- Step 1 – Start your research
- Step 2 – Line up your finance and work out your budget
- Step 3 – Research, research, research
- Step 4 – Buy your block
- Step 5 – Drawings
I mean, not necessarily exactly in this order, and hopefully not without good attention to the step I’m convering here – the permits and permissions you will need for your Owner Build. The process I’m going to describe is for Western Australia, be aware that the process does vary a great deal by state.
Planning permission
Your house will need to comply with your state and council’s planning law.
Western Australia’s state planning law is set out in the residential design codes known as the R Codes. For a single house, the applicable volume is Volume 1. These set out a long list of principles your house must meet. They also set out specific examples of how these principles can be met, known as the ‘deemed to comply’ rules. These specify everything from how far your house must be set back from your block boundaries, to how high your window sills must be to avoid overlooking your neighbours. The level of detail is off the charts and it is complex to achieve compliance.
There is a second layer of law which is your local council’s planning policies, which (in WA at least) overrule the state law. They may be fiercer or more lenient, the only way to know is to look at your own council’s requirements. If you give your council’s planning team a call and ask them to point you in the right direction they are generally pretty helpful.
Once you have drawings that you believe are compliant, you need to apply to your council for Development Approval. If you decide to build 100% within the ‘deemed to comply’ design, then your council may not require you to make this application, you may be allowed to go ahead and just build. Even in that scenario though it could be wise to apply to the council for a (cheaper) ‘deemed to comply’ certificate, so you’ve got their confirmation in writing that your plans comply with the planning laws.
(Obtaining Development Approval or a ‘deemed to comply’ certificate does not commit you to Owner Building, you could still go ahead and use those plans to get quotes from builders to build your house if you wanted to.)
Owner Builder Permit
To progress to Owner Building, you will need to get an Owner Builder Permit. In WA these are issued by the Department of Mines (naturally). To get your Owner Builder Permit you will need your:
- Owner Builder course
- White Card
Be aware that once you have obtained your Owner Builder Permit you must submit your Building Permit application within six months, or your Owner Builder Permit will lapse (in WA, at least). Six months may not be that long to get all your other steps completed, so take care with the timing of your applications.
Owner builder courses
These are available from lots of providers. They can be done in person or online. They are cheap and take a couple of hours. They will be tailored to your state. Providers that I’ve seen recommended include:
- Absolute Education
- Saferite
- Abacus Training
- Home Base (in person in Perth)
- TAFE (in person I assume)
I ended up doing two of these, one in person at Home Base before covid, and then another one more recently online with Absolute Education, because you have to have done it within I think the last two years. Both were useful, professional, included good tips, I’d happily recommend either.
These courses do NOT teach you how to Owner Build a house. They do not cover topics like design, engineering and construction. They are compliance-focused. They explain the relevant permits, regulations and responsibilities involved in Owner Building. Like what I’m covering in this post (for your own state), and then a whole load more, for example about your responsibilities for worker safety on your building site, and your liabilities for the quality of the building as and when you sell it one day.
Sometimes people brush all this off and boast about how quickly they were able to whizz through their course, but this is serious stuff that can have serious implications. Personally I would encourage you to really try and take in as much as you can, there’s a lot there.
White card courses
These are also short and cheap and can be done mostly online if you prefer. They are a brief introduction to safety when working on a construction site. They are very widely available.
NCC compliance
Having obtained planning permission from the planning department of your council, the surveyor team at the council will handle your Building Permit application. They’ll check various things, but their key focus is whether you are complying with the National Construction Code (NCC).
Planning permission describes what you are allowed to build, the NCC focuses more on how you are allowed to build it. For example, that a boundary wall has to be fire resistant, or that a room with a toilet has to have some ventilation. The NCC is readily available online.
Australian Standards are developed by a non-governmental nonprofit organisation and my understanding is that they can be one method of achieving compliance with the NCC. I believe that engineered ‘performance solutions’ are an alternative method if you want to do something more unusual.
Building Permit application
For your Building Permit application you will need:
- Your planning drawings plus, if needed, your Development Approval or certificate of deemed to comply.
- Detailed construction drawings.
- Engineering signed off by the engineer. They will probably want a soil classification report before they sign off, to make sure their design is suitable for your soil conditions.
- A NATHERS star rating from an Energy Assessor.
- Anything else your council may require.
- The whole package signed off by your private certifier, if you are using one.
Certified or uncertified
Here in WA we can submit a certified or uncertified Building Permit application.
Certified means that you pay a private certifier to certify your drawings before you submit them, to confirm that they are compliant with the NCC. You are paying the certifier and the feedback is that they are often more helpful and much quicker than the council.
Uncertified means you submit everything to the council as is, and they check whether it is compliant with the NCC (and everything else). The timetable they give for processing an uncertified application only applies until they find a problem, then they stop the clock and come back to you until you fix the problem.
Uncertified is likely to be cheaper, but it sounds like sometimes it can go on for a long time, while you continue to pay the mortgage on your block and rent to live somewhere else.
Ready to rumble
And once you have your Building Permit in hand, you are able to get cracking!