Just wondering how long it took you to get planning approval?
Also did you have all your working plans at the time or did you wait until the planning approval came in to proceed with engineering plans etc?
Rod
Nimisha
We are a little bit behind with our building updates!!!
All of our pre-construction works are now complete (hurray!) and we are planning to start on site VERY SOON - In fact our DIY temporary toilet (shed + connected toilet) is going in next week!
So I will just quickly summarise what we have done so far:
1. Owner Builder Course
The course is offered by Home Base Expo and attendance is a condition to receive Owner Builder Approval later on - very informative, recommended.
2. Owner Builder Network
We definitely recommend to join Home Base Expo Owner Builder Network. We use the information provided to owner builders on daily basis. Recommended Trades lists are great and we very much enjoy the bus trips to owner builder sites. Great learning and networking opportunities. Joining the network costed us $1650 and it was money very well spent.
3. Home design
We were considering going with a builder and have our home done to Lock Up stage but after lots of research and talking to lots of builders we decided - no way! - we are going to design and build the house ourselves! We like to be in control and have the home build the way we want it.
We got our architectural plans done by Ashleigh Medwin from Green. Thermal Assessments & Residential Design. Great designer and Certified Assessor. Recommending Ashleigh to anyone with no hesitations!
What we wanted from our design? - open and spacious plan (we really don’t like the corridors right after you open the front door, that are featured in most residential designs), raking ceiling to living area, central alfresco, at least 3 bathrooms and lots of light for every part of our home. We are soooo happy with the design - it's perfect!
4. Estimate
We had our plans estimated by Jason Dodds from West Coast Estimating. We recommend Jason's estimating services to all - great, detail, professional work and we are now referencing all our quotes to the estimate and know exactly where we stand. On top we had our bricks and steel estimated by the suppliers.
5. Engineering
Unfortunately we were not so lucky with our choice of engineering consultant… the preparation of the soil class report went smoothly but the design uhhh… at the end we got what we wanted but the frustration on the way wasn’t worth it (they wanted to charge us extra for answering our questions related to the design! They said the questions were too basic!! We had 10 questions and it would probably take them 5 min to provide the answers for us… BTW the engineering services cost included 'Liaison with the client during the design work as necessary' - I still don’t understand what we actually paid for… so big NO-NO. Be aware. Consultant name on request.
6. Land related expenditure
No drama here:
Settlement done no problems (we have now used Prompt Settlements for the third time - great service).
Water, temporary power (we have decided to have 3 phase connection), insurance, owner builder approval - all done. For temporary power connection we used Direct Electrics - very good service. Our Insurance provider is Trades Essential - good one as well, well priced and their terms and conditions are easy to understand (not like others that we called and they didn’t even know what they are trying to sell…)
We used Cottage & Engineering Surveys for our feature survey and were happy with them. We are still do decide who to use for our building set out
7. DA Approval
As our property is located in MRA redevelopment area we needed the Development Approval. No dramas - quick, helpful and efficient. Even after referring our plans for neighbours comment (as we had an extra wall on the boundary) the application and approval process went smoothly.
8. Certified or Uncertified Building Approval Application?
If you are building in City of Armadale - definitely uncertified!!! It took City of Armadale 2 days (!!!) to issue our Building Permit. We submitted in on Monday and on Thursday the Permit was in our mail box. Fast (we didn’t expect that at all) and professional. Great service - we are looking forward to moving to such an organised and efficient Council!
oh BTW the pre-construction cost so far - just under 20k and we were choosing wisely our quotes. Price breakdown available on request.
Thanks
K&K
All of our pre-construction works are now complete (hurray!) and we are planning to start on site VERY SOON - In fact our DIY temporary toilet (shed + connected toilet) is going in next week!
So I will just quickly summarise what we have done so far:
1. Owner Builder Course
The course is offered by Home Base Expo and attendance is a condition to receive Owner Builder Approval later on - very informative, recommended.
2. Owner Builder Network
We definitely recommend to join Home Base Expo Owner Builder Network. We use the information provided to owner builders on daily basis. Recommended Trades lists are great and we very much enjoy the bus trips to owner builder sites. Great learning and networking opportunities. Joining the network costed us $1650 and it was money very well spent.
3. Home design
We were considering going with a builder and have our home done to Lock Up stage but after lots of research and talking to lots of builders we decided - no way! - we are going to design and build the house ourselves! We like to be in control and have the home build the way we want it.
We got our architectural plans done by Ashleigh Medwin from Green. Thermal Assessments & Residential Design. Great designer and Certified Assessor. Recommending Ashleigh to anyone with no hesitations!
What we wanted from our design? - open and spacious plan (we really don’t like the corridors right after you open the front door, that are featured in most residential designs), raking ceiling to living area, central alfresco, at least 3 bathrooms and lots of light for every part of our home. We are soooo happy with the design - it's perfect!
4. Estimate
We had our plans estimated by Jason Dodds from West Coast Estimating. We recommend Jason's estimating services to all - great, detail, professional work and we are now referencing all our quotes to the estimate and know exactly where we stand. On top we had our bricks and steel estimated by the suppliers.
5. Engineering
Unfortunately we were not so lucky with our choice of engineering consultant… the preparation of the soil class report went smoothly but the design uhhh… at the end we got what we wanted but the frustration on the way wasn’t worth it (they wanted to charge us extra for answering our questions related to the design! They said the questions were too basic!! We had 10 questions and it would probably take them 5 min to provide the answers for us… BTW the engineering services cost included 'Liaison with the client during the design work as necessary' - I still don’t understand what we actually paid for… so big NO-NO. Be aware. Consultant name on request.
6. Land related expenditure
No drama here:
Settlement done no problems (we have now used Prompt Settlements for the third time - great service).
Water, temporary power (we have decided to have 3 phase connection), insurance, owner builder approval - all done. For temporary power connection we used Direct Electrics - very good service. Our Insurance provider is Trades Essential - good one as well, well priced and their terms and conditions are easy to understand (not like others that we called and they didn’t even know what they are trying to sell…)
We used Cottage & Engineering Surveys for our feature survey and were happy with them. We are still do decide who to use for our building set out
7. DA Approval
As our property is located in MRA redevelopment area we needed the Development Approval. No dramas - quick, helpful and efficient. Even after referring our plans for neighbours comment (as we had an extra wall on the boundary) the application and approval process went smoothly.
8. Certified or Uncertified Building Approval Application?
If you are building in City of Armadale - definitely uncertified!!! It took City of Armadale 2 days (!!!) to issue our Building Permit. We submitted in on Monday and on Thursday the Permit was in our mail box. Fast (we didn’t expect that at all) and professional. Great service - we are looking forward to moving to such an organised and efficient Council!
oh BTW the pre-construction cost so far - just under 20k and we were choosing wisely our quotes. Price breakdown available on request.
Thanks
K&K