Are you thinking of building small additions
to your house? If you are, one of the essential steps you need to take is to get your project approved by the council. You will need to gather the right documents for them to assess.
Essential Types of Documents
When you submit documents to the council,
they will need to have a precise idea on the project that you have in mind.
This way, when the council reviews your plan, they can determine if your plan is compliant to building regulations and help you avoid costly construction mishap. There are six essential documents that you
will need to provide. These are briefly described below:
TYPE #1 - Site Plan
As important as the project to be built is the site itself. When making additions to a house, it’s important to know if the right amount of
space is available. Therefore, one of the documents that
the council would be interested to see is a site plan.
Typically, a site plan will contain the
boundaries of a property, the position and footprint left by a building
relative to the property, plans for additions, and the relationship that each
of these aspects have with each other. The other important elements include
measurements of the area, the North point, and the location of the site.
TYPE #2 - Floor Plan
Second on the list are floor plans.
Essentially, these documents show the arrangement of rooms inside a specific floor of a building. Their most
important component includes the dimensions of the floor, and the names of each
room. They also include any construction specifications like the types of
roofing and walls. Because floor plans show a top-down view of the inside of a
building, they are very important to show for council approval.
TYPE #3 - Elevation
The third type of document are the
elevation plans. These show a 2-dimensional diagram from one side of a building
as seen from North, South, East and West. Elevation plans can also include
relevant dimensions, and more specifications.
TYPE #4 - Section
Next are section plans. These documents contain a diagram of the inside of
a building as viewed from one side. For context,
take an object - in this case, a building - and cut it in half, then view the
inside as seen from the cut. Section plans share many similarities to floor
plans, except they are vertical.
TYPE #5 - Details
Details are documents that contain a
diagram of a very specific component of a building, up close. The purpose of
these documents is to deconstruct the anatomy of certain objects, assemblies
of parts, or a system of some sort and explain how they should be built, very
precisely. These documents are extremely important for council approval because
they ensure that vital components of your project are built correctly.
TYPE #6 - General Notes
Finally, we come to our last document type
which are general notes. These are documents filled with text - a set of rules
and regulations that explains how the project should be done, as well as other
general important practices for building. These rules and regulations will play
a big part in the council’s assessment of your project.
Now that you know
Now that you know what documents you will
need to obtain for your additions project, you may be asking yourself, where can I get them? If you currently
don’t have any of the required documents that you will need for council
approval, our team at Marblaze can help you obtain those documents for the
procedure. You can request the technical drawings you will need on thecontact
form on this website.
In addition to the above, engineering
documentations will also be required to complete the application for
Development Approval.
Think about how the water cycle works. When stormwater falls to the ground, it either streams
down to the nearest body of water, evaporates, or infiltrates through the soil.
However, when stormwater reaches man-made surfaces, such as concrete and buildings - which
are often solid and level - the cycle is disrupted, and stormwater runoff is increased. This is
harmful in multiple ways, affecting people, the environment, and even buildings.
Stormwater Management
To prevent issues caused by stormwater runoff, including flooding, the stormwater must be
managed. One of the major things that stormwater management relies on in order for it to work
is gravity.
Gravity is what causes stormwater to fall from the sky and onto a roof or any other man-made
surface, and those surfaces must be designed to let the water flow naturally into drainage pits.
Often, drainage systems are below ground, so it is possible to rely on gravity to push stormwater
from buildings, pavements, and roads into drainage systems without much issue or needed
maintenance.
Without the Help of Gravity
Sometimes, gravity can hinder the flow of water into the main drainage system. For instance,
what if the location of the main drainage system is on a higher ground level than the building?
This is where stormwater management optimization comes in. It involves strategies that prevent
problems in drainage systems, both efficiently and with the least amount of cost.
Good examples of stormwater management optimization include these three solutions:
->Water Pumps
One solution to moving water against gravity is by using a water pump. How this works is by
letting the water fall into a collection tank. Once the water is inside the tank, the pump located
at the bottom of the tank pushes the water upwards with ease and into the main drainage
system.
While water pumps do work, there are some issues with the use of water pumps which don’t
make it the most ideal method for stormwater management optimization. Having a water tank is
costly, both in terms of energy and financial costs, and requires monitoring and maintenance.
Often, these are used as a last resort.
->Infiltration Systems
Another stormwater management strategy used to manage stormwater is by an infiltration
system set-up. Here, stormwater that falls onto man-made surfaces and then collected by
infiltration systems finds its way to soil and into the earth. The ways in which Infiltration
systems can be set up are extremely versatile. They are also a cheaper option, especially
compared to systems including water pumps. Using this method helps to prevent flooding in
concrete areas, and is also good for the environment.
However, the efficiency of one is dependent on the kind of soil type that surrounds the system.
Soil types such as clay make it much more difficult for water to infiltrate through, while sand
makes it much easier. It is also not an unlikely occurrence for the system to be clogged, and
therefore will need regular maintenance.
->Sealed Systems
Sealed systems are another good option for stormwater management. These systems use
pressure caused from gravity (stormwater from the roof to the ground) to push water upwards in
a diagonally placed pipe.
A downside to this strategy is that the system only moves when stormwater runs in the pipes.
Therefore, when the rain stops, there will always be water inside, which can lead to issues such
as creating a breeding ground for mosquitoes. The system is also required to have a reasonable
height for the stormwater to come down from so that its force is strong enough to push water
upwards.
Combining Strategies
When thinking about stormwater management optimization, it is important to be innovative
with strategies. For instance, in a scenario where the ground level of a building is lower than
the ground level of the road, it is possible to use any one of the above options. However,
knowing the cons of each, only one of them is not enough to be the best option for stormwater
management optimization.
Therefore, for effective results, a combination of methods and strategies to be used to create
various strategies. An example of this is by building a sealed system as a base, with an opening
to an infiltration system to drain the excess water while the sealed system is not moving.
Also consider how every site is different. Because of this, each site should be assessed
individually to determine the right set-up for stormwater management optimization.
Need help with Stormwater Management Optimization?
So, you have just learned the basics of stormwater management optimization, what now? If you ever
need help with stormwater management optimization, the best option is to seek a qualified
stormwater engineer.
For any of your stormwater management needs, please contactAriel Bilangel at
ariel@magryn.com.au.
Thinking of Building Your Dream Home? Hiring a Project Manager May Work Better over a Building Contractor
Angelica Faye
In a construction project, priorities and direction must be established
to achieve success. One good way to do this is through Project
Management, an effective strategy used for organizing construction projects. As one of the services
that Marblaze offers, this blog post will explore what Project Management is, and
what makes it so important.
What is Project Management?
Project Management is simply the management, organization
and direction of a construction project. This process of managing how a project
is done has the main goal of completing a construction project efficiently, within
budget and requirements, and by its deadline. There are multiple aspects a construction project
is concerned with, including budget, hiring the right people, schedule,
managing construction, and liaising with other parties (e.g. customers, engineers, vendors).
It is the responsibility of the Project Manager to ensure all these elements are in
place.
Hiring a Project Manager Vs. Hiring a Building Contractor
While hiring a Project Manager is an option in building
construction, many prospective homeowners may think that the go-to approach is
hiring a building contractor. This constitutes a Standard Building Contract
which includes a signed legal document that contains a set of construction guidelines
for all parties involved in the project. With building contracts, the goal is
to satisfy the parties involved in the successful completion of a project. In
this situation, clients are only required to sign a contract and guarantee that
they can pay the price for the building. Once signed, all parties are obligated
to follow the contract, and if a party breaches it, the other can sue. Unlike a
project manager, a building contractor tends to prioritize the management of the
contract between parties over the project itself.
Advantages of Hiring a Project Manager
With Standard Building Contracts, clients’ lack of
involvement in actual building construction tends to result in disputes with building
contractors over actual materials used or the final product. For
instance, if the client expects the building to turn out a certain way, there
is a possibility that the building turns out not as the client had expected. Client
may have specified yellow walls, but the actual wall is dirty white. Sometimes,
there may also be unexpected hidden fees involved in addition to what clients
had expected to pay. It is possible for the client to file a complaint or even
sue the contractor, but this is all too much work.
Unlike building contractors, hiring a project manager allows
clients to have an active role in the building process. Since the priority of the
project manager is the actual construction, the final product is likely to
match the client’s expectations. Additionally, working with a project manager
allows for some flexibility in managing the costs, making adjustments when
necessary to accommodate a client’s financial situation. It is also possible to
pause the construction at any time to suit the client’s needs.
So, what now?
Are you interested in building your dream home? WithMarblaze’s project management services, we can help you achieve that goal. We
have a reliable team of engineers, a project coordinator, business manager, and
admin support to help you.
What You Need to Know about As-Constructed Drawing
Angelica Faye
At Marblaze, as-constructed or as-built drawings are one of the services that we
provide. In general, as-constructed draws make up an important part of every
building project. But what makes them so vital to the process?
What are as-constructed drawings?
Simply put, as-constructed drawings are revised drawings created once the building of a
construction project is completed. They contain changes made to and deviations from the original drawing, also called building plan. Contractors submit them to the Council along with the original plan for final approval of the construction project.
Who is responsible?
Although it is the architects and designers that create the original plans for a
construction project, it is usually the contractors that are responsible for the creation
of as-constructed drawings.
Contractors are the people who are in control of as-constructed
drawings. When they make decisions that deviate from the original plan, they annotate the original drawing and engage the services of a drafting company like, Marblaze, to recreate the plan and reflect the changes. The new drawing is commonly referred to as-constructed or as-built drawings.
Why are they important?
What makes as-constructed drawings so important is how greatly they are used as point of reference. A good example is how they can be used as a base to help
visualize the revisions made to an original plan. Additionally, if issues in the construction were to occur, or if a specific item or object
needs to be located, the as-constructed drawings make it easier for contractors to
identify where they are, because of the specifications that they contain. In other words, as-constructed drawings are important tools for onboarding, permit approval and future renovation.
Conclusion
Without As-constructed drawings, the documentation of
construction projects would be very difficult. They are drawings that contain changes
and revisions made to a building plan during construction. As-constructed drawings
become a good source of reference as a base for planning, a tool for locating
specifications, and more.
