What does Owner builder can or cannot do?? CDC or DA Approva

Nikkiso · Oct 06, 2020 10:57 pm

We bought a single dwelling house in Beverly Hills in Sydney, need some work done before moving in. My husband has joinery and cabinet making experience, but he never study in the same field. We aim to assign all other works he can’t do to friends with the relevant license such as plumper etc.

We will need to demolish two walls (both not bear loading) to get a large combined lounge and dinning area and semi open kitchen. Demolish the toilet wall and combined with the laundry to make an en-suite. Build a wall in the sunny to make a walk-in wardrobe. Replace all windows and demolish 2 walls and change to bi-fold door access to the backyard.

I’ve enquiry one of the certifier, they said CDC can cover all works. But not every certifier can undertake Owner builder, so we need to find another one.

Questions:
1. You need owner builder license for the work over 10K, but you need another license(with builder related course finished)for those work over 20K? It really confuse me, does anyone has experience?

2. Can a owner builder apply for DA? Still need to get a lot of drawings and survey done, how much will it cost? Does it worth to go DA or pay money to certifier and get approval sooner?

Correct me if I’m wrong, thanks for sharing information. We are stuck in which way to go

StructuralBIMGuy · Oct 07, 2020 9:24 am

Hey Nikkiso Welcome to the forum
AFAIK You can do the sketch /design for DA relatively easy/cheaply as there are simple planning formulae and instructions to follow. ie like baking a cake
Building Surveyors (BS) certify CDC based on the NCC, ie follow the NCC simplified (cake) recipe and it Deems to comply, But you will still need an engineer where required ( see council checklist)

DA drawings are simply? all you need are Contour survey, Site Plan, Floor Plans ,elevations.
BTW, all councils have checklists ( again baking a cake follow the instructions)

Unfortunately the instructions for BA are not that simple
A BS or Builder/tradesman cant advise on engineering or Alternate Solutions, this requires an engineer.
On difficult builds the recipe may change and you'll need an engineer.. a BS is not an engineer and an engineer is not a BS you need both

CDC is required for the Building Application (BA) which is after planning approval DA ( A quick bake often turns into a flat cake ie wrong ingredients -> collapsed footings )

Finally, IMO you should add one more step before DA and BA... Engineering Bim Data and Quantities... then the BS can certify the ingredients and you can build with confidence, OT lol, unless it's a packet mix

Cost for Bim Design, engineering and data approx. 3% of the contract.. Architectural Bim alone Fails to add the engineering and certified data
Cheers
Chris

Bimbob · Nov 01, 2020 11:33 pm

Hey Nikkiso
What structuralbim said is correct.
You can apply for the DA as an owner builder.
You'll need a PCA, a private certifying authority (a private certifier) to provide a construction certificate. This certificate allows you to build.
Cost for plans, engineers, basix, survey and PCA-circa 5k depending on complexity.

Bimbob · Nov 01, 2020 11:34 pm

Hey Nikkiso
What structuralbim said is correct.
You can apply for the DA as an owner builder.
You'll need a PCA, a private certifying authority (a private certifier) to provide a construction certificate. This certificate allows you to build.
Cost for plans, engineers, basix, survey and PCA-circa 5k depending on complexity.

Bimbob · Nov 01, 2020 11:42 pm

Hey Nikkiso
What structuralbim said is correct.
You can apply for the DA as an owner builder.
You'll need a PCA, a private certifying authority (a private certifier) to provide a construction certificate. This certificate allows you to build.
Cost for plans, engineers, basix, survey and PCA-circa 5k depending on complexity.

StructuralBIMGuy · Nov 02, 2020 10:02 am

Bimbob

Cost for plans, engineers, basix, survey and PCA-circa 5k depending on complexity.

Hey Bimbob welcome to the forum
Hmm. $5k is a fair price for clients to pay where they
1. Own copyright of the design
2. In 1 above you can select 3 builders and have them tender
3. Compare the design data, prices and quotes with information readily available on the internet
Ist Stage Bim Quantities
4. use all the above techniques and tools to get a better out come .. nuf said
Please post up some of your Bim Designs I'm happy to assist if possible
Cheers
Chris