How to build a home on a budget Part 1: My story.

So many people are put off building by the enormous costs. Land is expensive, materials add up, the labour cost is out of this world.  Add to that the stress, the decision making, the hard work, dealing with headaches, making stuff-ups..the list of negatives seem endless.

What if there was another way?  Is it even possible to have a place that you can call your own?

But lets turn that around - what about the positives - creating a space that you can truly call home, learning new skills, making good decisions, fixing stuffups etc.  All positive, and incredibly rewarding.
Anyway, enough of the deep stuff, and more about me.

I am an owner builder, with no special skills in building or carpentry. Before building my current (humble) home, I had never used a hammer for more then 5 minutes. But I do have a can-do attitude, and the ability to learn.  I call myself an 'economic refugee' from one of the major cities.  I was never able to afford anything in the major cities and was just existing week to week - paying enormous rents for a small apartments in a sea of similar (boring) buildings.

So about 8 years ago I moved to the country, got out of the rat race, and found cheap land I could afford.  And yes there are jobs in the bush! I have found many types of work, made new friends, and learnt many new skills.  Because it is so much cheaper in the country I can afford to build a home on a low income.

So where to start?  For me, I just started looking around where I lived in regional NSW.  I found some cheap houses and land, in places which I thought wasn't that attractive - out of the way, in small towns or with distances to travel.  I even found one small house for $69,000 (in 2011) that I nearly bought. Yes, house prices are that cheap in the country!  I ended up buying a quarter acre in a small country town by a river for less then $20K.  When you move to the country, it opens up possibilities that don't exist in the cities.

But saying that, not everybody wants to live and work in the country.  But for now that is me.