Getting over owner-builder phobia when you really don’t want to build was a two-fold method for me. 

Firstly I have educated myself to remove some of the fear – the Owner-Builder course at Home Base Expo was perfect for this and invaluable for understanding so much more (we actually had already attended the ‘building with a builder’ one – fantastic and highly recommended too – even for owner-builders we reckon), plus of course plenty of reading online (Andrew Morrison’s Strawbale.com again – great DVD series!), books from the library and talking to people who have built before.

Second – we just didn’t have a choice, if I wanted strawbale in our location, it would have to be owner-built – so big girl knickers and get on with it!

And that was that. 

Plus I had plenty of other things that needed doing anyway – like working through that house designing process for 18 months when what I really wanted was for the house to be completely built before we left town – yeah right!