Bushfire assessment

In Victoria, I'm not sure about other states of Australia, you will need to get a bushfire assessment if building in any rural area no matter what you think the risk to your property is. This bushfire assessment is part of the building permit process and most building surveyors will probably be able to recommend someone in your area.

The assessment basically consists of a trained assessor going to site to look around and then making determinations of the level of risk associated with the surrounding vegetation. There are many different classifications and more information will be available from the assessor.

The different rating that the assessor gives the property and the location of the house will determine things like what precautions you would need to take. In some cases like ours we are at a sufficient distance from the nearest fire source that we don't need to change the building in any way. However additions like fire shutters or fire suppression systems might be needed, however your assessor will advise on what systems or modifications are required.

As part of this process you will need to have positioned your house or building on the site that you have obtained from the survey plan. The reason you need to do this is so the assessor can check how close the house will be to the nearest fire source.

The assessment only cost a few hundred dollars and it pays to have the information up front so you can make any changes you need to straight away rather than having to quickly change something when applying for the building permit.

Septic System

Hi all progress is going well and as most of you will discover if building in a rural area there is a need for a septic system in most cases. You will probably (as in our case) need to get a permit from your local council for septic approval.

This is basically so that the council can monitor the installation of the septic system and make sure that everything is up to code etc.

To get you septic system design there are plumbers that will specilise in this, its probably a good idea to get a plumber that can do your normal plumbing and roof plumbing as well . This way if they are doing more work for you they will more than likely give you a better price.

next update will be about structural engineers and what you can use them for

Getting started

Gday, I suppose I should introduce myself, my name is Michael I am a recent graduate of Architecture and have been working in the field for a small firm for about 3 years. My partner and I have purchased a block of land in regional Victoria of 2.5 acres approx 50m x 200m. Now for the last few months I have been putting together the plans and they are nearly complete.

We have decided to build our house through the owner builder type construction with myself and family and friends helping out as we know a fair few of the trades as well as subcontract out any of the work that legally we cant do or want to get someone qualified to do.

Im putting this blog together to help document our process and if it helps a few people in a similar situation along the way thats great. I will try to cover all the steps that we go through but i might miss some out and this isn't meant to be a definitive guide or a complete list as every project is different and u should seek advice from the appropriate professionals like Architects, Builders, your local council and anyone else that would be relevant.