Decking and Pergola Permit.....who did or didnt?

Im curious as to how many DIY'ers here did not get a permit for their deck and or pergola.

I for 1 do not know of many diy'ers that do in most cases. Myself included. I have never had a problem selling a property with a deck or pergola without a permit.

I think the problem also relates in the huge costs in obtaining these permits. $800 odd dollars for a permit to build a 3 x 4mt deck in our council.

No wonder so many people do not obtain one and just go ahead anyway.

Many people I have spoken to in our estate have not bothered to get one, many due to the cost and lengthy associated hassles.

Most of the 'professionally' installed pergolas that I see are not compliant in any case.

Our council doesnt require a permit for a deck or a small built Pergola.

really? I thought if the deck is over 10m2 a permit generally is required.

My council is no permit if under 500mm from ground height.

personally in our new house i am NOT getting a permit for either.

I refuse to pay 1600.00 odd dollars for a low level detached deck. what a money grab.

Depends on the council... we were careful to meet all of the requirements when we built our deck in our last house so that we didn't need development approval or a building certifier.

I wouldn't be so sure! We are also with whittlesea council and they have been cracking down on illegal decks & retaining walls. A person around the corner copped a $4000 fine and a criminal conviction for a retaining wall without a permit. We are building a deck out the back of our place and checked with council and if you build on ANY footings then you need a permit and the amount of cr@p involved is a joke. As the deck we are building is large 30m2 we have decided to put a slab down as you don't need a permit if it's on a slab regardless of size. I think it will end up cheaper and alot less bullsh1t to go through doing it this way.

Our deck falls under exempt development but to put a roof on it will fall outside those rules.

Be very carefull with not getting a permit. If its built and not to regulations and the council happens to knock on your door because you fight with your neighbour and they call the council trying to dob you in for anything and everything, it could become costly for you to have the deck repaired to specification as well as then having to get a permit anyway. Not to mention the stress and worry that you will have when the council issues you with a building notice that may require you to demolish your deck.

Check your states building regs as they over rule any council guidelines.

Good luck.

My deck doesn't have a permit, its been there 10 years without exploding, injuring small animals or suffering catastrophic collapse. I didn't get a permit because the cost of the paperwork exceeded the cost of the actual job. I made a risk management decision as a grown adult. I considered the probability of getting caught (low) and, if I did get caught, the probability of council doing anything about it.

There's a lot of huffing and puffing by the bureaucrats about the ills that will happen if you don't have permits (and keep them in a job). What happens in real life? How much active enforcement of the rules do councils do? and if they ever did stumble upon a properly built deck where the owner didn't bother to have permit, what did they actually do about it? All I hear of is 'may's but haven't seem much evidence of anyone actually getting caught or having to rebuild. Most bureaucracies operate on fear, uncertainty and doubt.

In our old home that we sold a few yrs ago, we DIY'd a 8x5 metre verander. I say verander because we have been told a pergola has no hard roof as a verander does.
We didnt get a permit for it as at that time, if it cost under $5000 no permit was needed.
We have now sold it and built our new home. We are now under construction of a 8 x 7mtr verander which is up against a fence line on a slab and also a carport. We got the drawings done thru a draftsman which cost $1000.
Plus council permits cost $650.
A big pain in the @ss is that the council is strict and over compensating.
Eg. is we had to dig out a 8mtr long x 1.5mtr deep x .4mtr wide footing along the fenceline that was filled with $400 of rio and then filled with 4mtrs of concrete @$650. Thats because it had to support a fire rated brick wall. So so far it has cost us a small fortune for really nothing to show.
BUT
our mates thought theyd get away with building a deck with spa etc in their backyard with out a permit. They had a dissagreement with their old nosy neighbours and the council got involved. Well $6000 later after correcting the construction and penaltys, they said it would of been cheaper to get a permit.
These days in our area, you can only really not have to get a permit if its an pergola (uncovered) less than 10mts sq (tiny)
Is it really worth the chance not to get one? depends on the size of your project, and how well you get along with the neighbours. But dont forget that the council often gets on nearmaps and looks at new construction going up around our area and sees if it has a permit. Even a house down the road had to move a cubbyhouse off the fenceline cause they were dobbed in being visable front the front of their home.

Really up to the owner I suppose. For me, Id rather be safe than sorry. Plus I suppose it is nice to know that if a earthquack did happen, our house might fall down but at least our 1hr firerated wall will still be standing.lol

It's like insurance... costly but there is that day you wish you had it.

Also, going through the motions of a permit for newbie (like me) was beneficial with all the additional things you learn through the process.

We didn't get one for our deck, it's probably on the borderline of being an exempt development and we have a retractable awning to cover it so technically it's not a fixed roof which is exempt too.

So to make sure I rang the council again (whittlesea) and they said if the deck is built on concerete we dont need a permit coz it would be no different to tiling or paving. However, if the deck is going to be on joists in the ground and disturbing the ground then it would need a permit...

interesting boo, i will ring our council also

Yeah its worth while doing so. Its interesting how different councils have different rules which to me means its just red tape cr@p instead of building code standards and safety.