Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jul 13, 2015 2:53 pm Private certifiers appear to cost less than using your local council as your PCA. If you wish to use the local council instead of the private certifier your builder uses are you required to pay the difference in charges? My builder has raised a variation to contract for $800 to cover the cost of of using local council. Any thoughts on the extra charges. Re: Certifier costs 2Jul 13, 2015 9:04 pm We recently used a Council certifier because they were a few hundred dollars cheaper than the private guy. Maybe you should find out what the cost of the Council certifier is and then query the builder as to the price difference, if there is one! Re: Certifier costs 3Jul 14, 2015 9:15 am In my area the private certifiers are generally cheaper by a few hundred dollars over the local council guys for the same job. I have heard also that the councils are not that interested in doing this work so they subbie it out to private guys anyway and just put a bit on top which is probably why there is a price difference. My question is why do you want to go with the council PCA? If I was in your shoes I'd go with another private PCA and not the one the builder uses which means the price should be much the same. Stewie Re: Certifier costs 4Jul 14, 2015 3:52 pm Thanks Stewie for your thoughts. I did not want to use builders certifier as conflicts of interest may arise. The council offers unbiased inspections, long term support and record keeping. They have direct access to records in case of future building issues. I was worried some private certifiers may not back me in times of dispute with the builder and what would happen to their records if they left the business of certifying. I thought our council uses their own building surveyors for inspections, will check on that issue .. thanks. I hope the extra money the council will cost me will give me peace of mind for bca compliance as I do not know any private certifiers in Lake Macquarie district. I need to start looking for building inspectors as I will employ a private building inspector to help me look after the workmanship side of the building process. Re: Certifier costs 5Jul 14, 2015 8:53 pm Quote: The council offers unbiased inspections, long term support and record keeping. They have direct access to records in case of future building issues. I was worried some private certifiers may not back me in times of dispute with the builder and what would happen to their records if they left the business of certifying. That is not a bad idea. Good luck with the build. Stewie Hi, does anyone have a clue how the Brisbane Development website work in terms of how uptodate the dates on it are (developmenti.brisbane.qld.gov.au). I transfered… 0 4637 Hi, I contracted a Builder to do a Garage to Bedroom + ensuite conversion (Class 1a), the Builder engaged the Certifier and Engineer and received BDA from the Certifier… 0 5015 I am not sure whether Perth has its own way of doing things in regards to this. Most of Perth has class A (sandy soil), except for some areas near rivers or hills. 2 13098 |