We nearly have our Building Permit!

One of the challenges with building is that it takes an inordinate amount of patience. For a long time it feels like nothing is happening as you wait for Council to finally open your file and take a look at your planning application. Often there will be a number of “Requests for Information” (RFI’s) which ask you to review and amend things that push the boundaries of the local planning code. Add to that the complexities of navigating a Heritage Overlay and time simply seems to stand still.  
 
For Barry House two rounds of RFI’s resulted in a scaling back of our internal atrium as the local Heritage advisor would not approve skylights in the existing tin roof. Sigh…. We also wanted a taller fence for privacy and noise reduction which was knocked back by Council. So now we’ll have to get funky with some hedging plants instead. 
 
We find ourselves now almost on the downhill run to achieving our permit. We have the neighbourhood advertising underway and hope that our new community finds our restoration an appealing option and one which adds value (rather than detracts).   
 
What kind of things are we doing whilst we are waiting? 

• Kitchen test drive – singularly the biggest and most helpful thing we have done in our planning process.  

• Shopping around – searching for period features and recycled materials takes time and patience. Sometimes it’s a willingness to drive a fair distance to find that perfect piece. Facebook Marketplace has proved the best gold mine thus far.
• Internal strip out – removing what is no longer required has been no mean feat and involved many rubbish skips and mountains of dust. First we’ve carefully removed all the pieces – fireplaces, skirting, doors etc – that we intend to reuse. We then went about stripping the old plaster and lath together with generations of carpet and rotted floor timbers to get us back to bare bones. Several of our clients have had success selling bits and pieces prior to the demolition and it’s a great way to add some money back into the budget.   
• Sustainability study – we have set ourselves an ambitious target of being a 6-star self-sustaining home which can be a challenging prospect for a weatherboard cottage. We are working with an energy consultant to define extensive insulation and ensure thermal efficiency throughout. Solar energy provisions are being designed together with battery back-up. Whilst we know this will add about $25k to the build cost we feel this will pay for it’s self in the longer term. 
• Appliance research – we’ve been to check out the appliance retailers to inform ourselves on the latest in technology. It is somewhat mind blowing to know how much diversity is available. From fridges that are touch screen enabled to steam ovens you can pre-set to have your roast ready when you walk in the door, the choices are endless. Combining our showroom learning and reviewing Choice.com for more community recommendations we are narrowing down our brand and model choices to a smaller playing field.  
• Colour planning – this is an incredibly personal part of the journey and can be a delicate area to navigate balancing your aesthetic with current trends and finding just the right shade of white (there is said to be 486 shades!). We have Blu Tacked paint samples in our current home and are living with them to see which ones we like the most over time. The next step is to assemble a shorter list and do some onsite testing once we have walls to play with in our new home. As the light varies colours can and do presently differently based on location (a bit like the way perfumes smell different on different people).   

 
As we get closer to having our permit in hand we are also finalising the design components that inform our project budget. This has meant a lot of exchanges of text, email and Pinterest Boards to create our internal ‘aesthetic’ and determine our choice of finishing’s. We have stepped out of builder mode and handed over the reins to our expert in-house designer Anita Sweeney (https://www.buildingevolution.com.au/about.html) Anita has expertly navigated by our needs and wants, creating designs which blow our mind and introduce materials and finishes we’ve never seen or thought of before. Traversing the fine line between our wish list (big) and our budget (small) we are in awe of what has been achieved. With Anita’s superpower in storage maximisation and family functionality we are confident our Kitchen is an award winner in the making. 
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