The Adventure Starts ! OB in Canberra on a small block

Very exciting we finally got our block.

Due to the property and land prices we had to settle for a 315sqm block in one of the premium new suburb in Gungahlin. We wanted bigger but with a budget under $670k it would not be possible with a bigger block as this land is costing already $365k !

At the moment we are sifting through plans and will go for a two-storey 4 bedroom with about 200sqm living space or slightly smaller depending on the budget.

Looking forward to show progress of the house and hopefully a few answers to questions !

Great to see another Canberra build! Do you have a builder lined up yet?

Good luck with the build!

Goodluck!! Hope you find great trades.

No it is going to be an owner build but with a kit home. We are deciding between two companies at the moment.

Thanks !

I opened up a thread about trade recomendation a couple of weeks ago so just a bump up for someone that has any suggestion

I am not sure if I am lucky or paid too much but driving there for lunch to have a look at the house there was a surveyor doing the block next time mine.

He said he'd do the contour map for $350 instead of $500 as he was doing the block next door anyway. I looked online and most of the people paid from $350 to $1200 so I said yes.

All done now and I should get an e-mail in a few days.

Little savings along the way all add up 🤗. Looking forward to watching your progress. Regards, Bruce

Thank you Bruce !
Will post a photo of the land as soon as we can.

Keep it up! As OB, looking for bargains will be something to do for your spare time.

Thanks snowing I believe that finding bargains is what I was born to do

I am dreaming of adding a rooftop garden on top of the garage lately. Not sure how feasible it would be. I am thinking a door going out of the master bedroom leading to a nice terrace with plants

You will need to keep your dream going all the time. That's the spirit of OB. You will need to work out your limit and reality during this journey.

Back to reality.. roof top garden is possible, but good planning and $$$ is a must. A roof top balcony/deck with patio garden bed with base would be something to look at. My house will have a large balcony so I am thinking about these too.

https://www.greenlife.com.au/products/patio-garden-bed

I would have some recommendations but here in SA.
That's how we look at it too. We look at how much we've saved rather than how much we've spent.

Sorry for the late photographs. Took a while to get the result from the contour survey.

Very surprised. The block looked dead flat and now we realize from top to bottom of the block there is about 800mm fall.
Still deciding between elevating the block or the standard cut and fill. What do you reckon?




Will post pictures of the block of land soon.

Personally, I'd prefer elevation. I don't know what your views there are, but it's amazing the difference that even 50cm extra elevation relative to surrounding houses can make. Plus drainage becomes less of an issue - water naturally runs away from the house.

The views are not bad, we will look into that depending on cost and if council permits to do that.

That is our block so far.

On the back, you can see that one of our closer neighbor has already dug about 300mm off his block

(NOT OUR BLOCK)



Tracing of the neighbor's future slab, very surprised how big his house and land ratio is going to be.
I digitally enhanced the line so you can see it better.

The red line at the back is right close to the boundary.

The black line is the boundary and if the law didn't force the fence to be setback at 1.5m for corner blocks I believe he would have gone all the way to the line

I would choose elevation. Not just for view, but also for things storm water drainage etc..
From the look of it, you cut and fill won't be too much... a guess would probably be something around the ~100mm off the back and ~300mm up from the 624 line..

Definitely going through with elevation if possible!

At the moment I am looking through the single dwelling development code.

Our block is supposed to be a medium density residential area (RZ4)

According the the development code we are allowed (forced upon) 25sqm of private space area. I am arguing with the drafter at the moment as he thinks we need 36sqm (6x6m).

I am crossing finger that we are right as the block is very narrow and with ~5x5m we would be able to put the private space on the side and push the courtyard setback all the way to the fence !