BIY

As in “Build It Yourself”, is still a popular option for Australian future-home-owners.  A survey, commissioned by Mortgage Choice and released in May 2011, said that 5% of Australian buyers are going to buy land and build their own home.  (52% of people were planning to buy an established home, 13% wanted to buy a new one and 29% were as yet undecided about what they're planning to buy– but I think we can assume that they're not wanting to buy and build, 'cause that takes a bit more planning and intent.)

It's a hard slog, I follow several blogs by people involved – read embroiled – in the building process.  So I'm not making light of their situation when I mention the following collision of my interest in data visualisation and property.  But I recently had a conversation with a friend who has a slightly unusual building project – she's building a virtual reality house for her Sims characters. 

I've never really been into the Sims, but curiously I'd just read something relevant the website of my most recent interviewee, CASA's Andrew Hudson-Smith, so I was able to offer her some advice and help her out. 

We watched these two recommended BIY videos uploaded onto Youtube by user LuigiRules:

And then unleashed our inner architects.  I think if you're in the middle of the BIY process, or considering it as an option for the future then you should definitely try your design skills out on someone's Sims and see how they like it.  I don't know if there are Sims delays getting building contractors to do the plumbing etc. but we didn't have any. 

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