Vic - Building in Fire Zone Areas, extra costs and info

Hi guys,

I'm building in Casiana Grove, Cranbourne West. I am starting this to help future builders who may be building in Victoria in a Bush Fire affected area. I just had my tender and found out I had to pay an extra 6.3K approx to have my house upgraded to a BAL rating for ember attacks(BAL12.5). Acccording to this site, http://www.dpcd.vic.gov.au/planning/plansandpolicies/bushfire-planning-and-building/planning-and-building-for-bushfire the following information is quoted below requires anyone in a fire affected zone with a BAL-LOW rating now have to build their house at a minimum BAL12.5. See point 2 below:

"New ongoing building regulations for building in bushfire prone areas, which form part of the new planning and building system improvements delivered in response to the recommendations of the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, came into effect on 8 September 2011.

The Building Amendment (Bushfire Construction) Regulations 2011 replace interim regulations which were put in place following the February 2009 bushfires.

The new ongoing building regulations have three key features:


1. Minister for Planning now determines designated bushfire prone areas
Following the Black Saturday bushfires the whole of Victoria was declared a bushfire prone area. Under the new Regulations, the Minister for Planning has designated bushfire prone areas across the State for the purposes of the building control system.

This means that only those landowners or developers seeking to build new homes in designated bushfire prone areas will need to undertake a Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) assessment to determine the specific construction requirements for their homes.

View the maps showing designated bushfire prone areas for each local government area

Get a Designated Bushfire Prone Areas Report for a specific property or view the statewide interactive map

2. Apply a minimum construction requirement in bushfire prone areas
Under the new Regulations all new homes in bushfire prone areas are required to be built to a minimum BAL 12.5 providing some level of ember protection as recommended by the Victoria Bushfire Royal Commission. Ember attack is the predominant bushfire attack mechanism and most houses that are burnt in a bushfire are burnt because of ember attack.

3. Retain the integration of the planning and building system
The new Regulations retain the integration of the planning and building system introduced in March 2010 by continuing the requirement for building surveyors to accept a BAL assessment obtained in the planning system.

Information about the new Regulations can be obtained from the Building Commission website or by phoning 1300 360 320 between 9.00am to 5.00pm on Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays."


Please add any new info or your own experiences...

Also anyone building with Henley in Cranbourn West area have been slugged with these new costs and what have you had to come up with?

I'm building with Porter Davis and originally signed on before September so we have the option of not doing this if we want. I don't know what our rating is and what the cost difference is between having it or not

When you said "signed on", does that mean you signed the contract before september 8th?

No our contract signing was today. But we started the process in July and signed the tender then

My build is just 13 km north east of melbourne cbd. But because it is next to a large park with lots of trees, it was rated as BAL-19.

Builder is charging me $10K.

wow 10K, for me thats a big difference to the cost of building a house. My block is no where near any fire danger. I'm roughly 500m from a Golf course and that doesnt have many trees to burn either...

Here's a BAL pdf I found on commission website to see how much potenial costs will be: http://www.buildingcommission.com.au/resources/documents/guide_to_building_after_bushfires_March10.pdf

I believe my builder worked out the cost differences to a few thousand approx...which was lucky

Do a search for BAL on the forum - there are quite a few posts.

I'm building with Henley in the Dandenong ranges. Had the BAL rating done by local CFA and it came up at BAL 29, cost about $15-$20k. Not that it bothers me as we are in a bushfire zone and I'd rather be safe.

I see it as a value add if\when you sell the house.

Thank for suggestion cookie monster, I already tried search feature before I started the thread. None of the topics were related to the new legislation that came into effect on 8th September.

When you come to the ember proofing of the roof the options are mineral wool, metal mesh or other metal flashing. If you are doing a steel roof you can get pre-cut metal flashings that fit under the ridge cap and down into the profiles of the roof sheet. They come in all the colourbond colours. They do also flashings that can be used for fireproofing sheds etc, under eaves, along the slab edge, on corners of horizontal sheeting. Look at http://www.shedproducts.com

We recieved a letter from our estate in cranbourne west today. It mentioned to find out if we require a BAL test. We signed our contract for our house in July (waiting on land settlement). Does this mean that we have to add the BAL to our contract or we are ok because we signed up before september??

Trewman, I think u still might have to get bal rating done. Ours was assessed when we went through council and council put it in the DA consent so we had to do a contract variation. We were bal 12.5 and also stipulated gutter and valley guards so it cost us $11k.

In all honesty we are glad we are doing the variation as our house will be safee

when did you sign your contract? I just spoke to a friend building in pakenham who signed contract in july like us and smmonds sent them a letter saying it didnt apply to them because of when they signed up

We only signed our contract last week to build in Pakenham but had the tender in August and received a letter saying we can choose whether we want to go by the new rules or the old ones

Just got word from our builder, since we paid our deposit months ago it doesnt affect us

I signed the contract Jul 2011. My land was next to a reserve, and was designated as BAL-19, and had to pay $10K for bushfire protection.

On 8 Sep 2011, the govt has put out the "Designated bushfire prone areas" in Victoria, and my land is no longer designated as such.

Had I signed the contract after 8 Sep 2011, I would not have had to fork out the $10K bushfire protection.

Hi All,

Hoping someone will kindly assist with my question....

We have a block in Stage 5 Casiana Grove and have signed the building contract on 4 October... and have not even heard of this BAL rating and the bushfire legislation.... should this be something my builder should contact me about???

Thanks

Our builder today that informed us we didnt have to pay went by the date we put our deposit down. When did you pay your initital deposit brixnmorter?

Thanks for responding Trewman - initial deposit was paid back in June....

I'd be very careful here what your all have been told from your prospective builders. From what i've been told from my surveyor it doesn't matter when you sign your contarct, tender or paid a deposit. The BAL cut off date is the 8th September for your plans to be submitted to coulcil for planning approval. If you haven't already done this then your going to be upgrading your home regardless. I'm over the moon about it, my land, which doesn't title till april next year, borders a lake on one side and according to the current bushfire prone map on the government website, a non prone are the other. The developers have removed every tree, shrub and blade of grass inbetween. So it looks like I will have to wear the cost aswell. Ohhhh yeah I forgot water catches fire these days doesn't it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!