December 30, 2016 Regulations and your luxury home
With a myriad of regulations impeding every new homebuilder’s dream, it’s an all too common tale of woe reported by Sydney home builders, that clients’ construction vision starts to blur amid a fog of clauses and standards. Put simply, you have a picture perfect visual which has remained in your mind for the months leading up to securing your new abode, only to be cut down when your builder advises you of certain troublesome rules.
The best sydney home builders are not deterred by these regulations; in fact they know some clever ways to work around them.
General examples of restrictive regulations might include rules on minimum setbacks. Such regulations stipulate that if there are already buildings on either side of your own building, that there must be setback measuring around nine metres from surrounding boundary points. This may be reduced by a few metres if there are no surrounding buildings. Luxury house plans circumvent this regulation by including small extras such as a porch, verandah or pergola at the front of the house. Home builders sydney also advise on the inclusion of front yards which can be extended that little bit extra without breaking the rules.
Another regulation that bothers many new home builders relates to the allowable heights of buildings. In simple terms, this regulation restricts buildings from towering over the buildings on either side of them. In particular the building height cannot be over nine metres, which can sometimes deadlocks homeowners in terms of fully executing their plans. Luxury modern homes eliminate this issue by avoiding ‘over developing’ and instead ‘under developing’. In other words, they will literally develop downwards, creating living space underneath the house by including a basement or underground haven such as a home theatre or wine cellar.
Unfortunately for home builders with a very specific vision, nature can also come into play with building regulations that relate to trees regarded as ‘significant’ and therefore protected from removal by zealous home builders. There may be an unsightly tree overtaking your future property, but unfortunately there are limits in place to ensure you can’t just take it down and be done with it. There are good reasons for such protection: During the process of photosynthesis, trees take in carbon dioxide and produce the oxygen we breathe. They contribute to urban environments by providing oxygen, improving air quality, cooling the air temperature, conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife.
Nevertheless, if you’re spending hundreds and thousands of dollars to build a home, being sent off track by a tree can be an irritating setback that may dramatically alter your luxury house plans. One option is to get the relevant permission to cut down the tree and plant a less obtrusive one in its place, but an even better solution is to build around the tree. Some of the most unique luxury homes in sydney incorporate large trees in their design and can look spectacular.
