- Building your own home: Our dream renovation
- Our Dream Renovation: 02 Designing Our New Home
- Our Dream Renovation: 03 Council Approval Process
- Our Dream Renovation: 04 Excavation
- Our Dream Renovation: 05 Strip footings and Piers
- Our Dream Renovation: 06 Subfloor Frame
- Our Dream Renovation: 07 Wall & Roof Framing
- Our Dream Renovation: 08 Lock Up
The fun now really begins as we embark on the next stage of our renovation journey. Submitting plans to council for approval can sometimes be the easiest or hardest stage to complete. As a result, most people will have mixed experiences when dealing with their local council.
For an easy council approval process, again a good drafts person or architect does come in handy. Their knowledge in their field is critical to a successful council submission. From how detailed their plans are to how good their local knowledge is of the local area and it’s council.
For us our drafts person helped us get through this process quite easily and pain free. Are plans were perfectly detailed, enough to help answer any questions council may of had. Her recommendation to include a detailed surveyors plan greatly helped speed the council approval process up.
The more information you provide to council with your submission the easier and faster the approval process will be. If your submission answers any questions or concerns they have, time will be saved going back and forth between the parties involved.
The council submission was very easy and efficient with the use of their online portal. The portal helped us submit, track and pay all our application fees using our own specific reference numbers.
There is not too much to talk about regarding our council submission process as it was pain free and very easy. The main items I wanted to report on was the actual costs of the council approval process.
Council building approval costs
Council fees may vary depending on your application and how large your project may be. The more council resources you require, the more costs that could be associated with your application. Below are the fees we came across specific to our application:
| Description | $ Costs |
| Long Service Levy | $702.80 |
| BASIX Certificate Fee | $25.00 |
| Da Application Fee | $1,356.00 |
| Vehicle Access Crossover | $473.00 |
| Council Contributions | $3,331.50 |
| WMA Section 307 Certificate | $282.90 |
| Total: | $6,171.20 |
Total Project Costs To Date
- Designing and planning stage: $13, 428.20
- Council application stage: $6,171.20
- Total costs: $19,599.40