House Update

I haven't posted anything about the build for a while because NOTHING is happening!!! Basically the Council has come back and asked me to raise the lower level of the house a further 800mm to achieve "flood mitigation". This is based on the Temporary Local Planning Instrument that the Council brought out directly after the flood to make it easier for people affected by the flood to raise over the 8.5 metre mark.

Unfortunately in my case what it also means is that they are playing it safe with all new builds and in my case there is a discrepancy with what my town planner and hydrologist says the flood levels are, and what the Council are saying they are.

Basically Council are taking the highest level of the floods from both creek and river flooding, but my hydrologist is taking it from the river flooding, which is the major source of the flooding.

It's not a black and white case, but rather how the code has been interpreted and because it's a new code and this is the first case, then it's a test case.

This is not great news for me.

Raising the additional 800mm would cost $29,000 because of the amount of additional fill needed to achieve that height for the garage.

I don't want to increase the budget because I think I would be overcapitalising, so we are trying to find a way to reduce the footprint of the house. It's very difficult because the design as it was is EXACTLY the way I wanted it.

Stay tuned...