Building Plans for Older Buildings

[MangoMadness]

I need to get building plans to assist with knocking down walls and also for possibly raising the house, I have thought about applying and paying to see if there are records at the local council but i wonder if I am wasting my time and money.

Have you had experiences with getting plans from older properties from the local council? is it a waste of time or a worthwhile excercise?

I would love to hear your opinions and experiences

 

[Aaron_C]

You would need a structural engineer whether you had the old plans or not. They would find all the load bearing walls and provide advice on how to go about doing it.

 

[Gentle_Chief]

I need to get building plans to assist with knocking down walls and also for possibly raising the house, I have thought about applying and paying to see if there are records at the local council but i wonder if I am wasting my time and money.

Have you had experiences with getting plans from older properties from the local council? is it a waste of time or a worthwhile excercise?

I would love to hear your opinions and experiences

It wont cost you much to apply and see if there were old plans.
But it is a futile expense and time wasted in my opinion. Why because?
1) rescodes changes
2) old approved plans will no longer be applicable
3) what are the odds that the previous owners were wanting to do the same thing as you are proposing to do

 

[JD86]

all councils vary, but I have found most charge approx. $100 for any old plans they have on record, unfortunately, most councils only have records for houses up to 10-15 years old. It is worth a phone call to find out.

If they do have them, it is definitely worth purchasing them. As mentioned, you will need a strucutural engineer, and probably a draftsman, but at least both can use the measurements off the drawings to draw the new required drawings.

Otherwise the draftsman and/or structural engineer will need to go to site and measure the entire existing dwelling, which takes hours and I can tell you will cost more than $100.

 

[MangoMadness]

Thanks for your replies guys, much appreciated

all councils vary, but I have found most charge approx. $100 for any old plans they have on record, unfortunately, most councils only have records for houses up to 10-15 years old. It is worth a phone call to find out.

Good idea, unfortunately our council merged a few years ago so accurate information might not be there but still worth a call.

Otherwise the draftsman and/or structural engineer will need to go to site and measure the entire existing dwelling, which takes hours and I can tell you will cost more than $100.

I certainly expected the draftsman to cost more but just wondered whether $120 to throw the dice and see if the council had them was worth it or just put the $120 toward the draftsman and get plans that are current and relevent to 'now'

Some good thoughts, i think my next step is a quick call on monday and see what they say, the house is pretty old (60's) so my gut feeling is probably not to bother.

 

[Doovalacky]

I've done it a twice now. Mainly to ensure there were building permits issued for sheds/patios etc.

Oldest was 25years, had them within a day and cost $80.
1960's might be a long shot however.

 

[JD86]

I certainly expected the draftsman to cost more but just wondered whether $120 to throw the dice and see if the council had them was worth it or just put the $120 toward the draftsman and get plans that are current and relevent to 'now'

council wont charge unless they have anything on record.
just give them a call to find out

 

[Ocean Architect]

Last time I did this was about 3 months ago for a 33 year old building and I was easily able to get my hands on the entire building file including all engineering, permits, structurals etc for a $20 application fee and a page by page copy fee.

That being said, Aaron_C hit it right off the bat and regardless of what you do, you will require an engineer and permit before you do any of what you propose, so in my opinion, unless you're trying to save a little bit of money by doing your engineers work for him, it's a pointless exercise.

 

[Melbournian]

council wont charge unless they have anything on record.
just give them a call to find out

that is correct and it depend on the council. port phillip bay charges around $300. then again it was everything you could lay your hands on structural, plumbing, landscape plans, colour schemes etc etc.

you could first try by asking a builder to give some advice on which walls they think are structural, get a floorplan and then confirmation by the structural engineer. the more groundwork you do - the less the structural engineer would charge.

 

[marg4000]

Tried to get our house plans from the Brisbane City Council but they said their plans on file only went back to the early 1990s.

Wondering if this means we can do what we like and claim it was "always there"????????
Marg

 

[MangoMadness]

council wont charge unless they have anything on record.
just give them a call to find out

Actually for my council (moreton bay shire council) the form states

"Fees are charged primarily for the time taken to search council records and to a much lesser degree to provide a copy of the requested item. Consequently, there will be no refunds in the event the search was not successful."