A geotechnical assessment (sometimes known simply as a ‘Geotech’ or a geotechnical report) is basically an investigation into the soil on your section. The report will tell you what hazards you have on your site, for example, if the section is on a fault line or is prone to flooding. It will also tell you if your soil is soft, hard, or somewhere in between. A local planning company (like Stratum Consultants) will undertake this report for you. We can point you towards a company that can help you with this or your draughtsman may work closely with someone in your town. Why is this report so important? This report dictates what sort of foundations your new home will require. Your local council needs to know what is going in the ground to ensure your home is safe and we need to know what to put in the ground to make sure the Council are happy. In some cases (not too often) the Geotechnical Assessment will say that the ground is not great and you won’t be able to use standard timber foundations. This doesn’t mean you can’t build; it just means some stronger foundations need to be designed. A Structural Engineer will design these for you and they will likely work at the same company as the Geotech to make it all so simple.

There is a second report you may need to lodge with your Local Building Consent and that is called a Stormwater Assessment (or stormwater report). This assessment is an investigation into water disposal. It is prepared by a Civil Engineer and is most often done in conjunction with the Geotechnical Assessment (at the same time, by the same company). This report will tell you and your draughtsman whether or not you need to put some on-site soakage into your section. This report is not always required so the best person to speak to is your draughtsman or your local planning company. They will be able to let you know if you need this.

Survey pegs (also known as boundary pegs) identify the perimeter of your section. Sometimes these are clearly marked out on your section. If you can’t find these you may need to employ a Surveyor to put these in. They will identify the exact footprint of your site (a surveyor will likely call this Title Boundary Identification or a title boundary survey).

 From the boundary a Surveyor can mark out exactly where your new home will be placed on your section. This is called marking out the house footprint. You can do this yourself by measuring off your boundary pegs but we do recommend employing a surveyor to do this if you are in any way unsure of your boundary. It is your responsibility to make sure we put your new home in the right spot and if it is slightly out then your local Council may require you to move it. The local planning company you used for your Geotech and/or Stormwater Assessments are also likely to be able to take care of your surveying needs. It may sound daunting but employing a local planning company and a draughtsman will make the process very simple and Exeter Homes are at the end of the phone if you have any questions along the way!

Once your Local Building Consent has been approved, we can deliver your new home to your site. Please contact us for a delivery estimate. You will need to clearly mark out the location of your new home; you can either appoint a surveyor to do this (see Surveying above) or you can measure the position off your existing boundary pegs. It is important that the building is positioned in the exact right location otherwise your local council may ask you to move it. We will come in and install your foundations, place your house onto these foundations and secure the house in place. Occasionally a site may require stronger or deeper foundations that we can personally install. If this happens (your Geotech report will tell you this) we will talk you through the process of what you need to do and help connect you with people who can help. Now you are ready to connect your new home up to services.

Connecting up to ‘services’ means making sure your new home has access to power, water, telecommunications (phone and internet) and drainage. Your draftsman and local planning company will be able to advise exactly how all your services need to be placed on your site. They will most likely create an Engineering Plan for you which will show you how to lay everything out. You can hand this Engineering Plan over to a Civil Works company who will often take care of the entire process for you or you can employ a drainlayer, plumber and electrician to take care of each part of the process. All our homes come complete with all electrical requirements to a meter box and you need to get that meter box connected to the powerline. The same applies to water and waste-water. How is this done? A drainlayer or Civil Works company will dig a trench (or trenches) from your boundary to your new home. They will connect your home up to the Council sewerage and/or stormwater system or install on-site soakage as required. You will need an electrician to connect the power and a plumber to connect the water. Ducting will need to be placed in the trench to allow for your fibre connection.

There are a few finishing touches to be made to your new home which you can employ a local builder to do, or undertake yourself; such as adding baseboards, curtains, heating, entranceway steps, and decking. If you want to add any elaborate decking ask your draftsman to add that to your Local Building Consent at the start of the process and make sure everything meets the Building Code Standard. At this point, you should be ready to apply for a Code of Compliance Certificate from your local council and you can move into your new home! Your draughtsman can help you with your CCC (Code of Compliance Certificate) application form.