We are just about to start on a new journey which takes me personally down a very different and new road (Project Managing the build of our new house). So this year is going to be a very BIG year for me as not only am I home schooling Jordan part-time (I share the home schooling with Paul - he does the Maths & Science related subjects), I am starting my own business AND now Project Managing the build of our house. Exciting and Scary at the same time - I actually think I am really crazy to be considering all of this!!
We bought some land at Marysville about 6 months ago and started looking into what type of house we wanted to build - would we go down the conventional road, a transportable home, maybe a kit home OR what about a Shipping Container Home........
Well the Shipping Container idea just kept stumbling back into our minds. We did some research and found that the more information we found out about them, the more & more we liked the idea.
So where do we go from here - do we get somebody to do the conversions totally or do we go down the Owner Builder route? We are thinking it will probably be a bit of both but we are still looking into that one and don't yet know the full answer.
While we are considering our options, we really need to start getting everything together for the Building Permit.
BAL Rating
As we are building in a Fire Zone we were required to get a BAL Rating which is a new assessment to measure how vulnerable the home will be to bushfire attack. Our BAL rating has come back at the lowest rating of 12.5 (we were expecting 19 but they are both very similar) so we are very pleased.
Soil Test Report
This will impact the type of foundations required for the build. Now our foundations are going to be quite different from what is required for conventional building foundations and I am still getting my head around all of this in relation to the soil test report and who exactly determines what we need. I believe there are actually quite a few options available to us.
Plans
We have been playing around with plans for quite a few months and have drawn these up on the computer. They will have to be drawn up professionally by a Drafts person or Architect and we will also need to have them reviewed & signed off by a Structural Engineer.
We met up with James today who is building a Shipping Container home near Healesville with a friend. They have a website www.odpod.com.au if you are interested in checking it out or just click on this link. Their house is amazing. James also answered a lot of our questions and we are now really keen to get things rolling.
So the next step for us is to organise meetings with a couple of different companies to get costings /quotes and then determine which way we want to go. This will be a factor in who we then get to draw up the plans etc etc.
I'm not sure if this is a shipping container conversion but it is very similar to what we are planning.
I am really keen to keep a journal of this new adventure and for now anyway, I will be doing that here so I look forward to writing on a more regular basis and hope you join me.
Janine xxx
