Townplanning Help Please (URGENT)

[littletee]

Hi,

I recently bought a property in Ardeer VIC which sits within the Brimbank Shire.

I want to build a Unit/Townhouse on my property out the back and the council told me the first step is to go see a local townplanner/draftsman who will draw the plans and then submit them to Council for approval.

However, as this is my first time, I have no idea if I would be getting ripped off from someone regarding this so I was hoping you guys could give me an idea of costs associated for the above. I rang 1 company today and he told me he'd charge me $7500 for the Town Planning submission which includes all the drawings etc and that it'll cost me around another $3500 for Soil tests, engineering etc. All up he said it'll cost around $11-$12K for this process.

Does that sound right or is he trying to rip me off? Please help!

If someone can give me some idea on what I should look for, what questions to ask, step by step processes etc, that would be brilliant.

Also, if anyone knows of a good honest and reasonably prices Townplanner/Draftsman that can do the above for me (bonus if lives in Brimbank), that would be great too.

Many thanks,

littletee

 

[Sheryn]

First off Littletee you need someone from your State to help...

But in the meantime
1) Get a DA (development application form) from you Council and start reading its requirements and also read the council Website.

2) Did the planning department at Council say you can put a unit on your land? You have inferred this.

3) Price local draftsmen - we got a shock yesterday one guy quoted us $15 per square metre to draw a duplex plan and that would cost us $5250.

4) Talk to an experienced local builder who has his own unit plans drawn up and has built units before. IMHO this is the way to go and IMHO you do not need to employ a Town Planner (unless you are doing something huge).

5) If this is in your own back yard - what was the soil test under your house?

6) Engineer- leave this up to the builder.

Your Action Plan - find local builders with a good reputation and ring them up and ask have they
a) built units before.
b) do they organise the drawing up of plans eg. do they have a draftsman or someone they use.


Regards
Sheryn

 

[RumpledElf]

Get your block properly surveyed by a reputable surveyor, contour plan and all. Shouldn't cost more than $1-2k tops (I had this done some years ago and it cost $800). For a bit more they can look up the development plan and draw a proposed area you want to subdivide on it, if its dual occupancy you won't need that but for both you can get the surveyor to indicate for you exactly where and how big a townhouse you can build. They're good like that.

Get your soil test if you don't have one already, take your nice survey plan and soil test to some builders, find a floor plan that you like, that fits, and you can afford, and then get the builder you pick to lodge the app for you.

Getting a draftie to design you a house means you need a custom builder to build it for you, which means you're up for a tonne more money than a standard plan from a standard builder. Get a draftie to do it if you're doing something non-standard, tricky (like working around easements, odd setbacks, sewer, odd shaped block), really custom etc but avoid them if you are doing something stock-standard and boring.

I'm doing a subdivision + build atm with a surveyor doing the first part - approved now - and then just a project builder to do the house. We thought about doing something custom to make the most use of the block but the cost turned us off it, I can buy an established house for considerably less than the cost of building a custom house. I'm doing a transportable on an old block so I don't need soil tests apparently, just a patch levelled with dolomite. They want an engineers compaction report if the area has been disturbed though.

 

[littletee]

Thanks RumpledElf and Sheryn, much appreciated.

Yes there are no covenants on the Block and council said it should be pretty straight forward, but they probably say that to everyone I reckon

Great idea about the Surveyor & Builder Elf, didn't think of that and you're correct, it should cut out the draftie costs and save us a bit if we can simply get a Builder to look after this for us.

Thanks again.