Ayres Rocks

Darren delivered the finished provisional plans late on Friday. We now have all the details required to put the application for planning permission before council. This will give us permission to build the intended development, but not permission to commence with the development.

Once that is accepted we’ll get on with getting the properly specified and engineered versions completed so we are able to apply for building consent. This will then give us permission to commence the development as specified by engineers and certifiers.

A big thanks to Darren for happily taking on all the numerous small changes we made to his (and our own) ideas along the way. He has been a very easy person to deal with, happy to listen when needed and happy to advise when requested. His wealth of knowledge on all things design and construction made our decision making process much simpler than it may have been.

I need to seek his permission to display the designs, I will post them to the site once I have that.

You can contact Darren by heading over to his website, Wise Drafting.

Now for the dreaded next step – approaching council for planning permission.

Soil test for the foundations and footings are being organised. There will also be a percolation test done as we are not in an area serviced by main sewer and will need to install a septic system of some description. This same company will be asked to design the foundations and footings for the house and give me some pointers on footings for the shed as well. Once I’m happy with their service you know I’ll be happy to post their details on this blog.

Darren from Wise Drafting has been a great asset to our project. I’ve been firing off questions as we start to nail down details and he’s been firing back nicely detailed answers to help me make up my mind on aspects of the building.

When he sees the opportunity to involve some ideas I’m not aware of he fires off an email that explains the benefits along with links to the products for me to further look into. You have to appreciate someone with his attitude towards delivering us the best package he can and his willingness to set my thinking back on the right course.

I certainly appreciate his efforts and if you need a draftsperson who is a thinker and will give your project the best outcome, you should talk to Darren as well.

Wow, this was money well spent.

Darren met us, on time, at the Tungkillo pub before we finished the final trek out to the block. My wife and I were both impressed from the get go. I like it when people start talking about processes and ticking things off the to do list, then produce the list and start doing just that. To me that means there is thought behind the process that has led to refinement of the way he conducts his business. No BS, no vague references, just facts based on our answers to his questions off of that list. Everything gets covered.

Turns out our design was quite well suited to take advantage of passive solar principles. Standing on the block we were able to line up the orientation of the house. Darren was able to explain just what passive solar is and how the winter sun is able to be used with great advantage, conversely the summer sun is able to be kept at bay with clever use of shadow, even on the wall that will be facing straight into the morning sun. I feel the hours and hours of googling, reading and researching through owner builder magazines was now time very well spent.

We have exactly what we want and Darren can calculate sun angles and so on and tweak slight aspects of the design. This should end up giving us a home that is light, warm and comfortable during the winter and able to cope with the extremes of summer without monstrous cooling systems in place.

If you’re a South Aussie and looking for a clued in architectural draftsmen then I am happy to suggest you head on over to Wise Drafting Pty Ltd and see what Darren can do to help you into your dream.

As each job is individual, depending on complexity within the design, Darren prefers to quote each individual job. By using what we are paying as a guide you might be over or under estimating the cost for your job. Things like size of house, distance for him to travel for a site visit, 2 storey designs and so on all alter the quote. I’m therefore not going to specify his costs, instead you should contact him yourself and get a quote based on your own ideas.

I will however include his costs in some other large item, so rest assured the overall cost of this project will remain open for you to see.

Darren from Wise Drafting and I have finally had a chat on the phone and we have set a meeting on the block for this coming week. The wife and I have spent a lot of this week going back over our design and wish list for the house, noting down questions we have about design standards, some BCA (Building Codes Australia) concerns about windows, doors and the like and of course the passive solar aspects that we still might be able to incorporate.

We want Darren to see what we are talking about when we tell him our design optimises the best of the views our block has to offer. Conversely Darren will now be able to point out to us just what he means when he talks about maximising certain aspects of our design (and consequently the budget) by making smarter choices on how, what and where.

I’m hoping for it to be a big melting pot of ideas from which our wants and his nous should give us a final design which is all about what we want with corrective design ideals to provide what we need.