Your planning journey summary

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Concept phase

This is general advice and may not apply specifically to your property. For more detailed information on your personal circumstances please contact the Rebuilding Planning Team (Storm Recovery) on 9294 6999.

Your site is cleaned up. Hazardous materials are removed. Now you can assess your site properly and start making your plans. These are just some of the questions and issues you’ll be dealing with in this phase:

  • The location of your home on your site - could you place your home somewhere else on your property that would make it safer?
  • The design of your home and its construction method
  • Your budget for reports, design and construction
  • How to make your home more resilient to bushfire
  • Meeting the construction requirements for bushfire-prone areas
  • Meeting the construction requirements for landslip prone areas
  • Septic/stormwater drainage system requirements, location and connection to legal point of discharge
  • Vegetation removal impacts/assessments
  • Landscaping features on your site
  • Septic tanks/water requirements
  • Engaging the skills of experts: e.g. builders, architects, engineers and a building surveyor.

It’s worthwhile to engage with Council's Rebuild Planning Team early on by calling them on 9294 6999, before you submit any documentation. We will help you to understand what you’ll need for the job ahead.

By thinking about the issues above you will have the start of your concept plan. This will give you confidence that you have identified all the main elements you need to make it all work and you are clear about what information you need to move to the next phase: planning and building permits.

The permit phase

This is general advice and may not apply specifically to your property. For more detailed information on your personal circumstances please contact the Rebuilding Planning Team on 9294 6999.

Obtaining planning and building permits is an important step. Most importantly, they give you the green light to go ahead with your rebuild.

For complete rebuilds, a Building Permit cannot be issued unless a Planning Permit has been approved. The Building Permit process provides, upon completion of the project, either an Occupancy Permit (complete builds) or Final Certificates (partial builds requiring a Building Surveyor). This paperwork is also essential for financing or if you want to sell the property. 

In this stage, you’ll need to:

  • Develop detailed plans of what you intend to build and finalise other supporting information to seek planning approval, building permit and septic tank permits (if required).
  • Lodge applications for planning, building and any other approvals that may be required.
  • Obtain final quotations, contract a registered builder, appoint a building surveyor , and engage any other specialists if required.
  • Seek legal advice on contracts if you are unsure.

The Victorian Building Authority has information in relation to quotations, contracts and consumer protection. 

The construction phase

This is general advice and may not apply specifically to your property. For more detailed information on your personal circumstances please contact the Rebuilding Planning Team on 9294 6999.

This stage explains itself – but there are still several steps you/or your builder need to undertake while the house gets built. These include:

  • Mandatory construction inspections at key stages of the build to be undertaken by your private building surveyor.
  • The final phase of construction the property is to obtain the Occupancy Permits  through your private building surveyor.

The completion phase

This is general advice and may not apply specifically to your property. For more detailed information on your personal circumstances please contact the Rebuilding Planning Team on 9294 6999.

It’s time to move into your new home. Here are some of the things you’ll be managing once you occupy the building:

  • Landscaping and other maintenance tasks, such as ensuring your defendable space is maintained.
  • Checking to ensure that any future works do not undo the effort put into creating a more bushfire resilient house – e.g. do not locate flammable things near the house.
  • Reviewing, updating and maintaining your fire preparation plan, emergency management plan and your survival plan.

 

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