Owner Builder Permits

The NSW Office of Fair Trading requires that individuals be licences as 'Owner Builders' in situations where the building work relates to a dwelling that requires complying development approval. Thus, either Kyle or myself must get an owner builder licence.

Originally we thought Kyle would be the ideal candidate, having previously worked in construction. However a severe knee injury, reconstructive surgery, and several months of physio later Kyle's white card has been invalidated and requires a lot of hoop-jumping to reinstate. Jenny, however, is a clean slate in the construction industry.

1. The White Card
• Cheapest through WhiteCardOnlineExpress ($39)
• 3-4 hrs online training + quizzes
2. Owner Builder Certification
• Cheapest/Easiest through Absolute Education ($189 September special)
• Also do white cards in a deal with owner builder certs, but more expensive.
3. Owner Builder Insurance
• Australian Owner Builders Insurance Services looks likely (specifically covers mud brick structures, good start) but I haven't looked into it with a lot of detail yet.
• Would only need it once we start the project (it's useless before we buy a property anyway)
• In an ideal world we're all understanding people who don't sue each other over accidents, but insurance is what you have just incase it's not an ideal world after all.

An important point for us to be aware of at this stage is that it is likely there will be a requirement that anyone who helps us build the house (including Kyle) will need a white card as well. I've been trying to work out what's happened on other similar projects (such as Earthships) regarding this, but it's difficult to get details that specific for Australian builds that are very recent. Just another of the variety of hoops to jump through on atypical projects.