The Owner Builder magazine was established in 1981 with the aim of serving the interests of the owner builder. The Owner Builder 222 June-August 2021 was a very special bumper issue, with 132 pages and a heavier cover, to celebrate the 40th anniversary.
It is with a heavy heart that I have to say it was the last issue.
Read the last issue TOB 222 June-August 2021 online for free.
The timeless information published over 40 years is not lost. All 222 back issues plus compilations are still available in digital format through the online shop.
Whether you are still thinking about buying a plot of land, planning and designing your home or already in the building phase, there will be something of interest. Subject matter is diverse, including getting started, planning, designing, building, renovating, maintenance, energy efficiency, sustainable building, hands-on guides – to name but a few. Materials covered include mud brick, rammed earth, straw bale, timber, corrugated steel, weatherboard – and many more!
The Owner Builder magazine 
Hi Lynda and OB mag,
I am going through the same process myself (building not blogging!). Distant friends of mine have a similar blog going – see http://www.peterandnatasha.net/ for more detail.
John
Hi Lynda,
Article for OB mag coming on very slowly but I’ve relented and started a blog: http://www.bogiebushbuild.blogspot.com
I’d be more than happy for you to add it to the blogroll.
John
Hi there,
your magazine has been a great inspiration for us over the years. After many years we have finished our owner built home and have blogged the entire story. I’d love it if you added it to your blogroll: http://tamborinehouse.blogspot.com.au
Hi Del, thanks – I’ve added you to the blogroll! If you are feeling up to it yet, how about putting your experience together for us in an article format? Email me if you are interested and I’ll send you some guidelines. info@theownerbuilder.com.au – Lynda Wilson
The Earth Garden Building Book: Design and build your own house has gone out of print, after 32 years, and four editions. It has been reviewed as “the Australian owner-builder’s bible,” and there are hundreds of thousands of copies around.
I get a trickle of email enquiring about buying one, but my box is empty.
So, as a service, I am setting up a trading post.
If you have a copy to sell, or want to buy one, please visit https://bobrich18.wordpress.com and click on the link at the top: “Building book trading.” I want to put sellers and buyers into contact with each other.
Best wishes to all,
Bob Rich
Need to know how to advertise for a strawbale plaster machine which ones are good which ones to stay clear off cheers Stephen Ray Bowes WA
I read OB magazine from Papua New Guinea. OB offers wealth of knowledge, ideas and wisdom. I bought a copy around 2005 and since then it has been my favorite.
Thank you Koroli!
I’m gutted. This is the worst news I’ve had in a long time. Owner Builder was my favourite magazine ever. I’ve been living ovrseas for the past 12 years and lost touch but I always bought the most recent copy available whenever I visited Australia. In my mind, OB always represented the what I percieved to be the best of the Australian spirit or at least what it used to be. People for the people, with a passion for helping other people with a sense of community spirit.
Now we are looking to move from Thailand back to Australia and looking forward (with some trepidation, I’m not 30 any more and Australia has soooo many more rules to be complied with for better or worse). 🙂 We’d like to develop some sort of small Eco retiriement village or something similar and OB was going to be our starting point for all things Eco construction. Just bought the LOT, the book of plans and the Hard Copy Final issue so at least I have a good start. Hopefully there are contact details still current for all the subject matter experts we are going to want to try to be in touch with for our project.
If there are collections of Hard Copies of the OB out there that people are looking to pass on we’d be a grateful recipient as a fond collector of Hard copy.
Is there any form of who’s who directory of builders/designers/suppliers for things like mud brick, rammed earth, straw bail construction, Rainbow power company and the like, etc. anywhere that anyone is aware of?
Steve
Thank you for your kind words, Steve. Yes, it was a bit of a blow.
I’ve received your order – thank you! The information in the back issues is timeless so you’ll glean plenty of useful guidance there.
The Directory of Services is still live on the website, as a good start point: https://theownerbuilder.com.au/links/
Great start points would be the associations – Earth Building Association of Australia (EBAA), Australian Straw Bale Building Association (Ausbale), Nillumbik Mudbrick Association (NMA), Earth Building Association of New Zealand (EBANZ), Log Building Association of New Zealand (LBANZ), The Last Straw (USA).
Other similarly-focussed magazines are Grass Roots, Earth Garden, Renew and Pip.
Good luck, keep me posted as I’ll probably keep the social media side running for a while yet.
Cheers, Lynda
Thanks very much Lynda. I still cannot get my head around the concept that OB is no more. It is such a shame to loose such a resource. Earth Garden was the other mag I most often bought and Grass Roots occassionally as well. I think I might have bought Renew once or twice in my more recent visits but Pip I’m unfamilliar with so I’ll have to check it out. I see a lot of great stuff in your Directory of Services so will be very helpful. Just wondering, did you ever come across anyone doing natural swimming pools in Australia?
Swimming pool are featured in 115, 148, 151, 173 – the feature in 151 is about natural pools.
Excellent. Eagerly awaiting the LOT. Most difficult part will be where to start. 🙂 . Thank you so much for your help.
Oh dear! What will we do now?! Just came online to buy my son a subscription and found out the news. Had been wondering why I couldn’t find them in newsagents anymore and thought I’d also subscribe to save the trouble. I’ve been buying these mags for most of 35 years and want to congratulate you for all the work you’ve done to bring this information to ‘we who like to buid it ourselves’. Was hoping to keep it going into the next generation, but I’ll share my copies and inform him of the online availability of back copies. So glad I got Issue 222! Well done. A mighty effort. The read will be missed.
Jayne
Thank you for the kind words Jayne! It was a heart-wrenching decision but had to be done. I will keep the online shop for a while, with digital back issues and compilations available.
All the back issues have been uploaded to the National Library, so the great inspiration and information will not be entirely lost to future generations. The archive is available online from libraries nationwide.
Cheers, Lynda
Hi guys. Is there an issue that deals with installing a shower on a mudbrick wall? Or any info that may lead us to a forum site please. More than happy to pay for back issue/s that may assist with this project. Thanks
Hi Gordon & Ros,
The closest would be an article in the last issue TOB 222 June- August 2021, which covered the renovation of a shower room in a rammed earth home. A digital version of the issue can be ordered online at theownerbuilder.com.au – select Shop, Online store, Issues:
https://theownerbuilder.ecwid.com/#!/Issues/c/5538374
Thanks!
Thanks very much. Will order the copy and see how we go. Cheers!
Such a shame to see this shut down after all these years! I remember getting my first copies back in the early 2000’s. I had no idea it had shut down until just now, such a shame.
Thanks Jack. Two years later and I still feel a little lost…
Very sad to see OB had to close. Always inspirational for this eternal dreamer waiting for her right moment to finally craft something out of mud. I wonder if you know of any online directories for things like intentional communities or eco villages looking for members, and also for opportunities to volunteer on builds and learn ? Thank you so much and I wish there was a way you could have kept going that was financially workable. Such a challenge, I know.
Thanks Sally.
I’m still updating the Facebook page, and whenever I hear about any events, I share them.
Cheers, Lynda