Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Nov 19, 2009 8:10 pm Hi Guys, I am building in Mernda with Simonds Home. I flipped the plan so that I can get the morning sun comes in to my lounge and kitchen area. Hence now I have to build new crossover to connect it to my driveway and garage. I thought that was the only problem I have as Simonds draw shows me that I can build my crossover near the pit without any issue for the car to get into the driveway.....NOT. The setback is too close. Anyway since there's a fiber optic pit (double lid) in the nature strip in front of the garage, the person from the Whittlesea council insisted on having the pit relocated instead of just reinforcing the lid which allows the crossover created enclosing it. To make matters worst last week the council planted a tree in front of the garage about 1.5m in heights and now asked it to be relocated for $300. I think that is just blood sucking... the garage is clearly seen, but they planted it anyway. To relocate the pit it will cost me $900 (just got a quote today from a company recommended by the Council) Is this reasonable? Is there anyway that I could avoid this cost guys? because this is a cost on top of creating the new crossover and cure the old ones. What kind of company can relocate the pit? I tried to google/true local the details about the company recommended by the council but it just shows me it's address without any other details. I don't think a mere concreter can do the job. Right now it seems that there's no other way for me but to fork it out of my blown-out budget already. oh yeah I've got to relocate the water metre as well. If I knew that flipping the plan will cost this much I would have left it as it was before. Here are some pictures. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Thanks, Pxrnm any advice will do. Re: New home plan flipped issues with council 2Nov 19, 2009 8:33 pm pxrnm Anyway since there's a fiber optic pit (double lid) in the nature strip in front of the garage, the person from the Whittlesea council insisted on having the pit relocated instead of just reinforcing the lid which allows the crossover created enclosing it. If it is a fibre optics pit then the council probably don't own it... anything to do with fibre optics is expensive. You best to find out who owns it probably telstra or another telco and they may or may not want it to be move. This is not going to help but the thing that come to mind is why weren't all this issues raised by council prior to the build? Looks like you are going to have to end up footing the bill regardless. If it only $900 then I'm thinking you should be glad. A concreter probably won't be qualify to move it. Sorry for not helping instead raising more issues. What if someone reversing and accidentally back into the tree flatten it... and you were too busy to report to council till house is complete. Re: New home plan flipped issues with council 3Nov 19, 2009 11:43 pm My two cents worth, When we were first planning how to site our house plans on the block, we were considering doing the same, as the land is still in development we got the stage plans from the land sales office and were told to contact the owners corporation who administrate the estate. We got a form to fill in from them, bear in mind the stage is STILL being developed now, we have no roads, services have only recently put in and this was 8 weeks ago. Pretty much we were going to be charged a fee to submit the application, a fee for a civil engineer consultant to review the plan of subdivision and services plan to determine whether the crossover could be swapped without impacting on any planned services as the plans had already been lodged with council. If no planned services existed we would then be charged a fee for the re-drafting and submission to council to have the plans ammended. If i recall correctly this was around $500 total. In the case that any services would be impacted, we would then be charged an hourly consulting rate for the corporation whose service was impacted to investigate whether it was possible to move the planned service, if yes we would then be charged an hourly rate for preparation of the ammendment and would be liable for any extra cost involved in the provisioning of the service at the different location. We worked out based on a couple of hours consulting time it would be in the range of $1000-1500. We were also told that a cutoff date existed for plan ammendments and after this date any changes would incur the above plus any costs entailed by the service provider which could range from $0-$1000+ to move the service depending on which service it was and any alterations or extra equipment was required and demolition costs of the provided crossover, plus the concreting of the new crossover. In the end we found a different house design that works better on the block and didn't require the change. So if you've managed to follow all that, basically from our experience. The first point of contact would be the land sales office, they should be able to provide you with the contact details of either the estate management/owners corp (is mernda administrated separately or just local council only?) or at least the details of the service provider/installer who provisioned the estate. If its fibre its probably opticomm or maybe another that i cant recall the name of at the moment, either way they'll be acting as contractors for either the estate or service provider. Then it really is just a case of liaising as to whether they consider if have a driveway around the pit will affect the service or access to the service and then either meet their engineering guidelines for putting in your driveway, or the alternative is that in all likelyhood you'll need to foot the bill for the movement of the service access if possible, which depending on exactly is inside that pit may or may not be possible (depending on cable termination, run length, equipment used etc). Again very Dependant on whats actually in there and who it belongs to. For all that the council approves the plans for crossovers and service access points, they aren't necessarily in a position to say whether a service can or cannot be moved, you wouldn't want to be up for re-laying a fibre run because of shifting the access point or junction. Either way most of the above is a bit of conjecture, $900 sounds within the ballpark from what was indicated to us, especially if it includes planning ammendments and engineering. For what little my advice is worth, i'd definitely be checking it up with the service provider before I considered engaging a third party contractor as at the very least their own internal plans would need amending separately to the councils I would think, they may also be able to do it internally or provide details for a qualified contractor. Our Build - Places Fairhaven 23+ - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=28045 Our Landscaping - Belial's Backyard - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=45375 Re: New home plan flipped issues with council 4Nov 20, 2009 7:38 am pxrnm Is this reasonable? Is there anyway that I could avoid this cost guys? because this is a cost on top of creating the new crossover and cure the old ones. If it makes you feel better, it has cost me over $5000 in council and services fees to get permission to build a retaining wall at the back of my property within the City of Whittlesea. I wish I only had $900 to pay. It sounds more than reasonable to me. Re: New home plan flipped issues with council 5Nov 20, 2009 8:05 am Hi Guys thanks for the reply, $900 for relocating the pit is not from the council, it just some company recommended by the council. I guess nothing can be done with it. About the tree, well by now it should be in their record already, so if "someone" accidentally flatten the tree, would it still be me who has to replace it again? A friend of mine who's working with the council in Melton told me it cost only $80 to relocate, other council in the west actually "free" by DIY. Only blood sucking Whittlesea wants $300 for some reason. Any advise? Cheers, Re: New home plan flipped issues with council 6Nov 20, 2009 8:33 am Rip it out................. Forum thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=22300 Re: New home plan flipped issues with council 7Nov 20, 2009 8:45 am Agree with Penny - rip it out.. Or offer a kid $20.00 to do it for you All Finally Done March 2012 Re: New home plan flipped issues with council 8Nov 20, 2009 9:14 am Why don't you just move the tree yourself? 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: New home plan flipped issues with council 10Nov 20, 2009 4:22 pm Well the council told me that I can't rip it out my self. They want the $300 even if I rip it out my self. Just can't get around it. Penny77 - I should have listened to you to rip it out before they sent somebody off. Re: New home plan flipped issues with council 11Nov 20, 2009 9:35 pm Surely the council wouldn't let you pay for a dead tree Just make sure that they don't see the herbicide in your garage Trying this building gig one more time. 6 55346 I am looking at building a house. Has anyone used Construkt Homes (based in Adelaide)? Does anyone have experience with this builder? 0 6450 12 5320 |