We built an open plan Granny Flat.

This ambitious yet fun learning curve took us around twelve months to complete. Owner builder from start to finish. This meant we needed a lot of help and advice from experts and trades including muscle power, project skills, management, and time.

It was a hectic time in our lives as I was currently taking a short break from work, studying a full-time degree in counselling therapy.

Mike was working fulltime and taking as many long weekends and holidays as possible to ensure we had the hours needed to complete the project.

Mike spent a lot of time on the project before the build even started, talking to council, city planners, draftsmen, plumbers, and engineers to ensure everything was approved before the first turn of the soil could begin.

Mike also had to complete a short homeowner builders course. This was to ensure the project could go ahead and in the long run this step certainly saved us a lot of money; money that would have otherwise gone to a building company.

We had to learn quickly how to follow our council approved plans to ensure each step was done right and to spec.

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As soon as we started the build, so did the rain!

The heavens seemed to open-up the moment we began digging the trenches for the plumbing and alike, but we were to determine to see our project come to life, so we just put our gumboots and rain jackets on and got to work.

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We found plenty of ways to save money during the build which included borrowing of tools, hosting worker bees with a gourmet BBQ and some barter or exchange of goods for services.

We are lucky to know several trades and as they helped us with some of our projects, we retuned the favour and helped them out also.

Plenty of Money Savers!

Our concrete foundation/slab also become our main flooring to the granny flat, we used local concreting company Obnova constructions.

This beautiful concrete flooring took a day to pour and went well into the night using the Power float/ helicoptered finish to get the desired smooth look.

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This meant that we did not have to spend extra funds on additional flooring and installation. Even a few years after the completion of the build this concrete flooring has not required any maintenance and remains as beautiful today as the day it was poured.

Putting up the Prefab Frame

We ordered a prefab frame from a local company and had it delivered on site, this was not only a money saver but always a great time saving idea. The frame was easy to put up, especially with its premade walls and roof.

We just needed the extra man/superwoman power on delivery day to lift and hold up each frame so we could secure them in place.

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Completing the electrical was completed throughout the build and we hired local trade services where we could such as electrician (Firetech Electrical Solutions) and ordered cabinetry from a local company in Sydney.

Saved more money by picking up the kitchen cabinets ourselves (Yes it helps to have a Toyota Hilux with a 2.7 tray). We also installed the kitchen ourselves and worked with a local plumber to ensure all the piping was placed correctly.

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Our days were busy, I feel like we spent months putting up the plaster and even with the ceiling lift this was a gruelling task.

Measuring, cutting and the ambitious task shadow lines.

What are Shadow lines?

Shadow lines are plastered walls that have a distinct a distance between the top of the wall to the ceiling, they can also be placed at the bottom of the plaster line also. They are created easily with the use of P50 shadow line bead or trim (metal flush bead with a 10mm x 10mm shadow line edge detail) and can be purchased at your local Bunnings store.

See examples of our shadow line use throughout our two-bedroom granny flat build below.

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To save space we incorporated a dual-purpose Bathroom and Laundry with a walk-in shower, toilet and space for a washing machine.

We took on the bathroom tile bed (screed base) ourselves and although we did not quite get the concrete to sand to cement ratio right the first time, our second attempt was successful, and we were able to move on to the waterproofing which needed to be completed and certified before we could begin to tile (we used a private certifying company) City Building Approvals.

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Move savings were had, by trialling Gumtree, Facebook marketplace and Greys online adds to find and purchase tiles at a bargain price. Tile seconds are typically easy find especially when you only have a small room to complete as most people sell their left-over tiles from recent builds.

You also can go wrong with a white tile for the floor or wall with an added feature tiled wall to help add some elegance or style.

Tiles were also used in our compact yet functionable kitchen for the splash back, using 600×600 tiles made a nice feature and as we only needed a couple to complete the project this was very cost effective.

Storage Solutions

As this was only a small unit/ Granny flat we needed to ensure there was some level of storage. To achieve this, we incorporated a built in wardrobe into each of the two bedrooms, in hindsight however I would have like to have included a linen closet also into the plan and would look at achieving this in future plans.

We build them from scratch using Melamine shelving, closet rails, and basic doors from Bunnings which we painted white to blend in with the walls. They work well and offer the tenant a good amount of storage for clothing and other items.

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The Exterior of our Owner Built Granny Flat

For the exterior we opted to use EasyLap™ panel, which is a pre-primed fibre cement sheet with a shiplap joint along its two vertical edges.

The effect was nothing but beautiful, long lasting and cost effective.

There was a cons to using the product, which was that each sheet weighed between 30 and 50 kilos each.

With only the two of us to lift and put in place this was a huge task, but somehow we managed and become quite fit after completing the exterior.

We completed the horizontal joins using the James Hardie aluminium Horizontal flashings. The task of putting up the sheeting and completing the joins took us several days to complete but we are incredibly happy with the finished product.

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Our Aussie inspired Roof

Colourbond TRIMDEK Roofing in Surf Mist… Beautiful, durable, easy to to fix in place and needs little to no maintenance.

Would we do it again?

Yes… All in all the building the Granny Flat was a much loved project. One of which we would love to replicate and improve on in the future.

We learnt the majority of our building and DIY skills during this year of our lives and the learning and experience has been invaluable for all our projects that have followed.

Thanks for reading, see more pics on our Gallery Page.

Mike and Nat