I haven’t posted for a while, because I’ve been a bit depressed about the time it’s taken to get to this point. In this post, I outlined a projected timeline for how long the rest of the planning process would take.
This was the original (rough) timeline given to us by the architectural company:
- Decide on builder ~ 1 week (after we decide, we sign some papers to proceed with process)
- Design Development ~ 4-6 weeks (submissions to shire planning start here)
- Review and check costings ~ 4 weeks (should have a mostly accurate costing by this point)
- Final costing adjustments ~ 2 weeks
- Building contract drafted ~ 2 weeks
We estimated about 15 weeks of planning before demolishing in roughly late January.
Oh, how naive we were! It’s now late July and there seems to be no end in sight. We’ll be lucky to start construction by Christmas at this rate.
Based on City of Stirling planning processes, I’m now estimating that we should be ready for construction by October. However, that’s assuming all will go smoothly. And really there’s no reason it shouldn’t, except that we’ve been having a devil of a time trying to get information out of our architect. We’ve also just found out that he will be leaving the company and is in the process of transitioning our project to someone else (but will stay on board as a touch point since he has built an understanding of our project that would be difficult to pass on).
I’m trying to stay positive and keep doing research, but really I’m kind of sick of it all and just want it to be done already!
I’ve always wanted a secret door! Alas, we’re not having one, but how cool is this?? Apparently the Austrian National Library in Vienna also has one!
Oh dear. It will be worth the wait in the end. From spending plenty of time on the HomeOne Forum I am lead to believe that the City of Stirling is one of the more “difficult” cities to deal with. Must be time to go shopping!
Yes, Stirling is apparently the most difficult one, which doesn’t help matters. The problem with going shopping is that it’s too early for house stuff, really. So I’m resorting to buying clothes!
I’m really sorry. I know that feeling. I wish builders/architects etc. would just be honest up front, so we could prepare ourselves for how it will actually be. I have friends who have built before who laughed when I said we hoped to be in by last Christmas – we were actually about 6 months later than that.
It’s a pity about your architect too. I hope his replacement is extra helpful to make up for it.
Good luck with the planning process. I hope it all goes smoothly for you.
Thank you. I’m hopeful about the replacement too, but am also prepared to be disappointed again. Time will tell, I guess I’m just a bit jaded about it all at the moment.
This post is resonating with me loud and clear! Sounds like we’re in the same boat, we too need a building approval from council and from our pre-DA meeting we’ve been warned it could take anywhere from 6-12 weeks. I’m hoping for a miracle and it gets approved in 6 weeks! If only our builder can get a wriggle on and get all the plans and reports ready for lodgement.
Good luck!
Waiting for other people to get their act together is soooo frustrating! I hope your approvals go quickly, fingers crossed for the 6 week turnaround!