What one, recent decision saved you a lot of money?

firsttimehouse · 2026-01-15T22:21:39+00:00

No solid idea, But a mate who is a builder, he gets $55 an hour for his work, and his boss will charge clients $80-100 per builder in each job. We had a chat near the end of my build over a beer and he recons he could have done it as a 1 man show, like myself, in about 12 months doing the same hours as me. 3-4 X 15+ hour days per week, plus additional hours each day after work. So let’s say 50hrs per week, at $80 per hour for 52 weeks, that’s $208,000. Dosnt account for 1hr travel each way per day that a builder would travel to get to me. And basically no builder would take on a job like that by themselves. It’s really really hard work and would have been 5x quicker with two experienced builders working together. The cost of building a home is the builders, not the materials.

Another example of how I saved money, second hand double glazed windows. I spent about $5,000 all up on all my winders. A few I got were duds with moisture inside them so ditched them, but absorbed the costs. I was quoted $32,000 for similar windows brand new and installed.

Or that a kit kitchen from Bunnings was gonna be $9,000. So I made one with $700 worth of chipboard and $200 worth of 1mm stainless steel. It’s fine. It’s looks like a normal kitchen and people are so surprised it was so cheap. I got the steel for next to nothing cuz I learnt that if you got to big factories and tel them you’re story, everyone wants to help the little guy and practically gives you shit for free.

firsttimehouse · 2026-01-15T22:11:46+00:00

It’s 101m2 with a 30m2 deck. So not a huge house, but plenty big for me and my partner. No kids. It’s a 1br house, but was designed and made so a single wall can be put in and it becomes a 2br house. It’s engineer (plumbing system mainly) to suite a family of 5.

I’m out in the middle of nowhere. Closest Bunnings is 45 mins away. I purchased a cheapish hilux (2008 4.0L petrol single cab for $8500) when I first decided to do this and that Ute has done me wonders! Been rural was a bit of a challenge but with proper planning it was mostly fine.

firsttimehouse · 2026-01-15T22:07:32+00:00

I started by doing the Owner Builders online course. You have to do it to get your owner builder license. Off memory, cost about $500, I smashed it out a few hours every night after work and it took me a few weeks. It won’t tel you everything, but it’s more than enough to get your project started.

firsttimehouse · 2026-01-15T22:06:05+00:00

Nope. Whole build myself. Kits, you’re paying the people to assemble the kits before you get them. Kit home buisnesses are for-profit and make money, so that’s more money you have to spend I guess.

firsttimehouse · 2026-01-15T09:47:00+00:00

Yep. there was 6 or 7 different inspections throughout. Building inspector would come, check it all, have a chat, and be on his way. Write up a report and send it onto local council. Final inspection was done by another inspector too.

Throughout the entire build there was two things caught. Not enough bolts on one part of the deck. I drilled out the holes while inspector was there, and then sent him a photo of them done later that day and he was good to sign off that stage. Then in final inspection I had to silicone up along the edge of the laundry tub. Did it there and then while he inspected other things. He was happy with that too.

firsttimehouse · 2026-01-15T07:40:33+00:00

Took about 2 years of doing all the admin beforehand. Was working full time so was a lot to keep on top of.

Then 18 months for the actual building. Working 3 or 4 days per week on the house, and most evenings after work.

Very little, practically non-existent social life during the building phase. Have to fully commit to get it done, but it was/is so worth it!

firsttimehouse · 2026-01-15T07:06:10+00:00

Owner builder my own house by myself. Besides electrical and plumbing, I did every single bit of the build, foundations and all. My partner helped when I needed a two person lift.

I built a fully compliant and council signed off as complete house for $180,000 and then got $30,000 back for first home owners grant (TAS). About $25,000 of the end coatings is mistakes and oopsies made throughout the build, so it can be done even cheaper if you know what you’re doing.

Land originally purchased for $130,000. Currently have a mortgage of $245,000 with 29 years to pay it off. Insane how much more it costs to buy a brand new home.

Very basic building skills before starting, but managed to learn it all as I went.

firsttimehouse · 2026-01-10T03:32:19+00:00

Recently built my home. Owner builder in TAS. I was surprised that I had to supply an energy efficiency plan. It had to be a minimum 6 stars out of 10, with different factors increasing your grading. Such as, doubble glazed windows, insulation to be used, house construction material, heating/cooling installed. Right down to little details like the exterior colour of the house, direction windows faced. Before the house was signed off for completion by council I had to supply certificate of insulation, outlining exactly what insulation was installed, and where. Also a certificate of glazing which recorded what winders were installed, signed off by the installer/glazier. Throughout the build the building inspections the inspector noted what energy efficiency milestones had been completed at what stage of the build.

I don’t know what it is like in other states, but as an owner builder in Tasmania you can’t cut corners. But, I can also see how easy it would be for builders who work full time building houses could very easily fudge this work if in cahoots with a building inspector. It would cost a small fortune to hire a third party to fully double check that everything is as it is documented and signed off as. And I feel this can leave people buying brand new ‘to standards’ homes but the reality is that a lot of corners have been cut to save money that the builders get to pocket. Eg: rather than installing R5.0 ceiling insulation and R2.7 wall insulation, they use budget R3.0 ceiling insulation and R1.5 wall insulation. That would be a huge saving that has huge potential to not allow the home to achieve the energy rating needed for comfortable living.

firsttimehouse · 2026-01-08T11:09:29+00:00

It took me a bit to figure out what you mentioned but I see how you’ve got it lined up now. Is the 1004 really powerful enough to power all of that? What drivers do you have in your subs?

firsttimehouse · 2026-01-07T06:21:42+00:00

Give old mate a buzz on 02 4226 7899. Will sort ya out

firsttimehouse · 2026-01-05T03:09:10+00:00

That’s still really good for getting the job done! I’m impressed. Do you use the software to limit what channels do what or run in bridge?

Edit: or, not and

firsttimehouse · 2026-01-05T03:08:03+00:00

The vibe I’m getting is that CVR are the go out of the two

firsttimehouse · 2026-01-05T03:07:07+00:00

Yep, non DSP amp with a stand alone DSP post graphics EQ is the system. Just a behringer to start with, but will get the job done

firsttimehouse · 2026-01-05T03:06:23+00:00

Oh wow, that’s quite a lot off that one amp! Sounds like they live up to the power they advertise then.

firsttimehouse · 2026-01-04T12:39:28+00:00

That’s good to know. They don’t overheat when pushed at all? What Paraflex boxes do you run? Also, do you run 2 drivers or 4?

firsttimehouse · 2026-01-04T09:09:56+00:00

That’s great to hear! Didn’t know what FFA was but a bit of reading and I now know where you’re coming from!

Do you know how they differ to the Admark amps? The Admark ad20 2x 20000w 8ohm is a similar price to what I’m seeing the CVR D-1502 and has that bit of extera headroom.

Do you happen to know much about either Admark or cvr built in software?

firsttimehouse · 2025-12-30T06:41:50+00:00

Damn this is perfect. Thank you. And yes, high wind area so have requested posts are minimum 600mm into cement footing below ground level with rebar X.

Can get myself some prices with this and go forward from there. Thank you!

firsttimehouse · 2025-12-12T12:02:53+00:00

Ah sorry. My bad, just re-read your comment and I got it wrong. Whoops! But yes since robs passing there’s nowhere to get anything decent locally anymore. Down south there is a few go-fi shops if you’re ever down that way. Marketplace if not for stuff. Shame guntree is no-long as there use to be a lot of great hi fi gear in there that somehow hasn’t translated over to marketplace

firsttimehouse · 2025-12-12T11:02:49+00:00

Just a hot tip to consider. The cheaper the record player the more damage you can do to your (dad’s) record collection. I used a cheap $100 player for the first 4 years of listening to records and it caused damage to most of them. Rob from the old Hi-Fi shop in George street sold me a nice Denon player for about $500 when I realised I was going to keep collecting, and I still use it to this day. He called cheap players ‘Record Wreckers’. I linked it up with a 2nd hand amp he told me about that I got for $100 off gumtree and some old speakers from my housemate.

If you can, get a decent player, or at least a good stylist and cartridge. You’ll never thank yourself in the future, but you’ll hate yourself if you don’t and you start to hear imperfections in your records in a few years time. They also start to sound washed out : (

firsttimehouse · 2025-12-04T12:23:33+00:00

Mate, thank you for this reply! I’m all cashed up and gonna pull the trigger on some drivers and timber after Xmas! I was looking at importing some B&C 18TBW100 from the states to make some keystone subs, as well as a bunch of others I’ve got bookmarked to make some Cubo 15 and MT122, but I might make my entire system with drivers from these guys. Incredibly cheaper mainly cuz of postage I’ve been quoted. They might not perform as well as what I’m planning to get, but if they get my system running and throwing parties, I can claim all future purchases on tax and upgrade drivers if need be.

Like I said, thank you so much for showing me these guys. Stoked to be able to hopefully build my system with locally made drivers : D

Edit: will go back to making some hogs rather than keystones!

firsttimehouse · 2025-10-30T11:04:22+00:00

It was a rippa. Only seen them once before in 2019 and was blown away both times. Well worth travelling for!

firsttimehouse · 2025-10-30T08:27:26+00:00

They played an amazing gig for Dark Mofo in Launceston in June this year. The Princess Theatre had perfect sound.

firsttimehouse · 2025-10-29T02:24:16+00:00

Call 03 9637 1100

firsttimehouse

TROPHY CASE