Do YOU need a building permit to do a renovation?

The purpose of a building permit is to ensure that the renovations comply with local building codes, regulations, and safety standards, but it also gives you a piece of mind, as any illegal built won’t be covered by your house insurance in case something happened to you house.
Surely when you decide to put new coat paint on walls in your bedroom or change tiles in your bathroom you won’t need a permit. In general any minor alterations of your house, such as cosmetic changes or non-structural modifications, don’t require a building permit.
However, significant renovations or remodelling that involve structural changes or house layout alterations, such as removing of walls, widening the openings or adding new rooms require building permit.
Quite often it looks so logical and easy to remove the wall and open the space. However a lot of older houses are “stick built” – built piece-by-piece at the construction site.   It is quite impossible to say with 100 percent certainty which wall is used to support a ridge or rafters without proper investigation by professional designer, contractor or inspector. So it is very important to check before you demolish anything in your place.
Don’t get me wrong. It is a very rare when the wall cannot be removed, however at some instances it could be very expensive to do.  So, once again you need a proper investigation by professionals.

Do YOU need a building permit to do an extension?

Extensions involve expanding of the living space of the house, such as adding new rooms or even a floor. This means that footprint or even building envelope of the house is changed, expanded. This type of change will definitely require a building permit and possibly planning permit.
There is no”but we only want to move this wall out a half a meter” or “ it’s only alfresco”. Any house extensions will have to be approved for construction work. That goes for the decks and pergola over 10m2. I can’t stress it enough. It is HIGLY recommended to check your local regulations and Australian standards and codes.
Overall, having a clear idea of your goals and budget and working with professionals can help ensure that your home renovation, remodelling or extension project is successful, stress-free, and meets your expectations.
ACHIDEA GROUP provides independent advice and feasibility/risk assessment of the project of any size, from small renovations to multi- unit or apartment development. Please contact us for a comprehensive quote.