The Complete Guide To The Development Approval Process: Part 1/2

[youtube id="AZaxtl-1daQ" align="left" mode="lazyload" maxwidth="500"] The development approval process can be really daunting if you haven't gone through it before. There's a lot of different steps to take that you're probably not aware of. So today, I have Luke with me from durackarchitects.com to talk through the complete guide to the development approval process so you guys can get an understanding of it and you guys can stop being overwhelmed and know exactly what to do next. Ryan: Hey Luke, thanks for coming on today. Luke: Good day, Ryan. Good to be here. Ryan: Do you want to first give us an overview of the development approval process for getting a development approved so we can start building it? And then, we'll go into the nitty-gritty and the step-by-step. Luke: Yeah, sure. It's one of those areas that doesn't need to be as daunting as it probably is for a lay person. Typically, you would employ an architect to start the design of your new house or your alterations and additions to your existing house. They would work with you to get the appropriate documents that you could then submit to council or your private certifier if you're going through a compliant development pathway. Once you've got that, assuming everything goes well, you get your approval from council then you write to move on to the next stage, which would be an extra level of detail to the drawings that you've supplied for your DA so that a builder can build what has been designed. You will then select a builder, get them to price what you've designed and then you move on to the construction process and pretty much where you go. That's it in its briefest form, I guess. Ryan: Yeah. And so, we're going to break this into two parts. The first part we're going to talk about the process up until getting your development approval. And then, in the second part, we're going to go more into the construction drawings and what sort of things you need to do after development approval, but before the construction of the property actually starts. Let's say that I've just purchased a piece of land and I want to do a development on it. Or, I've purchased a property and I want to do a renovation on it. What's the first sort of step that someone in that position needs to take? Is it to contact an architect like yourself and just say, "Hey mate, I'd like to build a house. What do we do?" Luke: It is that basic. I'm a bit biased, but I would say the first step is to contact an architect. The other options are to speak with a building designer or a draughtsman or even a builder. But, from an architect's point of view, the best thing you can do is to contact an architect. Ryan: I was just going to say, what are the reasons for that and then how do we choose a good architect? Luke: The reason I'd say that and without sounding up myself, I guess – Ryan: Well, you're going to be biased, you are an architect. So, we can expect some bias advise here. Luke: Yeah. But, from a design outcome, if you want a great result, you go with an architect. Now, the great buildings in the world, and I'm not talking about just Opera Houses and Guggenheims and so forth, were build by great builders, but they were designed by great architects. Builders are great at building, but architects are there to design your building. We're the ones placed to negotiate the various aspects of the whole package. We spent 6 years or more – I probably spent 7 or 8 years at uni learning how to design buildings, learning how to put together what we design. Understanding the various environmental and cost implications of different construction methods. Learning how to guide you through the process of getting approvals, liaising with the consultants, the whole gamut. We're the ones best placed to have a hand along the whole package. A colleague said to me the other day, I thought was quite accurate is, "If you prioritize design, you prioritize budget." For most people, budget is sort of numero uno important. So, that's why I suggest an architect to sort of stage one. Ryan: So what's the difference between an architect and a draughtsman? Because I know a lot of people think, "Oh, architect, that's going to be expensive." Is there some sort of price guide that people can think of when hiring an architect? And does hiring an architect kind of benefit you down the line versus other approaches like getting plans drawn by the builder or by a draughtsman? Luke: Like I was saying, architects typically study for 6 years or more. We're in a position, we've been trained to design buildings. But, we've also been trained to tackle all the various issues that are involved with that. So, we're talking about environmental sustainable design, different construction methods and suitable material choices. And the best way to plan spaces for optimum efficiency so that they cater to the client's brief. Ryan: Yeah. And how does that differ from a draughtsman? Luke: Well, a draughtsman doesn't have the same training. It's that simple. Not that there aren't great draughtsman out there who are great at drawing up buildings. But, their training is not the training that an architect gets. And a builder, they're great at building. They're not typically great designers. Not that you don't see a lot of design work come out of builders or draughtsman. But, like we're saying, if you want to prioritize design, you go to an architect. It's that simple. Ryan: Yeah, well, that's the thing. We all have different skills in life, right? I'm really great with understanding properties, finding positive cash flow properties, I'm great at building websites. But, when it comes to building stuff, it just takes me a really long time and I don't really enjoy it. But you know, I can build a website a lot faster than build a [inaudible 6:55]. We all have different skills. What about – can we touch on pricing? While we're in this phase, are there guidelines that people should look at or does it really vary from project to project to how much an architect is going to cost? Do you pay by the hour? How does it work? Luke: It does vary a lot and it is a real misnomer that architects are necessarily more expensive. Specially now, there's a lot of competition. Architects are cutting themselves left, right and center. The pricing, the way we quote now has been – there aren't the same guidelines there anymore because it was deemed anti-competitive. Architects typically price either hourly, lump sum or percentage-based. If it's percentage-based, which is a bit more the norm, architects base their customer services on the cost the construction. And the reason for that is, it's deemed as a reliable method of determining the amount of – the cost equates to the amount of work done/required of the project. So, if you've got a $1 million house, that's going to be more work involved than if you're doing a – Ryan: A backyard shed for $10,000 or something. Luke: That said, if you've got a $1 million house, the percentage might be around anywhere from 6-10%. Where if you go down, you're building a little addition to your back shed that's $50,000 the percentage will go up because you'd need you know, otherwise – Ryan: So we're talking around – like in percentages, we're talking around 6-10% for $1 million? Luke: Yeah. Ryan: Okay. Luke: That's probably accurate enough to say that. Ryan: Okay, cool. That's interesting to know. Let's say, we've chosen that we want to talk to an architect. We call you up and we say we like to build a house. Can you talk me through the sort of process for the client of yours – the person wanting to build and develop. Like, what sort of ideas do we need to have? Do we need to have like hand drawings ourself? What's the process like in talking to an architect to get something built? Luke: I would say that that first phone call to an architect doesn't have to be – you know, you don't have to feel too worried about it. You don't have to feel like you've prepared a lot. That can all be done during the process. Typically, an architect's service is broken down into 4 or 5 stages. And just briefly there, that's planning stage, a design stage, a town planning or DA stage then a construction documentation stage, a builder selection and tendering stage and then the construction stage. In my practice, we tend to spend a bit more time on the planning and the feasibility stage. So that's the first stage. And just to give a medical sort of analogy, like a doctor, you go to a doctor, you've got a heart problem. First protocol is not to cut you open and take out your heart. So, they do a thorough examination and work out what the issues are. Whether they can just give you medicine, replace your heart, fix what's there. It's the same with the design process. You spend a lot of time in the planning stage and you don't make cost of mistakes later on. That's the thing. Ryan: Because it's much to change designs on paper than it is to rip down walls and to move them around once it's already up. Luke: That's right. Yeah. And sometimes, it takes a while for people to work out what it is they actually want. They think they want 3 bedrooms and with 3 en-suites, but maybe they only want 2 bedrooms and 1 en-suite is actually enough. You know, it sort of takes a little while to tease that stuff out. And also, reveal things that people want in their home that hadn't about perhaps. Ryan: Yeah. I guess, that's part of the benefit of hiring an architect as well. You may go in with ideas of what you want, but it's so easy to forget little details about things that you need in the house, but you don't think about. Like, the amount of power points in a room or I don't know. There'll be so many little things that I'd be like, "Well that doesn't work because of this." Whereas, with an architect,