I start building a house today

The tafe is in Shepparton Victoria and didn’t even know where the Tafe was, searched the Internet signed up to do the coarse online, they sent a letter out to go to an Introduction session; all there we’re accepted that day. Then payed at tafe reception $210 but negotiated a special payment plan of $40 a fortnight. I did not need to do this but I thought paying it slowly is better off. Then bought a $9 hammer from bunnings some turned up with $160 hammers but my nails go in. Will need to buy a few other things along the way will probably total $500 odd dollars. I will receive 208 from a government funding package and $64 a fortnight to study so it all pays for itself, I will actually get more then I have to pay for it. This reception is pretty quick here, but surely there is a way to pay online maybe or send them in payment so they process it and send you you’re enrolment out in the mail.

I agree good for people that like getting hands on and also learning about the industry. Just being around people who have been in the industry for years is great, the questions you can ask them the storys they tell. Getting a variety of different teachers who cover the field’s joinery, carpentry concreting cabinet makers etc is a good value to. A builder needs to know a little bit about all the trades to do with the industry.

Below is the description of the units of work we cover which I will be putting on my web site as well outlining the skills I’m learning in the course, because doing this as you say my intentions to be an investor, I want to attract JV partners for doing Reno’s and or project managing developments ultimately.

List of Units in Course

• Building and Construction Industry Induction
• Work Safety and Environmental Procedures
• Introduction to the OH&S aspects of Demolition
• Communications for the Building Industry
• Quality Principles for the Building Industry
• Carpentry Hand Tools
• Carpentry Power Tools
• First Aid Certificate
• Calculations for the Building Industry
• One day OH&S to gain Red card (this allows you to work on a building site)
• One week work experience out in the industry
• Workplace Documents and Plans
• Levelling
• Basic Setting Out
• Formwork for Concreting
• Introduction to Exposing Power Tools
• Floor and Wall Framing
• Career studies
• Building Structures Introduction to Scaffolding
• Excavation and Installation of supports less than 1.5m
• Roof Framing
• Installation of Window and Door Frames
• Interior Fixing
• External Cladding

We’re supposed to learn about Bricklaying in this course somewhere as well.

Alright RedWing you find a suitable house to Reno and line up the finance.

Colin Gowan – for sure. But why not begin structuring a plan now and feasibility studies? Though I will have a lot more about this stuff on the web site soon.

Sparky, it’s a tough question and I would hate to influence your career and later on down the track you found that it wasn’t right for you because I’m not really a qualified career advisor.

Options though could be if you’re not enjoying Electrical to finish one year because I believe you can always start a second year sometime. Then do building. I think you’re in the industry anyway so therefore would pretty much be bumping into these people in the industry anyway the same as a carpenter.

Focus your mind on the developer side now that you have become aware of it and if you feel you’re not getting enough insight or being around the right people to learn enough about the industry. Then maybe think about changing but I would not do it right away.

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Interested in Joint Venture Reno Projects

Ok here’s a rundown on work experience. I got a bit of help from a generous person with english and grammar. It’s a bit long so if it’s boring don’t worry about reading it, I’ll only post it once.

Work Experience

As part of the 16 week course, “Certificate II Carpentry Bricklaying Painting & Decorating” at TAFE, I was required to do one weeks work experience in a chosen location. This actually turned out to be three days because of the Public holiday, also until suitable placement was sourced.

The first thing I did was email Michael Yardley because he is well experienced in the field I want to learn more about, unfortunately Michael was not available for that week as he was flying to Sydney for the Property Expo. The next person I asked was Martin Aylses by emailing him but he did not reply as I guess he is very busy with current developments and I know he is not a real computer person. Next I approached a large construction company in the town where I’m living; little did I know what was install. A little bit oblivious to what I was heading into first day, I thought I would be heading to a common home and working with a carpenter and probably doing this for three days. When I arrived I was amongst a sixty unit development at stage 2, i.e. the second twenty units we’re being constructed.

I introduced myself to Doug the Project Manager and explained to him that I was the work experience guy to tag around with him tomorrow. He gave me a brief of tasks that we would be doing and some safety procedures were signed (site induction) and I said I will see you tomorrow.

Day One: Harmony Retirement Village (Over 55’s only)
The day began with a concrete truck pouring a concrete slab for a three unit development. I actually followed this truck in at 7.30 am. They had already by this time had 4-6 trucks there, offloaded and gone. Things were going on! There were about 7 cement workers actively levelling pouring and shovelling the concrete! The first thing I did was accompany Doug to a newly arrived semi’ delivering spout and guttering for another unit in a different stage of the development. I had a quick chat to the driver about where he had been delivering and what his day involved, plus how much was charged for these deliveries. This instantly gave me a broad range of locations where developments were around town.
Doug quickly indicated that we needed to move onto something else as our job was to be co-ordinating supervising and managing anything and everything that popped up next and with no apparent order. Some carpenters are due to arrive he said, so I will meet over at these units. The unit was at a stage where all the frame work was up, the doors and walls needed “plumbing up” (to make sure there straight) for plasterers to go in next and some door ways needed to be fitted out. We discovered that the carpenters for that unit were not going to arrive. At this point the “man” himself walked thru the area (The Owner of the construction company) at 75 he is still going to work each day and can be seen walking around overseeing works. I looked at him and thought to myself, that is one man that owns all these millions of dollars worth of developments scattered all around the town and there he is walking around very humble like it’s just another day and pleasantly saying hello as he walked past.

Next we went over the unit to check on some Kitchen cupboards that had been ordered and were the wrong ones fitted, so we discussed this and sorted out a resolve. All this was going at a pretty full on pace, from one thing to the next all the while knowing we had to be back at the concreting as they were pouring. Some bits of wood needed tidying up along where some more units were going to be set out with string lines to pour a slab in three days time on the Friday so we needed to get organised with the next unit development preparation. Doug allocated me to clear some pine pegs and move some timber while he went to the office to sort some things out. We needed some hurdles prepared for that afternoon so the setting out for units 19-20 could be done. Setting out unit 19-20 did not mean that only up to 19 had been built to this stage; each unit number is built as it becomes convenient on the block (large areas of land) and which unit that works begin on next is determined by a number of variables. Unit No.36 for example may already have been built before No.1 etc These variables are constantly changing and are dependant on a lot of factors and whether or not workers are available to do it and the weather conditions, because it will be in the midst of winter soon, Dough explained that he was focusing on doing units further away from the entrance track to minimise mud on the track work this may seem like a little decision but if he didn’t plan for that now in three months down the track he would be in all sorts of trouble with mud and tracks which could lead to bogged Vehicles and lot’s of delays. By this time it was only 9 in the morning so much had happened we had been to see the plasterers, bricklayers, concreters the Construction company owner, unloaded trucks, co-ordinating and supervising all activities. And in-between times quickly chatting to anybody that came up to the office with any kind of general issues. I was in full flight and enjoying every step it was very rewarding and exactly what I like doing i.e. getting something done and then getting onto the next issue. Once we got around to the concrete trucks again Doug and I went over to have a look at the orders to confirm the right amounts and check off and sign the invoices. 60 odd cubic metres was poured to completion. I then went into the office and started taking notes of what was happening and the time schedule to the unit’s plans for all the overall activities. Doug quickly called me over to the unit 3 where plasterers were preparing to spend the day hanging interior plaster. Carpenters had not quiet finished a couple of studs so we cut up peaces of pine and fitted them so as to allow plasterers to go full stream ahead for the rest of the day. Everything was about co-ordinating things to keep the process running smoothly so that workers could get in and do there jobs and sorting out any issues that arose.

In the afternoon we went for a stroll to look through some finished units. It was amazing here we were building and developing, co-ordinating and supervising workers and sorting issues in an construction area, then in the same development with people living in completed units and fully landscaped areas with roads and round a-bouts street lights etc Walking from constructions areas to civilian life was an amazing transformation but just walking thru and visualizing the concept and seeing each unit at a different stage was awesome. I could not have been at a better place from an experience point of view; I had one of the best experiences of my life. It was only one day but I fitted a hell of a lot in and I didn’t stop talking to Doug the whole time and asked him questions until well over an hour past the knock off time. Doug has also invited me to visit anytime to see how things are going with the developments and to also ask any questions and seek advice about developing and or project managing and construction related tasks, which is great.

During the afternoon we finished off a string line for the slab to be poured in the next two days and went into the office where Doug took me thru some ordering processes and explained to me a bit about how to organize all the paper work and the steps he takes to make sure things are done and accounted for thru to documenting and cross checking diary notes, reading plan maps and understanding measurements. Doug is a good leader and also a good teacher I had a great day and he showed me how to do things but also allowed me to do things myself, he put me in the position of Project Manager and tried to get me to make decisions about what to do in the situation and this I felt was the best way to teach as I benefited the most from this approach. I could tell that Doug was a good organizer, meticulous to detail and time management and was quite concerned about getting things done right and on time with every effort made for the safety of those workers under him. I learnt more than I can explain in this text area and I don’t want to rattle on for too long. So we will get on to day two. I thanked Doug for the day and he briefed me as to where and who I was to see for the next days work experience.

Day Two: Westside Performing Arts Centre

Ok 7.30 I made my way out to The Westside Performing Arts Centre to meet Tim. Tim was prepared for my visit and ushered me into the smoko room to go thru some safety procedures and a short induction.

Tim then took me around and instructed me about what construction work they were doing to the theatre building. This was a good day to go at a relatively different pace and to settle into a bit of thinking about carpentry, I was teamed up with a Qualified Carpenter and we went about doing two door frame reveals. Everything is top notch on this job and done to the millimetre it took quiet a while to do just these two doorways. Then in the afternoon we cut away some bracing and minor metal studwork out of the way at a new opening through into a bigger theatre and arts area, then to fit some wall sheets to the existing room. The wood they were using on this wall was beautiful, I had never seen it before; the Project Manager had not seen it either. It is like a chip board but it’s made out of multi colours larger type ply chucks varying from 15 centimetres long to 20 centre meters wide down to one centimetre bits and all stuck together. The finished wood is a bit like textured bits of multi tan coloured ply wood bits all in different shapes and sizes. It’s the same as chip board but using larger thicker bits of ply all glued together. Once it is lacquered with proxy it will look fantastic and rather unique. It is being stuck on the walls so that it goes up the wall around 1 meter high up the wall and screwed with golden screws. This was careful work and took a while with lots of measurements and cuts and gluing.

This is one of the aspects of Carpentry I like because I get to work on some good wood and at a good stage of the project. The Project Manager had to tell us to finish up at the end of the day as I wanted to keep going. Even though I was only on five dollars a day for the minimum work experience pay, I wanted to keep going as I enjoyed it. Alright onto day three…

Day Three: Governments Commission Units and Houses

Day three was a completely different aspect of building all together from the previous two days. Up a 6am and off to the Construction Company Head Office to meet someone designated to pick me up at 6.30am, it was really beginning to seem like a mystery tour at this stage and off to a location an hours drive away, a township I had not been to before. What we did was set out a development block for a government commission area, reading off the plan, the measurement and laying out the block for the plumbers, electricians, carpenters etc. This was also with the Project Manager. We had a lot of driving time so spent a lot of time chatting about the construction industry and Project Management in general. These buildings are being constructed in the lower social economical area of this township, five buildings on three blocks, two units on one block, two units on another block and a residential house. This mainly involved liaison with plumbers, coordinating work, discussing issues to do with where the services were going to be put underground and organizing electrical cables to the block. At the end of the day the block was set out with string lines so that plumbers and electricians could start on Monday and all using the same machinery to dig the necessary trenches which will also save on costs. Setting out mainly involved familiarizing yourself with the arquetique plan, hammering pegs and locating string lines to appropriate measurements; according to the plan where the slab was to be laid. This development is estimated to take three months from start to finish.

That concludes my three days work experience.

It’s back to Tafe now for a further 10 weeks.

Summary

This work experience was great, not only did I glean lot’s on information and insight from the activities I also acquired a well experienced mentor in the industry and look forward to building a relationship with him in the hope that I can continue to learn from him and I am actively going around and following the construction of the sixty units.

One thing I can say about this construction company is that there organizational, co-ordinating and communication skills, used for their workers and all within the system, are done in a very thorough, careful, concise and professional manner. I can see why they have been successful! The way they organized my three days activities is to there credit because I did not feel that I was being taken advantage of and simply put out the field to dig trenches. They really gave me a good insight and fitted as much as they possibly could with quality jobs and shifting me around the industry to see a little bit of as much as I could fit in for the three days. Accept this last guy on the third day which thought he would take advantage of the work experience guy, lazy bugger. Getting me to hammer all the set out pegs in and telling me to get everything for him. But the experience was good anyway, from my point of view I learnt how to do set outs though this blokes teaching skills don’t leave much to be desired. But I now know I can go onto a block of land and set out a slab to begin constructing a house.

All in all it was a wonderful experience.

Off to Tafe again tomorrow.

Jaffasoft

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Interested in Joint Venture Reno Projects

Received a late email from Martin Ayles Friday saying he’ll give me some coaching.

At Tafe this week Monday we we’re given the plans to start building a little building. There called a “Miners Hut” 1.8 Metres by 2.7 Metres length. Digging them all out and set out. The same as a real house ( we already done this but do it again for this little thing) and putting stumps in the ground ‘nine’ real wood stumps.

Then today starting the good stuff. Putting the sub-floor framing on… This is the bearers and floor joists then beginning the frame plates. If you didn’t know what the last bit meant it’s all the stuff below the floor surface of a house; stumps and all the wood that holds the floor up and including the floor pratform which will be made out of chip bourd or something simular. Also a lot of theory to this; learning ordering and stuff for ‘real life’ house construction.

Will still be doing the granny flats but later on.

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Interested in Joint Venture Reno Projects