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  1. #16
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
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    nsw
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    Default

    We hired a 3.5 tonne excavator to clear away the old concrete path and garden beds. It tore up the grass a bit, but what a cool machine! Its not perfectly level, and there is more excavation to be done just before forming up for the slab, but at least we got rid of all the rubbish we'd been compiling from around the property since we bought it earlier this year.


    To fit the new shed, the existing fibro structures will have to be removed first. I'd hoped to leave demolition of the garage till the new one was built, but it's in the way so it has to go!


    I have a request in to council to remove the large Jacaranda tree from the neighbours yard, as I don't want it dropping little purple flowers all over the new shed and clogging all the drains, but I have to wait for a 'tree preservation officer' from the council to come and assess the tree to see if I can get approval to remove it. The neighbour whose property it is on, is happy for it to come down as it is impacting me and another neighbour, so it's all up to the council now.


    Aside from mulching the green waste pile there isn't much more I can do but wait for council now.




    DSC_0044 - Rubbish pile.jpg DSC_0043 - Rubbish removed.jpg

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  3. #17
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    nsw
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    52
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    Default THE DA HAS BEEN APPROVED!!!!

    There's been action aplenty since my last update.
    The council's Tree Preservation Officer has been and gone. No discussion, no contact, just a big fat rejection notice on the application to remove the neighbours tree. I tried to ring the council and talk to him, but he was a royal pr..k and wouldn't give me the time of day. I lodged a complaint and they have agreed to review the application, using a different person. Fingers crossed the new guy knows how to communicate and will at least discuss options with me.


    On a far more positive note though...
    THE DA HAS BEEN APPROVED!!!!


    Everyone is baffled as to how I got council to approve 126.25 sq m when the DCP restriction is 70 sq m maximum. I guess at least in this instance, it has paid to open dialogue with council. They were actually REALLY helpful and worked with me to get the application to a suitable point for submission, and the approval process was trouble-free.
    Now I've got to apply for a Construction Certificate (another 5 week process to get all the engineering specs done and lodge for approval with council).


    But at least I know it's going to happen now! I have paid the initial deposit with the shed company and they came out to site today to discuss it so it's full steam ahead.
    I still have to find someone to demolish the existing fibro garages, that holds all the appropriate licenses etc, but that shouldn't be too hard.


    Hopefully the shed company does the right thing and doesn't muck me around (as I've read LOTS of horror stories here on the forums where that's happened). They are a distributor for one of the major shed companies in Aus, and whilst that's no guarantee, it doesn't seem like there's really any way to protect yourself against the behaviour some of them carry on with.

  4. #18
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    nsw
    Age
    52
    Posts
    595

    Default Owner Builders course

    Wasted a few hours of my life doing an online Owner Builders course which I need to complete before I can get the construction certificate from council. What a load of BS!!!

    I did however enjoy the 'report writing' section.... (I hope the assessor has a sense of humour)


    image.png

  5. #19
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    Coffs Harbour
    Posts
    226

    Default

    Da Approved = Ba...et

    Mine should be ready tomorrow, acording to council. 8 weeks

    No sense of humour at all, so what I have to cut down 147 trees in a habitat protection zone They're not made of gold

    A few hours doing the OB course? Crickey's mine took about 50 hrs and yep what a load of BS

    The new 10/50 rule is in. Is the tree within 10 metres of the house ?

  6. #20
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Helensburgh
    Posts
    7,696

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Barterbuilt View Post

    The new 10/50 rule is in. Is the tree within 10 metres of the house ?
    Fire up the chainsaw! http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/bushfire-l...23-106rnh.html
    CHRIS

  7. #21
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    nsw
    Age
    52
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    595

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    Just got my reply from the online course...

    Your assessment for course 91509NSW has been marked by one of our assessors and has been deemed competent.

    wow. Either they didn't bother looking too hard, or they figured anyone game enough to write like that would be capable of managing a building project....

    (At least now I'm officially 'competent'. That's the best compliment I've had in weeks!)

  8. #22
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Dundowran Beach
    Age
    76
    Posts
    19,922

    Thumbs up

    You were always competent! Born that way like the rest of us shed hounds!!

  9. #23
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    nsw
    Age
    52
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    595

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    We're making progress -

    For the construction certificate I need to supply Engineering specs on shed, and on slab. Also Stormwater report detailing how I'm going to deal with all the additional stormwater captured by the huge roof.
    I've already had the stormwater pipes jetted clean, and camera inspected, and have a letter from the plumber certifying they can support the additional load. I'm just waiting on the engineering diagrams now.

    The council guy did tell me all my plans need a Sydney Water Quick-Check Agent's stamp. I'm hoping that doesn't extend to the engineering specs, because as per DA plans, the Quick Check Agent will reject them, and I'll be up for another $285 from the Water Services Coordinator.... I'm hoping that seeing as my original plans are stamped that they are sufficient -after all the structure isn't moving!

    Fingers crossed I get engineering specs next week and can submit for Construction Certificate.

    Also getting quotes for demolition of the fibro (ie asbestos) garage and shed behind it. So far the best quote is $3000 to demolish down to (but not including) the concrete slabs.
    Last edited by TimberNut; 29th August 2014 at 05:13 PM. Reason: forgot a bit

  10. #24
    ozhunter's Avatar
    ozhunter is offline Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmo
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Bathurst NSW
    Age
    55
    Posts
    512

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Barterbuilt View Post

    The new 10/50 rule is in. Is the tree within 10 metres of the house ?
    Tread carefully with the new rules. It's not as straight forward as it seems. Some folks have cut down trees that they otherwise would not have gotten permission to remove and then found out they didn't fit the 10/50 criteria.
    If you find you have dug yourself a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging.
    I just finished child-proofing our house - but they still get inside.

  11. #25
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    nsw
    Age
    52
    Posts
    595

    Default Sediment Control Barrier

    Speaking with the guy from council, I have to include a 'sediment control barrier' in my plans. Apparently it needs to be made from 'geotextile fabric' that will allow water through but not sediment (ie dirt) in case of rain.

    I thought I might just use some shade cloth between star pickets but some websites I've found explicitly state that shade cloth is not a suitable sediment control barrier.

    I only need to span my driveway and maybe a couple of extra meters to the side.

    Any ideas where I would locate the appropriate material (and not have to buy 100m of the stuff)?

    found this on ebay. looks like it might do the trick, and I only have to buy a 1m x 7m piece, which should do.

    http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1m-x-7m-G...416b957&_uhb=1

    If anyones got any better suggestion please let me know.
    Last edited by TimberNut; 2nd September 2014 at 01:31 PM. Reason: Found some

  12. #26
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Sydney
    Age
    37
    Posts
    2,703

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    TN,

    I'm glad to see you progressing and on your way to a bigger workshop. I remember visiting your shop (about 4 or 5 years ago now?) and you mentioned that one day you'd like to get a bigger shop, so it's nice to see it coming along.

    As for the geotextile fabric I got some left over from a job that I did just recently. I installed a storm water pit in my yard and needed to cover the trench with this material, but unlike you, I didn't research the most cost effective way and ended up buying a HUGE role. Your more than welcome to have it for nothing. Send me PM and I can see if I can drop it off to you in the next week or so.

    Cheers,

    Andy.

  13. #27
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    nsw
    Age
    52
    Posts
    595

    Default

    Still waiting on the Engineering plans to be revised. I was originally told it'd take 2 weeks to get these plans - it took 3.5 weeks, and then they were wrong. I sent them back with a note to the engineer to do them as per my DA, not a variation of it. Also one of the uprights was proposed for the middle of the open space!! Now I've been told 'it should be ok to leave out that upright, but the engineer just has to do some calculations to check'. A week has passed and I'm guessing these must be some REAL complicated calculations, because I've seen no amended plans as yet.....

    Fingers crossed I'll see Revision 1 of them by next week.

    I've applied for a permit to demolish but am waiting on council to approve that one. Once I see that, it's all systems go.
    The existing sheds have had both water and electricity removed from them, and all contents emptied, so that's out of the way.

    I hate having to wait on everyone else, but there's nothing more I can do till I get either a permit to demolish, or engineering plans, so I can submit for the CC.

    Hopefully there will be action soon!

  14. #28
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    nsw
    Age
    52
    Posts
    595

    Default Demolition has commenced!

    Finally we have progress!!!

    Original estimations for the supply of Engineering plans was 2 weeks. Including the revison (because they weren't done right the first time), they took 5 weeks. In the end it required me to put a lot of pressure on the shed company to get some action.


    So now the CC has been applied for, and according to my Council's website, it has been 'registered' - the only step there is for a CC (there were ~9 for the DA). I'm inferring from the fact that the only listed step is completed, that my CC is approved (however I'm yet to see anything official from council yet).



    Demolition started at 7am this morning, and will be finished today. It's costing $3500 just to remove the asbestos structures (not including the concrete slab). Quotes varied from $3k-$4k for this work. The fact that they are asbestos meant the demolition had to be registered with WorkCover, and all sorts of hoop-jumping (formal written notifications to neighbours with time restrictions, etc etc). Demolition had to be done by a licensed asbestos removal firm with proof of disposal according to strict guidelines. I know all that costs money, but I still reckon the price is pretty steep. However those are the rules, and I'm not touching asbestos, so I just had to suck it up and pay the demo company to do it.


    I've rigged up a Raspberry Pi to capture the demolition, taking photos every 2 minutes, and saving to a NAS device. I hope to stitch them all together into a time-lapse video. I'm no linux guru so was up till 1am just trying to get the camera working! When I get home this afternoon, hopefully there'll be no sheds, (definitely no asbestos) and lots of photos of the demolition.


    Excavation, and slab prep and pouring is scheduled to commence in about a week, so more updates (and hopefully a link to a video to follow soon).

  15. #29
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Tasmania
    Posts
    394

    Default

    Gday Timbernut. You`ve certainly been put through the wringer.Some years ago,maybe 15 i had a house site down Cowra way.I rang a mob at Bathurst -Award Garages actually.Told them i wanted a 7m L x 6m W colourbond double garage erected on my site. Bought the garage, they sent off the diagrams & DA supplied me to council. Within two weeks everything was sorted & two weeks later it was done & dusted.The only hitch? the labourer set the form work 6m L x 7m W! Overcame that by adding a metre deep apron at front & the metre width along the length became a walkway to/from the PA door. Mind you,i didnt have demolition/pipes etc to hinder the process.Anyways best of luck with your shed.

  16. #30
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    nsw
    Age
    52
    Posts
    595

    Default

    Hey OldGrain,
    two weeks to do everything including council approval?? Wow, that's quick! My Shed demolition is complete (minus the existing slabs - they will be removed by the concretors excavator subbie in the next 1-2 weeks). The asbestos guy wouldn't touch the 4 courses of bricks at the bottom of the old fibro shed - "too hard, anyway they are part of the cement slab, and I didn't quote you to remove those". A load of BS if you ask me - he just didn't want to pay the tipping fees for the bricks.


    Last Thursday they'd demolished and removed all the fibro, and MOST of the timbers. Only about 15-20 of the longest pieces left. They hadn't brought a saw with them! What sort of a demolition company turns up to do a demolition of a timber framed shed, without any sort of saw?? When I got home in the afternoon, they were still there, and there was a pile of timbers and the roller door left. They had the nerve to ask me for a cheque!! I told them when the job was complete, AND they'd issued an asbestos clearance certificate (as per quote) they'd get paid.


    Friday afternoon they made a re-appearance, this time with a circular saw, but no fore-notice. Luckily my wife was there, because there are no external powerpoints, and had she been out, they couldn't plug the saw in to cut the timbers. How do these people stay in business??? They cut and removed the timbers, and took the roller door, but left all the bricks (no surprise there).
    Saturday morning at 8am I get a call from the boss - "I want to come and get a cheque". My reply - "do you have a clearance certificate for me?". He replied he did. So I enquired what time the independent assessor did their inspection. I was told 'late Thursday afternoon'. When I advised him that I was there late Thurs and never saw anyone doing the inspection he said "it must have been before you got home". I advised him that once he delivered me an asbestos clearance certificate he'd get paid.


    (What I didn't tell him was that I've set up a camera to film the whole demolition, and we'd reviewed the footage, and no inspection had ever happened.)


    Guess who showed up around lunchtime on Saturday - the inspector lady. Sheepishly she gave me some BS about "I'd turned up and they weren't done - I told the boss I'd be back". As it turns out after the 8am phone call, I reckon he realised he wasn't dealing with a nufty, and needed to do the job properly if he wanted to get paid.

    So now I have a clearance certificate, no fibro sheds, a pile of bricks, and more fun to come.

    Here's hoping the next contractor doesn't treat me like an idiot....

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