Below 265 SQ/FT TwoBytes Stuff

[Terrick down Under]

See, you should live out here. You know what I mean....

 

[TwoBytes]

Good call Terrick, I'd love to live out there mate!

Living close to town has it's benefits, but I'd love more space.

 

[TwoBytes]

I have been granted Development Approval for my pergola!

Next thing is to appoint a Building Certifier and apply for Building Approval.

I've got a few quotes for Building Certification, and they range from $450-2,500!

The first guy I spoke to said that I would need to get an engineer to certify my plans before he would even look at them (because I've designed it myself, rather than buying a pre-certified kit). I spoke to some Civil Engineers, and their quotes ranged from $500 to $2,000!

I spoke to a few more Certifiers and found one that was happy enough with my plans that he doesn't believe I'll need an engineers certificate... he wasn't the cheapest, but he'll be cheaper overall if I don't need to get an engineer, so I'm going with him.

Reminds me of that old joke...

"I got some bad news from my doctor, but it's OK now, I've found a new doctor"

 

[Terrick down Under]

Well done. Go forth and build!
Remember OH&S, "just because the pooling water makes the welder earth better, doesn't mean you'll be a better welder!"

OH&S.."old hecklers and synics"

 

[TwoBytes]

Thanks Terrick!

I can't wait to get in and start building. It's so close, but I still need to get the Building Approval bit, then get my Owner Builders Licence. The red tape seems never ending, but I'm making progress.

Thanks for the welding tip... I like that!

 

[TwoBytes]

After 6 months worth of paperwork, I have Building Approval!

• Body Corporate Approval
• Development Approval
• Building Approval
• Applied for Owner Builder's Licence

Total cost to date: $3,307.97

Still to do:

• Wait for the Owner Builder's Licence to arrive in the post
  
• Submit "Appointment of a Builder and Application for Building Commencement Notice" Form
  
• Comply with appropriate building site signage provisions (ie. make a sign and put it up)
  
• Build the pergola!
  
• Get required inspections along the way (hopefully two, maybe three)
  
• Apply for "Certificate of Occupancy and Use"

Inching closer.

 

[HOTFR8]

Sounds like the red tape ran out. Keep us posted of the progress.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Looking forward to your updates..

Edit, Mat I must have been hiding under a rock some where, apologies for not posting sooner.

Re read thread for the second time.

Edit No.2 You have done some amazing stuff there..

Cheers..

 

[TwoBytes]

Sounds like the red tape ran out. Keep us posted of the progress.

Thanks HOTFR8, will do!

Man I hope the red tape has run out, there has a been a lot of it!

Looking forward to your updates..

Edit, Mat I must have been hiding under a rock some where, apologies for not posting sooner.

Re read thread for the second time.

Edit No.2 You have done some amazing stuff there..

Thanks 1/2 Cup! That means a lot coming from you mate.

No apologies necessary, thanks for taking the time to read my thread (twice even!)

 

[Brian_WK]

Nice to see the 2.5RS still ticking. I just sold my 2000 STM 5 speed coupe 3 months ago and miss it dearly but the rust was starting to come back and I didn't want to watch it rust to pieces so I sold it to a guy who was going to get it repaired. Only had 113k Miles on it.

Love the pergola plans and the patio! Australia is definitely on my list of places to visit some day!

Brian

 

[HOTFR8]

Thanks HOTFR8, will do!

Man I hope the red tape has run out, there has a been a lot of it!

From experience that red tape has to run out at some point in time and often if you play by the rules as I have found in the past the red tape can back fire on them.

Council here stipulated my front gate road access point had to be in a specific location they then came along and changed the road leaving me with no access. Council then had to alter the road back so I could comply with the stipulation that was set for my access off the road.

Having said (posted) that I am looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

[Lyndon]

Mat

Good to see you've made headway through the bureaucratic nightmare.

Have fun with the build.

Lyndon
Watching on, quietly.....

 

[TwoBytes]

Nice to see the 2.5RS still ticking. I just sold my 2000 STM 5 speed coupe 3 months ago and miss it dearly but the rust was starting to come back and I didn't want to watch it rust to pieces so I sold it to a guy who was going to get it repaired. Only had 113k Miles on it.

Love the pergola plans and the patio! Australia is definitely on my list of places to visit some day!
Brian

Thanks Brian! I think the Aussie WRX is slightly different to the US 2.5RS, but they are a great car hey. Mine has a 2.0l turbo motor, and I think the 2.5RS has a Naturally Aspirated 2.5?. It's been a great car, and I haven't found anything that is compelling me to upgrade.

Thankfully we don't have much of a problem with rust where I am, Canberra is 150ks from the ocean, and almost 600m above sea level.

I'm a creature of habit, the WRX is my third Subaru, and I think my next one might be a MY06 STI. I think the GC8 body shape (mine and yours) is the best looking WRX ever, but this is a close second...
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What do you drive now?

From experience that red tape has to run out at some point in time and often if you play by the rules as I have found in the past the red tape can back fire on them.

Council here stipulated my front gate road access point had to be in a specific location they then came along and changed the road leaving me with no access. Council then had to alter the road back so I could comply with the stipulation that was set for my access off the road.

Having said (posted) that I am looking forward to seeing your progress.

Thanks again HOTFR8.

It's very satisfying when you can make the rules work for you hey. I had a bit of a win when they tried to apply a large fine for submitting an incomplete Development Application, but I had elected to have a pre-application meeting and they didn't pick up any errors, so they waived the fine. That was a very enjoyable phone call.

Mat
Good to see you've made headway through the bureaucratic nightmare.
Have fun with the build.
Lyndon
Watching on, quietly.....

Cheers Lyndon, thanks for stopping by mate.

 

[Brian_WK]

Thanks Brian! I think the Aussie WRX is slightly different to the US 2.5RS, but they are a great car hey. Mine has a 2.0l turbo motor, and I think the 2.5RS has a Naturally Aspirated 2.5?. It's been a great car, and I haven't found anything that is compelling me to upgrade.

Thankfully we don't have much of a problem with rust where I am, Canberra is 150ks from the ocean, and almost 600m above sea level.

I'm a creature of habit, the WRX is my third Subaru, and I think my next one might be a MY06 STI. I think the GC8 body shape (mine and yours) is the best looking WRX ever, but this is a close second...
View media item 63859
What do you drive now?

Oh Ya forgot you guys got the good cars. We didn't get a wrx until 02 with the "bugeye". Ya it had the NA 2.5 was still a fun quick car. Very fun in the snow we get around here.
05 Forester XT is the wife's car. I don't have a personal car anymore and my company provided a 2013 Forester. Saves me some money on insurance and maintenance. Haven't decided what i'm going to do car wise once the company car is gone. I have a few years to think about it. Maybe Subaru will bring out something interesting at that time possibly bring the hatchback back.

Brian

 

[TwoBytes]

Yeah, we got the turbo WRX here in '97. We had the 2.5RS as well, but it had a flat bonnet (hood) without the scoop and vents.

Sounds like you're a big Subaru fan too, good to hear.

Are you getting the "Levorg" in the US? It's a wagon based on the WRX that's been released here recently.

I really like the look of it, but it only comes with a CVT transmission, which is a bit of a bummer. If it came with a manual gearbox, this would probably be my next car...

View media item 63990

 

[TwoBytes]

I've been thinking about building a cubby house for the kids.

The idea I had in my head was going to cost a fortune in materials alone.

So I've been watching Gumtree (Aussie Craigslist) for a second hand one. I thought it might be a cheap source of raw materials at least.

They seem to come up pretty regular, but the decent ones seem to go quickly.

Anyway, this thing came up last week...

View media item 64038
"Buyer to disassemble and remove. Make an offer"

I messaged him and he said he'd had a lot of interest, but everybody that had come to look at it had run away scared.

His exact words were "It's going to be a mission to get it out of here, it wasn't built to come down".

That sounded like a challenge to me!

 

[Terrick down Under]

TB, that looks like a keeper there. Do you have a trailer? PM me.

 

[TwoBytes]

It's 2,650 x 2,850 and 3,500 high, so it's a decent size.

We got started on Saturday, just me and my 4 year old son
(turns out he absolutely loves demolition work, who'd have thought! )...

View media item 64039
View media item 64040
View media item 64041
Roof off...
View media item 64042
I got the trusses down and things were going well, so I brought one of the walls down. Then the wind picked up and it got a bit sketchy. I had visions of dropping something heavy on my son, and decided to lay the remaining walls down carefully and recruit some additional assistance for Sunday...

View media item 64044

 

[TwoBytes]

Got Dad's help on Sunday (as well as the 4 year old demolition man), another few hours work and another very full trailer!

View media item 64045
He wasn't wrong when he said it wasn't meant to come down, and in addition to using big bugle head batten screws in all the joints, he went crazy with a framing nailer. After pulling the screws out (some of which were 200mm long), all of the joints also had 2 inch nails in at all kinds of different angles (one of the big joints holding the bearers under the deck had six of those 3' batten screws and about ten 2' nails). The sledgehammer got a workout!

View media item 64046
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View media item 64049
After a couple of hours work, Dad asked me "how much is he paying us to take this thing away?"



I reckon I got a good deal though, there's a huge amount of timber that would be worth a fortune new.

Here's a small selection of the hardware I pulled out.
View media item 64051
The nails will probably go in the bin, but the bolts and coach screws are mostly in pretty good nick.

The previous owner even jumped in at the end and broke up the concrete to get the 6 stirrups out of the ground so we could take them too.

I didn't get a picture of the first days' trailer load unfortunately, but by the time I got the second trailer load home, I was too stuffed to unload it.

So this is where I left it...
View media item 64050
Hopefully I'll get a chance to unload it this weekend, but I need to make sure I've got all the nails out before I stack it up where the kids can climb on it.

Anybody care to guess how much I paid?

 

[Terrick down Under]

Mate, that was a good deal, you could have taken it all home at once on mine, like I said "yell out".
Seriously you did well.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Mat, you have done well and as you say would cost you a small fortune new..

 

[drivesitfar]

TB: i'm going to take a wild guess and guess that you found an add in the FREE SECTION of one of your online sites sort of like Craigslist. so did you get it free if you promised to haul it away? if not how much and looks like a lot of good stuff.

i occasionally will do something similar and i have quite a few piles of GOOD STUFF i need to do something with.

no matter what you paid or didn't pay or didn't get paid you and your family did a fantastic job and i bet the prior owner was really smiling and happy to have you stop by.

good luck

 

[Bob Heine]

Mat, great thread and sorry I haven't visited sooner. I really appreciate your posts on the bureaucracy. It reminded me that it was one of the reasons I didn't fight harder to stay in Australia beyond the two years (birth of first grandchild in US being the other).

I'm guessing there's no way to re-construct the playhouse on your property during the night and claim it's always been there....

 

[HOTFR8]

I hope you do not need a permit to put that up.

 

[TwoBytes]

Mate, that was a good deal, you could have taken it all home at once on mine, like I said "yell out".
Seriously you did well.

Cheers Terrick. As per my PM, thanks for the offer, much appreciated!

As great as it would have been to get it home in one piece, it wouldn't have fitted down the guy's driveway without significant disassembly.

In that picture with my trailer all loaded up, it was about 1,800 wide and it only just fit through the gate. Fully assembled it was about 2,700 at its narrowest.

I also want to modify it a fair bit to fit where I want it to go, so having it in a "pile of pieces" format is not a bad thing. I can put it back together exactly how I want it.

Mat, you have done well and as you say would cost you a small fortune new..

Thanks 1/2 Cup! I reckon I've done alright, like you said, the materials would be worth a lot new.

TB: i'm going to take a wild guess and guess that you found an add in the FREE SECTION of one of your online sites sort of like Craigslist. so did you get it free if you promised to haul it away? if not how much and looks like a lot of good stuff.

i occasionally will do something similar and i have quite a few piles of GOOD STUFF i need to do something with.

no matter what you paid or didn't pay or didn't get paid you and your family did a fantastic job and i bet the prior owner was really smiling and happy to have you stop by.

good luck

Thanks Drives! And thanks for stopping by mate.

I didn't get it for free unfortunately, but not far off.

I paid $150, which I think is win/win for me and the previous owner.

Mat, great thread and sorry I haven't visited sooner. I really appreciate your posts on the bureaucracy. It reminded me that it was one of the reasons I didn't fight harder to stay in Australia beyond the two years (birth of first grandchild in US being the other).

I'm guessing there's no way to re-construct the playhouse on your property during the night and claim it's always been there....

Hi Bob, thanks for taking the time to visit.

The bureaucracy for the pergola has almost sent me crazy, but I'm hoping I won't need any approvals for the cubby house.

There are exemption criteria for Development and Building Approval, and I'm going to make sure the cubby house meets them!

I hope you do not need a permit to put that up.

HOTFR8, you're going to make me cry!



No approval necessary for the cubby house, I'm going to make damn sure it's exempt!

At the very least, I'll make sure it can be easily dismantled and moved if necessary.

 

[ajohno]

TwoBytes,
Great job on the cubby house.
I'm sure you and your son will enjoy putting it back up again and your son playing in it.

 

[HOTFR8]

With all the red tape you have had it was only a warning.

 

[TwoBytes]

It reminded me that it was one of the reasons I didn't fight harder to stay in Australia beyond the two years (birth of first grandchild in US being the other).

Bob, is the bureaucracy much less over there? It seems like it from what I read on here.

Electrical work is the key thing that stands out for me. Am I right that there is no requirement for any sort of qualification or licence to work on mains wiring in the US?

 

[TwoBytes]

TwoBytes,
Great job on the cubby house.
I'm sure you and your son will enjoy putting it back up again and your son playing in it.

Thanks Aaron!

I'm looking forward to putting it back together... Unfortunately I think it's going to take a lot longer to get it back up than it did to get it down.

With all the red tape you have had it was only a warning.

Thanks HOTFR8, the warning is much appreciated. Don't worry, I've been thinking about it!

It would be beyond ridiculous if I need to spend another $3,500 on paperwork to put up my $150 cubby house!

 

[Terrick down Under]

$150... it would cost that for the roofing and screws! You did well.

 

[1/2 Cup]

$150... it would cost that for the roofing and screws! You did well.

As above..

 

[Sunbimmer]

Could qualify for a "you ****"

It looks very nice, almost like a tree house

 

[TwoBytes]

$150... it would cost that for the roofing and screws! You did well.

As above..

Thanks Terrick and 1/2 Cup, I reckon I've done pretty well too. Cheers!

Could qualify for a "you ****"

It looks very nice, almost like a tree house

Woohoo, my first "you ****"! Thanks Sunbimmer

I'm going to keep it at ground level when I put it up, so unfortunately it won't look quite as impressive as the "before" photos.

As much as I'd like to build it up high like that again, I want to avoid all the red tape that I've been through with getting my pergola project approved.

Making it 3.5 metres high would probably need the same level of approval as the pergola, and I'm not going through that again for a cubby house!

 

[drivesitfar]

TB: best of luck with the RED TAPE or maybe lack of it. also i agree putting things back together take a bit more time, but i bet that will be a great looking and fun place when you get it put back up.

 

[Terrick down Under]

TB, if you wan *** low and meets all the regs, then why not assemble it on a pair of trailer axles and call it mobile...no permits required. you could just fix the axle directly to the sub floor with a couple of saddles, no springs required.

 

[TwoBytes]

Thanks Drives.

And Terrick, that is a very good idea mate!

 

[HOTFR8]

Terrick, that is a very good idea mate!

Well it is not fixed so does not need a permit. Something like these small homes we see now. A very clever idea.

 

[oldironfarmer]

Bob, is the bureaucracy much less over there? It seems like it from what I read on here.

Electrical work is the key thing that stands out for me. Am I right that there is no requirement for any sort of qualification or licence to work on mains wiring in the US?

I'm not Bob, but yes, I believe the bureaucracy is less here, but far from non-existent. One common rule, but not everywhere, is that a homeowner can do electrical work in his own home. But that is not everywhere.

All contractors doing electrical work must be licensed although there are those that flaunt the rules and get away with it. Usually.

In most locales you must have an electrical inspection prior to the power company making the final connection. In many locations plans approval and in progress inspections are required.

In my particular location I can make additions and modification with no inspection required. However, I live on a farm in a rural area.

I think in general there may be fewer building restrictions here, but there are many subdivisions with very stringent restrictions. Of course the residents should be aware of the restrictions when they buy, but some are not. And some residents would like everyone except themselves to be subject to the agreed-upon restrictions.

Bob will clarify.

 

[TwoBytes]

Well it is not fixed so does not need a permit. Something like these small homes we see now. A very clever idea.

Yep, I agree HOTFR8, I think making it a temporary, mobile structure makes a lot of sense.

I wonder when a structure goes from being temporary to permanent? You don't need approval to park a caravan in your driveway, but what if you put it on blocks and take the wheels off? Put an awning around it and build a deck? Put on a second storey???



I wonder if putting retractable casters in the corners would be enough.

I'm not Bob, but yes, I believe the bureaucracy is less here, but far from non-existent. One common rule, but not everywhere, is that a homeowner can do electrical work in his own home. But that is not everywhere.

Thanks for the response oldironfarmer, very interesting to hear how different places work.

some residents would like everyone except themselves to be subject to the agreed-upon restrictions.

Haha, I think that is universal not matter where you are!

 

[HOTFR8]

Depends how far you want to try and stretch the rules. Shipping containers here used to be called a move able item but now you need a permit for them. I have two but we had them before the rules changed so I do not need a permit.

As for taking the wheels off if you can see they can go back on to move it then you should be OK. Example being wheels removed on portable traffic signs to stop theft.