Building your dream home is always an exciting experience, after all, this may be the house you spend you life making precious memories and even passed down to generations to come.
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The process of building your dream home begins with knowing exactly where your home will be located. As such, this step-by-step process begins with the assumption that you have legally acquired the land where your house will be built.
You should also try to include a contingency in your budget (e.g. at least 10% of your overall budget) to be utilised for unexpected cost, such as delays or additional construction requirements.
1. Arrange Financing
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One of the first things you need to have in place when building your dream home is the financing. Having the funds or knowing that the funds will be made available to you is crucial for your project and will give you an idea of what you can afford.
Funding can be procured from many of the financial institutions on island or even self-financing if you are so fortunate.
With funding from financial institution, the funds are released in a stage payment basis to ensure that your project is fully funded. This method provides some level of control to ensure that the finance your procured via credit goes to the intended project.
2. Set a Realistic Budget
Setting a firm and realistic budget is an essential step for you and your project. You should also try to include a contingency in your budget (e.g. at least 10% of your overall budget) to be utilised for unexpected cost, such as delays or additional construction requirements.
3. Finding an Architect/designer
This is where the fun begins. In this stage you need to select the architect to design your home i.e. taking your ideas and putting it to paper. You should carefully research on as many potential architects, study their work and select one whose work aligns with what you desire.
You can either choose a package supplier that gives your a turn-key experience (literally design and build your home for you), an architect who focuses on just the drawing or just a house designer, be sure to choose someone who understands your requirements and is able to produce thoughtful responses that fit with your budget.
3. Meeting with your Architect/designer
Meeting with you architect/designer is the start of bringing your project to life.
Have your architect/designer view the lot where the house will be situated.
Provide him/her with a copy of the map sheet to get a better appreciation of the property
Take this time to discuss your ideas about the house and ask as many questions as possible
A good idea is to get a topographical survey done to get a better understanding of the contours of the property
This stage usually take several steps, which may include:
Conceptual Design - prepare and present design concepts for preliminary review and approval
Schematic Design - design concept is is further developed from approved preliminary design
Final Design - final schematic design is produced
4. Finalizing your drawing and Submitting to the Development Control Authority (DCA) for approval
All land development requires the developer to first obtain permission from the Development Control Authority (DCA) before carrying out any type of development on land. Such development include:
Residential
Commercial
Land Subdivision
Change of Use
Repairs and Renovations
Erection of Tents
Obtaining legal approval from DCA, the developer must submit an application to the agency with accompanying documents such as, cover letter, drawings, land documents, survey plans and other required documents. In residential cases, the architect can submit the application and house drawings to DCA for approval on your behalf.
Drawing Requirements
Each drawing MUST show the following on each sheet
Title of drawing
Name of the Developer
Location of Development
Postal address (including Email)
All Telephone Numbers (including Mobile)
Scale of Drawing
Date of Drawing
Sheet Numbers
Name of the Designer/Technician
Postal address (including Email)
All Telephone Numbers (including Mobile)
Procedure for Registering Applications
All applications for development MUST be registered
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The developer or his agent presents applications at the Front Desk Counter for submission.
The application is checked by the Front Desk Clerks or Building Officers to ensure that the developer/agent has submitted all the requirements for the particular type of application being submitted.
Assuming all the requirements have been submitted, a payment slip is written up and given to the developer or his agent for payment of fees.
An application is not registered until fees have been paid for the application. Upon payment of the fees, the developer submits the application with the receipts showing proof that the fees have been paid.
The application is then registered by the Front Desk Clerks or Building Officers by registering all the information applicable to the application being submitted in the register of applications. The application is given a reference number, which will be the next consecutive number available in the register.
The information (applicable to the application) written in the register of applications is as follows:
Reference Number
Date of submission
Number of plans submitted
Applicant’s name
Block and Parcel Number
Location of development
District h) Approval type (full approval or approval in principle)
Application type e.g. commercial, residential, subdivision, etc.
Other types of applications not specified under application type, e.g tent, fence.
Area of development (building area or area of lots for subdivisions)
Number of bedrooms
Number of lots
Fees
Department Circulation dispatched and returned, i.e. receipt numbers
Decision
Recipient (person who receives application on presentation of registration slip)
Subdivision Number
Designer
Remarks (signature of officer registering application)
Once all the information relevant to the application (as indicated above) is entered in the registration book, an Acknowledgment Slip is prepared and given to the developer/agent. This slip must be presented when collecting the application. The Acknowledgment Slip also provides information relevant to the application, such as:
Applicant’s name
Address
Application Reference Number
Development type
Date submitted
Building Officer Zones
Office contacts
The officer registering the application must sign the Acknowledgment Slip on behalf of the Executive Secretary, Development Control Authority. The Acknowledgment Slip is also stamped with the Authority’s date stamp indicating the date the application was submitted. The officer registering the application then writes the reference number and stamps the date stamp on the top right hand corner of all the documents and drawings (individual sheets) of the application. The application is then referred to the Development Control 5 Officer or to the Executive Secretary who assigns it to an officer for processing.
Residential Application
The requirements for the submission of Residential Applications are:
1. Three (3) sets of architectural drawings done to scale to include:
♦ Site Plan indicating minimum setbacks
♦ Floor Plan
♦ Elevations (minimum three (3))
♦ Sections (minimum one (1))
♦ Roof Plan
♦ Foundation Plan
♦ Details
Roof Fixing
Foundation
♦ Details (if relevant)
Floor Framing Plan
Columns section
Longitudinal and Cross Sections of Beam
♦ Stair case Details (cross section)
2. One (1) Recent Copy of Land Register – to be obtained at the Land Registry Department
3. Notarized letter of consent (if applicable)
4. One (1) Copy of Survey Plan – to be obtained at the Lands & Survey Department 10
5. One (1) Copy of Location Plan (topographic sheet) and LRTP map extract – to be obtained at . the Lands & Survey Department
6. Two (2) Building Forms – to be obtained at the Lands & Survey Department (completed and . . duly signed)
7. Public Health Approval or WASCO Approval (where applicable).
Residential Building Development Fees
Residential building less than 500 sq. ft.(46.45 square meters) gross floor area - $20.00
Residential building between 500 – 1000 sq. ft.(46.45 – 92.90 sq m) gross floor area - $35.00
Residential building in excess of 1,000 sq. ft. (92.90 sq m) gross floor area - $0.15 per sq. ft. ($1.62 per sq.m.)
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