Starting
Waffle Pod Raft Slab
A ‘Waffle Pod’ slab is now probably the most common Concrete ‘Raft’ House base. It has generally taken over from the Conventional Raft Foundation. It’s an example of composite construction with polystyrene pods forming the voids in the underside of…
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Building On Fill – Concrete Piers
Its not unusual for the Site Investigation Report for your new house to reveal loose fill materials above a more stable clay or rock. It might also reveal the soil is in poor condition. To deal with the problem of…
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Building a Long-Distance Home
Most people wanting to build a new home like to build it close by, but that doesn’t work for everyone. Why build at a long distance? Typical reasons for building long distance, including: Building a ‘Holiday’ home. Building a retirement…
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Building On Sand
Building on sand at first seems to be an issue…… although I have heard it said that sand is actually the easiest ‘soil to build on. If you live in West Australia there is a good chance that your house…
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Builders ‘SPECIAL OFFERS’
Have a look in the real estate section of the papers and you will see some builders are offering ‘Special Incentives’ for a limited period……………………..so should you rush in to take them up? Well I don’t think it makes any…
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Contracts – Provisional Sums
All new house building contracts will have a section for Provisional Sums. These are used for work that MAY be required, but the builder can’t provide an accurate estimate at the time of signing of the Contract. The main area…
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Travel Issues
It’s a Saturday morning and your partner says “Why don’t we go and look at some blocks that have been advertised in the paper?” So you jump in the car and in no time at all you are at the…
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Building On Clay Soils
Clay is a fairly common soil type. Although it is quite suitable for building one issue is that some types of clays (‘Reactive’ or ‘Desicated’ clay) that shrink or swell depending on the level of moisture. This can lead to…
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Battleaxe Block
Have you seen a ‘Battleaxe Block’ advertised and wondered what it is?………….Well it is a block that only has a 3-4m frontage on the street. Often these blocks are as a result of subdividing a long block with the rear…
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Standard Building Contract or ‘Owner Builder Contract’
Some small builders may suggest they can package build a house cheaper for you if you become an ‘Owner Builder’*. * Not be confused with True ‘Owner Building’ where you have the skills and propose doing a lot of the…
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