and the electrical and plumbing rough-in. Your site is weathertight and securable at the end of this stage.
06
Fit-out and finish
Plaster, cabinetry, tiling, fixtures, paint and final trades. Take it or leave it — plenty of owner builders run this stage themselves and just book our trades directly.
What you also get
The boring stuff that decides whether it goes well.
- A trade schedule with named contacts and lead times, not a list of phone numbers
- Materials at our supply rates, invoiced to you directly with no margin added
- A supervisor on call for two hours a fortnight — the single most-used part of the package
- Inspection bookings lodged and tracked so you don't lose a week waiting
- A progress-claim schedule your lender will actually accept
Finance partner
Owner-builder lending is its own animal.
Most lenders treat owner builders as higher risk and lend against a lower valuation. Urban Loans writes owner-builder construction loans and knows how our six stages line up with a progress-draw schedule, which usually saves a round of back-and-forth on the paperwork.
Get in touch
Let’s start
a conversation.
Whether you have a block, a set of plans or simply an idea you’re starting to explore, we’d love to hear what you’re thinking. Tell us a little about your project and we’ll take it from there.