Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum 1 Oct 21, 2014 5:34 pm Hi ya'll Hubby and I are trying to get our ducks in a row before putting an offer on a 5 acre block in Parkerville, Perth Hills. I'm overly cautious (or a control freak, depending who you talk to ) and we've been talking to the Shire of Mundaring to get as much information as possible. One thing that has risen it's head since the Mundaring fires earlier in the year is that all new properties (or extensions to existing properties) MUST have a Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) Assessment and rating done prior to any new works. Apparently this is conducted by an independent assessor and the level they give you can SIGNIFICANTLY alter your build costs. We are looking at a Ross Squire kit home and their consultant told us that a rating of 29 (which is very easy to achieve in the hills) can add up to $30-$40k to the cost of the build. Our block is almost completely cleared but there is natural bush across the rode and within the 100m exclusion zone around the proposed house site. So my question is; - has anyone had an assessment done? How was the process? Was it on a new or existing property? - Are you able to submit your plans during assessment or is it only done on the block? If you can submit your plans, what additions would lower the rating? I'm thinking specific glazing, eave protection and sprinkler systems. Any advice on this subject would be very much appreciated! Cheers BAL Bushfire Attack Level Ratings - anyone with experience 2Oct 21, 2014 7:23 pm Your local council should have maps showing the nominal bush risk for your area. Alternatively search on your state government web site for bush fire risk maps. On my build (in South Australia), I paid a small fee for the CFS (County Fire Service) to come out and give a preliminary assessment of my BAL rating. I then based my detailed design drawings on this BAL rating. When I submitted my plans for building rules consent, my council arranged for another BAL assessment (and back charged me), however there were only a couple of surprises (i.e the capacity of my fire fighting water tank) and my plans were rubber stamped. Some states or Councils may allow 3rd party BAL assessments, you need to check with your council. A BAL assessment should only cost a few hundred dollars. Knowing your BAL rating early rather than later will allow you to lock in a firm price with your builder. Re: BAL Bushfire Attack Level Ratings - anyone with experien 3Oct 22, 2014 1:32 pm Thanks Beetaloo We found a good third party inspector who offered some great advice over the phone last night. It looks like our block will be BAL 12.5 but it will depend where we put the house. Re: BAL Bushfire Attack Level Ratings - anyone with experien 4Oct 22, 2014 10:46 pm Hi Wonkywalker, We are planning to build a house on our 6 acre property in Parkerville. We have been told to expect thickened class on exteriors that go to the floor and make sure roof space is completely sealed. We are also interested in our much extra cost this will involve. Re: BAL Bushfire Attack Level Ratings - anyone with experien 5Oct 23, 2014 10:27 am Hey Chalky, Have you had an assessment done yet and what rating did you get? We were advised if you get a rating of 12.5, you only need to budget an extra $5k but if your rating is 29 (which is when you'd need the thickened glass and possibly ember attack screens) then you need to budget at least another $30k! OUCH Re: BAL Bushfire Attack Level Ratings - anyone with experien 6Oct 23, 2014 9:35 pm We'd be thrilled with 30k! We have been classified as Flame Zone which will add 200k to our build. We are currently waiting for RFS report which we hope will downgrade us to BAL 40 which will add about 60k. We have budgeted for this though and would be happy with this. We are on 1/2 acre river front block so fingers crossed it works out. It has been going on for 11 months so far.... 11/11/13- dep paid 4/4/14- settlement Feb '15- DA app 6/8/15- CC site works begin 19/8/15- Formwork 25/8/15- slab 3/9/15- elect. appt 13/10/15 - frame started 19/10- bricks started 31/10 - roof done Re: BAL Bushfire Attack Level Ratings - anyone with experien 8Oct 23, 2014 11:11 pm Wonkywalker - good topic! As part of our land purchase, the developer included a free BAL assessment of our block by Bill from FirePlan WA. Nice guy - very knowledgable and spent quite a bit of time walking the block with us discussing various aspects of the whole thing. We ended up with a BAL 19 rating. Additional contract cost for our build with Summit to comply with BAL 19 requirements was $8,245 and included: 1) Mesh barriers to all weep holes 2) Ember guards to all roof vents 3) Anticon to entire roof area 4) Grade A safety glass to all glass windows / doors below 400mm A.F.L. 5) Garage door ember seal kit 6) Aluminium mesh screens to all windows and sliding doors in lieu of standard mesh 7) BAL rated timber entrance door frame BAL rated timber entrance door There's pictures of the block in my build thread that give you an idea of what we were dealing with. Re: BAL Bushfire Attack Level Ratings - anyone with experien 10Oct 24, 2014 12:43 am No probs chalky. As an aside, from memory, when we were at the pre-contract stage we had been told to expect around 12k for the BAL 19. We were surprised when it came in substantially lower when the contract was issued. I think this was largely as a number of our windows had already been priced as toughened given their sizes, so some of the expected cost may have already been absorbed. Re: BAL Bushfire Attack Level Ratings - anyone with experien 11Oct 24, 2014 10:46 am Great information MeAndZeph - $8k is a very 'doable' expense. our block is pretty much all cleared but there is a lot of natural bush across the road. It looks like if we move the location of the house more centrally on the block, we might be able to get away with a BAL 12.5. Hubby is happy with that since he can use the original house site for a second shed... Caff - $200K lordy.... I'm glad you've budgeted for that and make sure you have 2 escape routes from the block if you can! We had a look at some blocks in Brigadoon but there is generally a very high fire rating which scares the hell out of me. My dad is a bush fire-fighter for DPAW so I get all the horror stories first hand. I appreciate that the shires are putting stricter measures in place for fire safety and I will of course comply with any requirements to meet our BAL rating but I will probably add extra provisions for roof sprinklers as well. A mate that's building in the hills has found a system that you can turn on remotely through your smart-phone so you can leave the property AND defend it at the same time! Re: BAL Bushfire Attack Level Ratings - anyone with experien 12Oct 24, 2014 7:44 pm You hear of these BAL ratings, but why don't councils in conjunction with rural fire brigades do at least bi-annual 'hazard reduction burns' ? Fires are a natural thing, and we wouldn't have as much of a need for BAL ratings because the fuel levels in the bush would be drastically reduced. Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . Re: BAL Bushfire Attack Level Ratings - anyone with experien 13Oct 24, 2014 11:02 pm curious that I can build 1 meter from 9990 sqm of bushland and be classified BAL-LOW, at no extra build cost
but build 1 meter from 10,010 sqm of bushland and be classified BAL-Flame Zone, at +$50K extra build cost Re: BAL Bushfire Attack Level Ratings - anyone with experien 15Oct 25, 2014 9:03 am I cringe every time I hear BAL Fire Rating lol Good luck We were charged $5000 for a 12.5 rating, when none of our neighbour's next door had to pay for any fire protection & *touch wood* where we are building I can't see being at risk to a bushfire, the only trees or bushes around is across a main road & even then those trees are getting cut down atm for another estate or golf course. I know it's better to be safe than sorry but when the houses next door to you are going to burn, we aren't really safe it just gives us a little more time to get out as the protection stops your house from burning as quick. Re: BAL Bushfire Attack Level Ratings - anyone with experien 16Oct 25, 2014 9:45 am Wonkywalker A mate that's building in the hills has found a system that you can turn on remotely through your smart-phone so you can leave the property AND defend it at the same time! I'd be keen to hear more about this Wonky! Re: BAL Bushfire Attack Level Ratings - anyone with experien 17Oct 25, 2014 10:06 am i'm presently considering the land shown my concern is the vegetation next to the X (the preferred house position), the sqm of vegetation changes depending on how I measure it; either it's just under 1 ha, or just above it if under 1.0ha the build will be classed BAL-LOW (=no additional build cost), if above 1.0ha it's BAL-FZ (significant extra build cost).......if i'm interpreting the standard correctly Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: BAL Bushfire Attack Level Ratings - anyone with experien 19Oct 25, 2014 11:37 pm Is the block part of a new subdivision? Or is it an older existing block with a building envelope already approved? We were in the lucky position that we didn't need planning approval as we already had a building envelope therefore to build we only needed a building licence. If you already have planning approval the local govt won't be able to add the brushfire prone area status to your block. Unfortunately if you trigger planning approval or are part of any new subdivisions you would trigger the requirement - this should be notified to you before purchase though. Having said that though, you can go and look up the associated standards and recommended additional items for each BAL level. They are there for a good reason, however a lot of it could be managed by having fire prevention activities on your property year round. We decided to add Anticon sarking to the roof for example, however we also wanted it for insulation purposes. We are building on cleared pasture though with scattered trees. Hope this helps and good luck Re: BAL Bushfire Attack Level Ratings - anyone with experien 20Oct 26, 2014 6:49 am just the blue area Lorri James is the blue area your bit or is the the whole area yours? 3 4368 isn't a garage level with the rest of the house a given? pretty sure they 'came around' long time ago. if you have a flat block, the garage is usually level with the rest… 1 17785 |