• A person who has technical expertise in home building.
• Any person building a house for his/her own occupation.
• Any person who may apply to be exempted from the Housing Consumers Protection Measures Act, 1998 (Act No, 95 of 1998) as amended.
• Any person who qualifies to be exempted from the NHBRC’s 5 years structural warranty.

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How to apply for an owner builder exemption

When applying for exemption the applicant would need to forward the following documents to NHBRC prior to construction: All documents must be stamped by a commissioner of oath:

• Identity document
• Title deed/ deed of transfer and must be signed by the register of deeds
• Proof of technical competence
• ertified motivational letter
• The motivation should reflect all details of the building project, inclusive of the person who will be doing the physical work and why NHBRC should grant the exemption
• Completed questionnaire obtainable from any NHBRC office in the area near you or from the website

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What happens after submitting the application

• An inspector will verify the applicant’s technical knowledge through an interview.
• The inspector will verify if the stand is vacant or not, the owner must be on-site
• The applicant will be notified of the outcome of the owner builder application

What is the turnaround for owner bulder application

• The application for owner builder may take 30-90 days

Disadvantages of being owner builder

• The owner builder does not qualify for a five years structural warranty cover from NHBRC.
• No quality inspections are undertaken by the NHBRC.
• The owner builder can not sell the house within five years, as an NHBRCenrolment certificate will not be issued. Financial institutions require an NHBRC enrolment certificate to process a sale.
• The owner builder will not have access of the NHBRC registered builders database.
• In the event that major structural defects occur within five years, the NHBRC is not in a position to intervene.