Can I erect the walls myself as an owner-builder?

(Can I erect the walls by myself and join them, or…?)

Charles Christodoulou: Yes. No… you can do it yourself. But I’ll just double-check with you where you need to employ a registered – you only need to for work like electrical or plumbing, and roof plumbing, and even sometimes your waterproofing in the shower in the toilets. You need to employ registered people because they must issue you with a compliance certificate and the work is guaranteed.

(Yep. Mhm.)

Charles Christodoulou: Normally electricians, plumbers, they’re about 10 years guaranteed. Now, there is no such law with carpenters, but I would double-check with your building surveyor. He may stipulate that you use a registered carpenter, but probably very rare. But I don’t want to mislead you. So when you find your building surveyor/certifier, you just ask him, “Can I do these works myself?” And even with waterproofing you can do yourself. I’ve actually done that myself. Our last project was – I think – 15 double storeys we did on one block, but we did all the waterproofing, but I had to supply the building surveyor a written summary of exactly what I did and what materials I used… and then he accepted it and he keeps it on file in case there’s a problem.

Charles Christodoulou: So even with waterproofing you can check with the surveyor. Some surveyors, they might get fussy and say, “No, you must get a registered person to do the waterproofing,” but I think nine times out of 10 you should be able to do it yourself.