Planning – Off Grid Living – Building the Dream

WI FI

We always knew we’d have a problem getting the internet, and so it’s turned out. Cable is clearly not an option in the bush. The following describes the options that we’ve looked at, and highlights just how bad the NBN is for regional areas (and we’re within an hour of the outskirts of Melbourne, onContinue reading “WI FI”

Batteries

Finally got round to adding to the Offgrid Technical section with a write up on batteries – capacity, lithium versus lead acid. Batteries…. I was feeling good about the house finally making progress, so took the time to start writing down our research…. Finished it, because I was depressed. I guess I’ll add that postContinue reading “Batteries”

The driveway saga continues

Life would have been SO much easier, and cheaper if our driveway wasn’t so long…. Moving the bulldozer excavator, grader and heavy tractor along the road has trashed it. We’ve had such a wet winter and spring, the road was almost impassable after they’d been through, just churned up mud after they’d been along it.Continue reading “The driveway saga continues”

Heating

We knew that power in winter was key to sizing our solar system, so heating was a key focus. We wanted to be able to heat the whole house, so wanted something beyond the wood heater planned for the living room. One of the reasons that we chose our builder was because they had recentlyContinue reading “Heating”

Just to be clear…

This is where the council wanted us to build…. High fire risk, high biodiversity…. Home to endangered flora. This is where we wanted to build – land cleared for a gravelling operation – clearing and defendable space finishes before the tree line.

Planning Approval – what a mess

OMG, a couple of months after submission, we get a letter saying that the house will never be approved in the current location. The letter contains lots of factual errors, and a few odd details, but essentially says our driveway is too long. At the preplanning they raised this but said a secondary escape pathContinue reading “Planning Approval – what a mess”

Pre-Planning Meeting

So with a house design finalised and a site selected, we had a meeting with the council planners to make sure they would be likely to approve the plan, and make sure that we had all the paperwork together. The planner was a little concerned about the location, and asked us to come back inContinue reading “Pre-Planning Meeting”

Environment Overlay

Our land is also subject to an Environmental Significance Overlay, ESO2, as it contains excellent remnant bushland, with high biodiversity and very low weed infestation. It’s teeming with wildlife, from koalas (very noisy at night as they call to each other), black footed swamp wallabies to the front of the property, eastern grey kangaroos toContinue reading “Environment Overlay”

Bushfire Rating

Our property is subject to a Bushfire Management Overlay, so before we can apply to council for a building permit, we have to get a bushfire assessment and management plan prepared by a licenced practitioner. After asking around, we selected Euca Planning to prepare the report for us. We knew that we might have aContinue reading “Bushfire Rating”

The design

We finally settled on a design after a number of false starts. We always thought being owner builders would be fun, but decided it really wasn’t practical for us. We looked at a large volume builder (cheap, but not enough flexibility, quality concerns), architect (too expensive), designer and large builder who does custom homes. WeContinue reading “The design”