Before buying a knockdown rebuild property..

Hi Forsty,

Home builders usually have a process where you pay a deposit (Say $1000-$2000) for an initial feasibility/siting.

They will order a contour, borehole, planning certificate, title search and do a full assessment of your home design and size against applicable planning controls. They will then do a presentation to you to explain what all the constraints are and give you estimate of the cost. At that point you an choose to sign the contract and pay a reconstruction deposit to go ahead with full architectural plans and lodgement of DA.

The turnaround for this process is usually around two weeks.

The above is talking from experience with large project home builders in NSW. We do the the feasibilities and sitings for them so I'm familiar with their processes.

This is usually done for a client that already owns the block, but can't see why you can't do it if you have the owner's consent.

The problem is you may need to move quickly on the purchase, if that's the case, you may wish to ask a planner to do a quick feasibility and get the builders to give you an estimate based on worst case soil classifications (Think 32mpa concrete for saline soils etc) Even then, there is some element of risk to it as a full feasibility/investigation hasn't been undertaken but a good town planner can do a site inspection, pull up the overlays, planning certificates and pick up any issues for you.

Good luck!

 

@Frosty123 That's a very good question too.

How is that even possible to conduct the testing before the property even settle?
I assume one can only hire the B&P inspector before the auction or even signing contract.

Because all sort of testing is deemed invasive.