Hello breeezers looking to build a small 2-3 bedroom dwelling on a block close to bushland.The idea is to build it myself as I am a carpenter and the end result is to have an affordable small house to live / holiday in near the coast. It has to be fire-rated due to its location to the bush. Has anyone done this before? What are the hidden costs involved that I should take into account? Has anyone used a kit home company before? Is there material buying power worth it?

If you're building yourself it'll be cheaper if you just buy the materials and build from scratch. Kit companies need to make a profit and they do that by marking up their kits. Plus, the kits use very flimsy structural components yet you pay for the kit company's profit. Spend your money on more solid off the shelf structural components.

As for the fire rating, every block and every house location on that block has a specific fire rating that needs to be calculated using the BAL system. The level of fire resistant construction depends on many factors and you will probably need professional input on that.

My tip is design the whole house on a logical grid that minimises material waste and has a repetitive superstructure. For instance, if you can put 20 sheets of Spandek on the roof and they're all exactly the same - that's a very affordable roof. If every floor joist is the same length - happy days. Depending on the fire rating required, you may need to go for aluminium or even steel framed windows if its Flame Zone.

Best wishes.

As a Chippy....what he said ^^^^^^.
Kit houses don't include base. Draw up properly , slab on ground, stick build frame and truss roof. You can make it quicker by using ready made frames.

I built some windows for a bal 29 about 2 years ago double glazed [ you can only use spotted gum or blackbutt ] was 30 k for a small 3 bed house.Thats just the windows .

My parents bought a flat, plantless block backing onto a golf course in the middle of surburbia in Dawesville. Houses each side, going up and down the road, with houses on the other side. All vegetation on the non golf course side was removed years ago...its a suburban desert. Ocean 350m away with the estuary in view 1km away and the actual Cut 400m away. So surrounded by water and suburbia but with a gold course. Sh1t it was a cleared tip years ago if some remember...they build a massive cut and destroyed every tree within 500m each side...up and down.

So a BAL didn't even cross out minds!!!!

it got a BAL rating of 29...which means you cannot build on it whatsoever!!!! I'm not kidding you!!. they might as well be building on a big bush block on acreage in Rolleystone!!!

without a very expensive "fire Management plan" which includes in the vicinity of 10-20K of changing the building structure and materials... and that doesn't even include the cost of implementing the plan - vegetation wise... they MAY have been able to build...

It was contested a few times at the council on their behalf, (the builder/designer happened to be a council member in perth and layed down the hammer to them, threatening legal contested action) and presto...they changed the zoning... no worries go ahead and build.

From zero building ability to .. go ahead, no changes needed.

I'd be looking into the BAL situation way before I'd even begin looking at your building design and construction options.

This BAL thing is out of control and it's still feeling its way into the actual reality on the ground. Suss that out man seriously. These council twits have well and truly lost the plot.

Yep, sort out your BAL rating first, if it's just a small dwelling you can maybe move the house around a metre or more away from the bush, to get it into a lower BAL rating.
you can do the BAL rating yourself, its all in black and white as an Australian standard, get your tape measure out, there is no ambiguity about it, council might want a higher rating...just for the hell of it!, you can argue with them, which might work. Also you can have different BAL ratings for different elevations, so you only need a higher rating for the elevation that actually faces the bush, that I'll save a lot of money.

Buy a big mother caravan and tow it away if there is a fire about.

That's actually a good idea if the BAL rating is astronomical and budget is short.

Alternatively, build a structure that's not technically habitable and "camp". That is, stay off grid and have operable walls made of fabric or the like.....you might just get this by the responsible authority if you do it cleverly.

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Adriano said..
That's actually a good idea if the BAL rating is astronomical and budget is short.

Alternatively, build a structure that's not technically habitable and "camp". That is, stay off grid and have operable walls made of fabric or the like.....you might just get this by the responsible authority if you do it cleverly.

This is another option. I would however like power & water, especially a proper toilet! I will continue to look into it.

Define "proper toilet"

my guess is one the wife wife will be happy with

Just dont tell the council. Mabe up for green brown water sewerage waste systems, clause if your not on mains water to install x rainwater tank If you live in a high fire hazard zone some materials may have to be noncombustible on the build. Does the property come with a building envelope? If it does build to the back of the building envelope and maintain the 20metre non combustable fire exclusion zone plus the 20 metre thinned out excuusion zone to the back of your dwelling implimented by the FESA recomendation. (extends your building envelope). depending on the council you may have to build your house with a tree running thru the centre of it . First step would be getting Fesa to evaluate the fire hazard level and then looking into the council compliance codes for building if they have one..p.s being a holiday home if it gets to much it mabe an option store a couple of fully luxury furbished truck trailers on the property.

Just build a warehouse. Pour onsite Tilt a few walls and live in it instead. If your a chippy itll be a piece of piss

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ok said..

Adriano said..
That's actually a good idea if the BAL rating is astronomical and budget is short.

Alternatively, build a structure that's not technically habitable and "camp". That is, stay off grid and have operable walls made of fabric or the like.....you might just get this by the responsible authority if you do it cleverly.

This is another option. I would however like power & water, especially a proper toilet! I will continue to look into it.

Unless you live in a desert and have no access to sun, you have power and water.
BTW you can still connect water and grid power and call it non-habitable....call it a shelter or shed.

Years back, friends of ours built a holiday house in Bindoon, concrete slab for the floor [and iirc the verandah as well] with grooves that the wall panels dropped into.

The wall panels were of varying widths, and bolted together with a sealant to fill any gaps, standard sized ally window frames hooked straight in, timber panelling or gyprock for internal walls, steel framing and tin for the roof.

Took a couple of weekends to put up the shell, and when finished it would have been pretty much impossible to burn via bushfire or ember attack.

Concrete panel walls well positioned with infill frames and scyon matrix with set down scullion roof and exspances of glass into recessed walled alfresco

Straw bale.

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Mark _australia said..
Straw bale.

In a bushfire zone......

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Adriano said..

Mark _australia said..
Straw bale.

In a bushfire zone......

I assumed that Mark was joking, but in reality these have layers of earth on each side, so are these sorts of construction permissable in fire zones? I expect the answer to be no, but is it?

They've just come in with some rules locally in this regard, Tbh if my house was that close to being at risk, I'd prefer it to burn down and build new instead of a repair job, if used as safety in heavily combustible areas I can see the logic in this, build and insurance costs spike for sure

3 times the fire resistance of conventional houses according to some!


www.strawbale.com

"The fire resistance of straw bale walls is far superior in that it's not based solely on the covering materials. The resistance comes from the entire wall assembly. Thick layers of fire resistant plaster cover the walls. Beneath that, the density of the bales provides a secondary layer of defense. The bales are so tightly packed, that flames cannot penetrate them. There simply isn't enough free oxygen to sustain flame spread"

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FormulaNova said..

Adriano said..

Mark _australia said..
Straw bale.

In a bushfire zone......

I assumed that Mark was joking, but in reality these have layers of earth on each side, so are these sorts of construction permissable in fire zones? I expect the answer to be no, but is it?

Yes he was but it wouldn't surprise me if it had a better rating than we think, loads used to build steel frame and truss where timber has a better performance

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Ian K said..
3 times the fire resistance of conventional houses according to some!


www.strawbale.com

"The fire resistance of straw bale walls is far superior in that it's not based solely on the covering materials. The resistance comes from the entire wall assembly. Thick layers of fire resistant plaster cover the walls. Beneath that, the density of the bales provides a secondary layer of defense. The bales are so tightly packed, that flames cannot penetrate them. There simply isn't enough free oxygen to sustain flame spread"

Yes thats why I mentioned it

2ft thick walls have insanely high insulation, and they are very fire resistant with the cement rendered outer and compressed inner

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Mark _australia said..

Ian K said..
3 times the fire resistance of conventional houses according to some!


www.strawbale.com

"The fire resistance of straw bale walls is far superior in that it's not based solely on the covering materials. The resistance comes from the entire wall assembly. Thick layers of fire resistant plaster cover the walls. Beneath that, the density of the bales provides a secondary layer of defense. The bales are so tightly packed, that flames cannot penetrate them. There simply isn't enough free oxygen to sustain flame spread"

Yes thats why I mentioned it

2ft thick walls have insanely high insulation, and they are very fire resistant with the cement rendered outer and compressed inner

2ft walls eh is it resistant to big bad wolves?

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Ian K said..
3 times the fire resistance of conventional houses according to some!


www.strawbale.com

"The fire resistance of straw bale walls is far superior in that it's not based solely on the covering materials. The resistance comes from the entire wall assembly. Thick layers of fire resistant plaster cover the walls. Beneath that, the density of the bales provides a secondary layer of defense. The bales are so tightly packed, that flames cannot penetrate them. There simply isn't enough free oxygen to sustain flame spread"

Did you ever test them Ian in your giant burner ?

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Mark _australia said..

Ian K said..
3 times the fire resistance of conventional houses according to some!


www.strawbale.com

"The fire resistance of straw bale walls is far superior in that it's not based solely on the covering materials. The resistance comes from the entire wall assembly. Thick layers of fire resistant plaster cover the walls. Beneath that, the density of the bales provides a secondary layer of defense. The bales are so tightly packed, that flames cannot penetrate them. There simply isn't enough free oxygen to sustain flame spread"

Yes thats why I mentioned it

2ft thick walls have insanely high insulation, and they are very fire resistant with the cement rendered outer and compressed inner

Yep I know of a few built in high fire danger areas. They're actually quite good and affordable - if you can put in the labour yourself.

You have to love that adobe look.

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kato said..

Ian K said..
3 times the fire resistance of conventional houses according to some!


www.strawbale.com

"The fire resistance of straw bale walls is far superior in that it's not based solely on the covering materials. The resistance comes from the entire wall assembly. Thick layers of fire resistant plaster cover the walls. Beneath that, the density of the bales provides a secondary layer of defense. The bales are so tightly packed, that flames cannot penetrate them. There simply isn't enough free oxygen to sustain flame spread"

Did you ever test them Ian in your giant burner ?

No only fire tankers. Our colleagues at building research specialised in structural fires . A little rivalry. Structural fires are very dependant on furnishings. which they examined in great detail. After one of the major bushfires they dabbled in our zone and analysed the sequence of houses going down in bushfires. The conclusion was that embers came in under the door, landed on the sofa, so destroying the house from the inside. The response from our illustrious leader was "Once a chair burner always a chair burner".

So a steel couch is very much recommend in the fire zone

^^^^^No a straw bale couch is recommended

I watch alot of grand designs and im yet to see a warehouse on it with a couple english twits living in the carport 3 years later budget blown out and trying to sell it as is.

Seen alot of hippy rammd earth tires and straw bale stuff tho having issues.

God its easy just to knock up a bloody airport /hanger or warehouse. Why would you build anything else?
If you go out bush everyones got a airstrip. Youll have enough spair change to drive a muscle car up and down it.

^^^Yeah they're fun in 45deg.

3. Eight person tents. You can make yourself a mansion for $807 for another couple hundred you could get yourself a barbie. Then your set about $1500 you got yourself a fully set up spot.

www.amazon.com.au/Coleman-Silver-Person-Instant-Up-Dome/dp/B076VNV156/ref=asc_df_B076VNV156/?tag=googleshopmob-22&linkCode=df0&hvadid=341793556496&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10730992445013203318&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9068911&hvtargid=pla-674271990944&psc=1