Becoming A Builder

[sansnom]

I have been going around in circles trying to figure out how one becomes a builder which seems to be a rather complicated affair for what should be fairly straight forward.

I am planning on a career change and want to basically be my own boss and do my own thing for the rest of my days. I want to be competent enough to be able to buy a plot of land anywhere, dig and pour foundations and be able to build single, double and triple story homes from scratch. I plan to do one home a year with the first one being my own and then following homes constructed for sale.

With the exception of plumbing and electrics, I want to be completely self sufficient which means being able to pour concrete, work with steel or wood beams, be able to insulate, plaster, make water tight, build brick or steel walls and internal wood stud walls etc. I'd like to be able to build roofs too. Basically everything except electrics and plumbing. In time, I might hire my own build team if i ever get to that but the point of this is to pursue my dream of being self sufficient and doing what i love.

Here is the problem: I can't find anywhere that teaches you how to be a builder or build homes from start to finish, step by step. I don't even know what I am supposed to be looking for as bizarrely all the "builders training" courses I've contacted don't teach you how to build anything. They only teach you specific things like how to build a stud wall, or 4 weeks bricklaying course and 4 weeks carptentry course etc or you get the university degree route which is more like construction management which I don't want to do. I don't have any desire to work for a company ever again. I have enough money to pursue my dream on my own now, I just need the training!

All of it seems to be delivered with the intention that the student is going to work on a construction site as a labourer but that is not my intention at all. The course providers I have contacted have all told me that no-one has ever contacted them asking for training to become a house builder which seems absolutely nonsensical to me?

Can anyone point me in the direction of who I need to speak or what course I need to get on please?

Thanks

 

[sansnom]

Do you have any building experience? Domestic build is not an easy market to get into. 1 house per year? Is this specialist build?

Do you have any capital? Maybe start by flipping a house and seeing where that goes.

I'll get a course name for you over the weekend, need to dig it out.

I have been a residential and commercial developer and investment director for 12 years but as you know that is sitting behind a screen working with numbers and designs and hiring contractors to build the projects so no hands on experience with the exception of renovating my own home which is where I discovered my passion for the building side of things. I did a back-to-brick renovation of my home in London for 38,000 including a new roof and extension much to the surprise of everyone who asks and it looks stunning. I have a really great eye for detail, a highly disciplined work ethic and I've always enjoyed tinkering with things and using my hands. The contractor i used to renovate my house said I would make a good builder as apparently I have a natural aptitude for it (I was chipping in). At the time, i didn't want to leave a job that was paying me well but now that I have enough saved up and the economy looks like it's heading for a disaster, I can quit and pursue my passion. I just can't seem to get started because I keep running into a wall from the get-go. I need a course that teaches you professionally, how to take a green piece of land and build a structure on it starting from the groundwork up to the finished product. I don't care if this takes me years to master but I need the right start. I believe working on site as an apprentice would be a waste of time for me, I want an accelerated program.

This will be very difficult because each of the trades you mention require years of expertise in their own right to be competent enough to produce work of a high standard.

As a starting point an apprenticeship in construction (bricklaying) will give you good base skills, such as setting out a building, placing foundations, wall construction and other important skills such as organising your work and pricing. You'll be a good brickie because you'll be fully trained.

This will enable you to get started from a patch of grass, but all the other jobs required to finish a house are skilled jobs and you won't get high quality unless it's done by an expert. Take plastering for example, getting that board finish is a real skill and unless you've made lots of mistakes during training you're not going to produce high quality work.

I don't know if an apprenticeship is something I can get at my age (35) and honestly I am not even sure that is the route I want to go down. Is there no way to learn these skills in a professional setting / training centre?

I hear you on plastering, it is does require skill that's for sure. I know I can be competent in all aspects given enough time but realistically there are elements i do not want to do and that would probably be plastering and definitely electrics.

My concern is, how does one pick up skills like tiling or roofing or even stud walls, wet rooms etc by being a brickie? That's why I am looking for a structured, professional learning course where each element is taught.

really depends on the individual, some people have a natural talent for working with their hands my old man done all the work in his new build bar the brickwork, roofing wiring plumbing plastering etc (spark to trade)

i'd start with making sure you have enough capital to get trades in for anything you cant do or cant do to a professional standard and start with one thing first ie at the bottom if you can learn brickwork and pouring founds start from there and work your way up

I have enough capital to flip houses indefinitely if I want but that's not the aim of this. I enjoy working with my hands. I did find a course with https://www.ableskills.co.uk/ which offered 6 weeks of intensive bricklaying, 6 weeks of carpentry and 2 weeks of plastering with the aim of enabling you to become a house builder from the getgo. I'm not sure if that is the right thing to do or if i need to back to university and study civil engineering or something else. It's all a bit convoluted. I was planning on speaking to a professor of a construction management programme at Reading university to see if he could advise what the best training would be. I'd be willing to devote up to 12 months to train but definitely don't want to do 4 year courses as it just wouldnt be necessary - i dont plan on building commercial buildings. Only single family homes.

You want to be a jack of all trades? None of it is fairly straight forward. The contempt people have for trades that have spent years becoming competent and skilled and just because they don't sit behind a computer all day the image is that it's a simple task is astounding.

Each trade is incredibly specific and every build is different in every way.

If you want to get into it pick a trade, take a course, go and work as a labourer for that trade and gain some experience.

I completely get where you are coming from and I would probably take it the same way but respectfully I disagree with your assertion that I have some sort of contempt for builders by believing I am capable of being their equal. I never said their work is straight forward, I said finding a course specifically tailored to home building has not been straight forward.

In my own experience, building work is not complicated. But it does require an intimate knowledge of how things are put together and in what order. That is what I want to gain. As an example, suppose I was laying concrete foundations and just poured concrete straight onto dug out soil. Apart from failing building control, I would've missed vital steps to lay hardcore, steel rebars, vents etc.

That's what I mean when I say I need knowledge and training. Is that 3 year school degree in construction science or 6 months in a building academy followed by 6 months as an apprentice - I dont know. I do know that I want professional, by-the-book, step-by-step training. What I don't want is a mediocre hap-hazard experience with a local construction crew learning how they do things which may or may not be the correct way or even the type of construction I want to be competent in (concrete and steel homes).