# Forum More Stuff Owner Builders Forum  want to build a shed, council say i need licences builder, what to do?

## wozzzzza

in queensland, put in application to cairns council for a storage shed designed in kit form from totalspan sheds, no worries, approved, but council say I need to get a builder to put it up as its on common land in a unit block and considered commercial.
how do I get around this? its a damn kit shed for F's sake, a teenager could put it up following the plans and that, I did this sort of crap when I was teaching in Adelaide seniors at high school.
if I call a builder up to come and visit the site once a day for 15 minutes while I construct it myself, would a builder sign off on it at completion or not? I dont want to spend $4000 for someone to construct a shed that I can do myself.

----------


## OBBob

Do it at night?  
LOL... plenty of people manage to get electricians to allow them to do some of the work and they sign it off with an inspection. Can't hurt to ask. 
Edit: do you have an owner builder option up there?  
Also, a builder may not like their insurance exposed to work they aren't doing.

----------


## wozzzzza

> Do it at night?

   na makes too much noise.  

> LOL... plenty of people manage to get electricians to allow them to do some of the work and they sign it off with an inspection. Can't hurt to ask.
> Also, a builder may not like their insurance exposed to work they aren't doing

  that's what I do with my electrician, but i've asked a few builders and none will do it unless they are onsite working on it with me.  

> Edit: do you have an owner builder option up there?

  yeah but I don't think it applies to commercial zoned property

----------


## OBBob

Must be a fair sized shed to cost $4k to erect.

----------


## wozzzzza

all I know is I got a quote for $10k to supply and install, $4500 to supply only. plus slab. only 19m2

----------


## Marc

Mm ... 10k to build a 4x5 shed on land that is not yours?
Forget it.
Buy a shipping container and plonk it there.
Job done. 
And flip the council the bird... no ... flip the bird to the council? ... mm ... anyway you know what I mean :Biggrin:

----------


## wozzzzza

tempting but still issues there, been there as well, has to be engineered and tied down to the ground and with council approval as well.

----------


## wozzzzza

bit more research today. total span sheds said they will charge $2500 to erect the shed when I put the slab down, I can lay the slab myself and a couple of mates. 
think I might have found a builder that will work with me at an hourly rate. yet to find out an hourly rate from him, anyone know what the average hourly rate of a builder is??
not sure if this is a good deal or not. 
how long would it take to put up a kit shed with 2 people??

----------


## intertd6

> bit more research today. total span sheds said they will charge $2500 to erect the shed when I put the slab down, I can lay the slab myself and a couple of mates. 
> think I might have found a builder that will work with me at an hourly rate. yet to find out an hourly rate from him, anyone know what the average hourly rate of a builder is??
> not sure if this is a good deal or not. 
> how long would it take to put up a kit shed with 2 people??

  you would still need a builders licence for the slab, you can't break it into separate parts as it falls under the one construction approval which needs a builder to do.
inter

----------


## wozzzzza

no idea, that's just what I'm being told by the builder.

----------


## ringtail

You only need an OB licence in QLD if the value of the works is over $11k including gst. Below this you can just claim the "status" of OB without a permit. However, the value is what a builder would charge full on retail, not what you can buy it for / build it for etc... and would include the slab. If you've got a quote for $10k + slab you will go over the limit and need a permit. Can always get more quotes. Check on the shed size you can have before needing approval. In Brisbane it's 10m2 no higher than 2.4 mt. There is no limit on how many you can build though.  :Wink:  :Wink:  :Wink:

----------


## phild01

> You only need an OB licence in QLD if the value of the works is over $11k including gst. Below this you can just claim the "status" of OB without a permit. However, the value is what a builder would charge full on retail, not what you can buy it for / build it for etc... and would include the slab. If you've got a quote for $10k + slab you will go over the limit and need a permit. Can always get more quotes. Check on the shed size you can have before needing approval. In Brisbane it's 10m2 no higher than 2.4 mt. There is no limit on how many you can build though.

  Can you get OB licence for an area that is common ground!?

----------


## ringtail

Hmmm, not sure. A call to the QBCC or go to their website.  Maybe put it to the body corp for approval. Better still, get the body corp to pay for it.

----------


## wozzzzza

commercial property, need builder licensed according to council, cant owner build anything on the common property. the $10k quote was for everything start to finish.

----------


## ringtail

Oh well, such is the joy of being a commercial property mogul  :Tongue:

----------


## wozzzzza

got total span doing it. worked out cheaper. only builder I could find quoted $3k to do it.

----------

