Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 10, 2020 8:57 am Hi all, I'm building a new house on a block of land that hand a previous house demolished. I'm at the stage where plans are being submitted to council any day now. A cut and fill is required (likely less than 1 metre, will find out in the coming days). Retaining walls are also required, to a height of 0.5 to 1.5 metres on two sides of the block. A few questions which I'll be following up with my builder with, but wanted your experiences. Does the cut and fill need to be done prior to retaining walls? Can a cut and fill be done prior to council approval? Re: Retaining wall / cut fill / council approval 2Mar 10, 2020 7:48 pm Hi qldhome, [quote="qldhome":2hjq9aim]Does the cut and fill need to be done prior to retaining walls? [/quote:2hjq9aim] No: Depending on site conditions and type of wall it may be preferable to excavate before, during or following construction. Generally, if excavation is up to the neighbour's property, Council will expect you to provide support to that boundary before excavation or as excavation progresses to maintain stability. If enough space exists between the retaining wall and boundary, batter slopes (maybe 45 degrees) can be formed and retaining walls constructed after excavation. In reality if the cut is 1.0m in clay soils the builder will just cut vertically up to the boundary and build the retaining wall after because it's loads easier. It won't be in accordance with the construction cert. but is usually fine 99% of the time. [quote="qldhome":2hjq9aim]Can a cut and fill be done prior to council approval?[/quote:2hjq9aim] No - Earthworks within a site is classed as a construction activity which requires the Construction Certificate. If memory serves retaining walls/cut fill near boundaries are not permitted under a CDC. Versaloc is a mortarless besser block system that still needs a properly engineered footing. If you just do a 400x200 footing it will fail in time. At 17m long you need it… 1 17883 Hi Minho I have heaps of experience in Ku-ring-gai with both DAs and CDC ( this is the main area we build in). DA's are taking 12-18months and CDC's we have been doing… 1 3162 Thank you again Simeon.. I will call my certifier for that. Have a good day 4 5189 |