Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum Re: The Adventure Starts ! OB in Canberra on a small block 21Jun 27, 2017 4:07 pm Little update I called the government agency that takes care of dwellings size and limitation and we are actually a mid sized on rz1 and since the property is going to be 105sqm or greater we indeed have to stick with the 36sqm dimension. (not sure where I took the rz4 from maybe wishful thinking ) The house ends up with roughly 115sqm max on the upper floor and 125sqm on the ground floor so about 240sqm of build area. Sun will rise on the left side of the block and the garage side is on the right side. I have drawn the maximum size of our house on two levels. The building designer we hired hasn't contacted us in regards to the initial draft but I have been working hard on having our own draft to present in case we are not happy with what we are given. Will post a completed draft tonight hopefully. So far the bedrooms are not very big since we want 4 bedrooms (with build in robes). I end up with 2 bedrooms at 12sqm and one guest bedroom at 9sqm. The master with ensuite and walk in robe will be around 22.5sqm. Do you think the size of the rooms are reasonable? Re: The Adventure Starts ! OB in Canberra on a small block 22Jun 27, 2017 5:26 pm Ah, the joy of trying to apply the regulations! We're building on a battleaxe block, and it was only picked up at the last minute that what we (and any reasonable person) would consider a 'side' boundary is actually a 'rear' boundary due to a (suspected) error in the law (both us and an architect had previously checked directly with ACTPLA and both independently got the all clear). Long story short, we had to significantly redesign our house to fit (although it worked out okay for us in the end - I think I prefer the new design, to be honest). Re the bedrooms, 12sqm is actually fairly generous for a secondary bedroom (if it doesn't include robe space) - that size of bedroom is for if you want to encourage occupants to spend more time in there and less in the living areas. Are you counting robe space in that? For comparison, our (researched and modelled) secondary bedrooms will be a tad under 10sqm (3.0x3.3, not counting the built-in robes), which will still easily fit either a king single bed with desk and bookcase, or a double bed with bedside tables, with a size that's still comfortable to be in but gives a subtle 'push' out to the living areas. 9sqm would possibly be a little on the "snug" side if you want to fit a double bed in there, but would probably still be workable. Just check furniture dimensions and placement on your plan and have sufficient space for people to move around the bed (taking into account doors, robes and windows). e: The Adventure Starts ! OB in Canberra on a small block 23Jun 27, 2017 7:52 pm oops, my secondary bedrooms are 15 to 16 m2 plus area for robes. As a hands on owner builder, reducing the size my bedrooms would not have resulted in any significant cost savings. . Re: The Adventure Starts ! OB in Canberra on a small block 24Jun 27, 2017 8:34 pm algernon Ah, the joy of trying to apply the regulations! We're building on a battleaxe block, and it was only picked up at the last minute that what we (and any reasonable person) would consider a 'side' boundary is actually a 'rear' boundary due to a (suspected) error in the law (both us and an architect had previously checked directly with ACTPLA and both independently got the all clear). Long story short, we had to significantly redesign our house to fit (although it worked out okay for us in the end - I think I prefer the new design, to be honest). Re the bedrooms, 12sqm is actually fairly generous for a secondary bedroom (if it doesn't include robe space) - that size of bedroom is for if you want to encourage occupants to spend more time in there and less in the living areas. Are you counting robe space in that? For comparison, our (researched and modelled) secondary bedrooms will be a tad under 10sqm (3.0x3.3, not counting the built-in robes), which will still easily fit either a king single bed with desk and bookcase, or a double bed with bedside tables, with a size that's still comfortable to be in but gives a subtle 'push' out to the living areas. 9sqm would possibly be a little on the "snug" side if you want to fit a double bed in there, but would probably still be workable. Just check furniture dimensions and placement on your plan and have sufficient space for people to move around the bed (taking into account doors, robes and windows). Thank you, seems like it's not too bad.. I would have loved to make them bigger but with 6.6m witdth cross on the upper floor for the first 12m and a puny 4.3m width on the rear, it is a major headache if you want to orient them properly... That said I managed to make the 9sqm a tad bigger about 10.5sqm. Re: e: The Adventure Starts ! OB in Canberra on a small bloc 25Jun 27, 2017 8:35 pm Beetaloo oops, my secondary bedrooms are 15 to 16 m2 plus area for robes. As a hands on owner builder, reducing the size my bedrooms would not have resulted in any significant cost savings. . That is a very good size indeed! I wish I could make them that big but the floorplan doesn't allow even with 3 bedroom it would be tight due to the limitation of width... Re: e: The Adventure Starts ! OB in Canberra on a small bloc 26Jun 27, 2017 9:07 pm joeletaxi Beetaloo oops, my secondary bedrooms are 15 to 16 m2 plus area for robes. As a hands on owner builder, reducing the size my bedrooms would not have resulted in any significant cost savings. . That is a very good size indeed! I wish I could make them that big but the floorplan doesn't allow even with 3 bedroom it would be tight due to the limitation of width... Those are pretty impressive secondary bedrooms at that size! We'd never see the kids again.. hmm.... maybe there's a big advantage there Our master (excluding robe) is just over 15sqm, and comfortably fits a king size bed with bedside tables - but it's designed basically as a sleeping and dressing area, not as a large "lounging " bedroom. Re: The Adventure Starts ! OB in Canberra on a small block 27Jun 27, 2017 9:24 pm I think you have done the best you can do with the planning constraints of your site. I had no such issues with plot ratios as my land is 350,000m2 not 315m2 I was able to build as economically as possible by building single storey. My main bedroom including robes is 25m2 or 17m2 excluding WIR & dressing room. . Re: The Adventure Starts ! OB in Canberra on a small block 28Jun 28, 2017 12:26 pm I had a similar issue. Small battle-axe block, but also with a significant amount of the rear of the block unable to be built on due to two easements. So the only option was double storey, and ultimately the cost (even as an owner-builder) was going to be too high. So after buying the block, and spending months on tweaking the building plans, we onsold the land and bought an established house instead. Interestingly, having emailed a copy of my plans to the buyer as an example of what they could do, they went ahead and built the exact house I'd spent months designing. I still drive past it and think of it as my house. And I'm still looking forward to doing an owner-builder project one day. Hopefully in the next few years. Coverforce Allrisk Owner-Builder Insurance Experts http://allrisk.com.au/owner-builder-insurance-quote/referrer/HomeOne Re: The Adventure Starts ! OB in Canberra on a small block 29Jun 28, 2017 4:05 pm Beetaloo I think you have done the best you can do with the planning constraints of your site. I had no such issues with plot ratios as my land is 350,000m2 not 315m2 I was able to build as economically as possible by building single storey. My main bedroom including robes is 25m2 or 17m2 excluding WIR & dressing room. That is massive ! We wanted to buy a bigger block in a good but older suburb but it's the same time that price of lands started to suddenly increase by 40k so we had to get that one. Allrisk I had a similar issue. Small battle-axe block, but also with a significant amount of the rear of the block unable to be built on due to two easements. So the only option was double storey, and ultimately the cost (even as an owner-builder) was going to be too high. So after buying the block, and spending months on tweaking the building plans, we onsold the land and bought an established house instead. Interestingly, having emailed a copy of my plans to the buyer as an example of what they could do, they went ahead and built the exact house I'd spent months designing. I still drive past it and think of it as my house. And I'm still looking forward to doing an owner-builder project one day. Hopefully in the next few years. I feel bad for you. But at the same time they got a very good plan that you worked for a long time so I bet these new owners are thrilled. I hope you get to build your dream home some days! I left about 70k margin with projected build cost. Anything under that amount we shouldn't take any losses (crossing fingers) Wow I hadn't realised things had gotten that pricey in just a couple of years since I built, that is crazy with how much land is now costing if you aren't lucky enough to… 3 7010 Hi all, We are looking to build a new two storey house in western Sydney. Can anyone recommend a smallish builder to go with? We are trying to stay away from the big… 0 12042 consider putting in wall WC instead of robe in the same bedroom, then it might be doable to hook up to the existing piping. 4 6602 |