Plan ‘A’

The last time I submitted a plan to the municipal council for planning permission was way back  around 1992 for the house in Hamerkop Road. I filled out a one-page form and attached a copy of the plan. We then gave the go-ahead to Mr Achmat Magiet, our builder, and that was that. The only other correspondence or contact I ever had with any official was simply the completion certificate which arrived in the post about six months after the final work was done.

Now, in 2014 I am about to submit the application for building permission for our “granny flat” extension to an existing house. All going well, I will try to hand in the following wad (150 pages!) of paperwork (plus the required not-so-shy scrutiny payment) tomorrow:

1 copy of the Certificate of Design Work by the architect (3 pages)

1 copy of Residential: Application for A Building Consent (12 pages)

1 copy of Checksheet: Single Residential Dwelling and Accessory Building (5 pages)

2 copies of the detailed building specification (9 pages each) according to which the building contractors are obliged to work;

2 copies of the Risk Matrix Calculation (1 page each)

2 copies of the Bracing Plan and calculations (4 pages each)

2 copies of the Producer statement for Truss Design ( 4 pages each) from Mitek NZ Ltd;

2 copies of a product specification sheet for the Saniaccess 3 Macerator (1 page each)

2 copies of the Heat Loss summary for all the elements (7 pages each)

2 copies of External Moisture (17 pages each)

2 copies of architect-drawn plans W1 to W9 (9 A3 pages each)

2 copies of the original property purchase agreement to prove ownership of the land (13 pages each)

Similar wads of paperwork have been sent to four prospective builders, who will hopefully submit tender prices for the completion of the work. They need to hand in their prepared tenders on or before 8 May 2014. Let’s wait and see…

The Council requires 20 working days to complete their process, unless they call for additional information…