We’re not mind readers or psychologists, but we can guess what you’re thinking. It’s August and the cold winter weather in Geelong is still in full force. But let’s be a little optimistic here. It’s only around two weeks until winter ends (at least officially) and on some days you can feel the spring weather in the air, so it’s time to start planning for summer outdoor living with a new verandah for your home.
The other reason why it’s important to start planning now is that it can take a while to get a new verandah for your Geelong built. Or more correctly, through the red tape process.
As we’ve highlighted before in our blogs, while Outside Concepts can design and build a new outdoor living area for you quite quickly, most projects need to have local planning permission. This can add weeks – and in some cases months – to the timeline of a project.
So if you start planning now, your new Geelong outdoor living area might not be ready until October or even later.
And here we were trying to be optimistic!
The planning process in Geelong for outdoor living areas
In theory, the City of Greater Geelong’s process for applying for a building permit is simple and can be found on their website. In fact, it involves only three steps:
- Completing a building permit application form.
- Providing documents and plans for your project.
- Paying for the application.
For the construction of outdoor living areas in Geelong, including verandahs, decks and carports, there’s also a checklist you can follow to ensure you provide the correct documents and plans. The checklist items include:
- A Certificate of Title.
- A site location plan, drawn to scale.
- Drawings of your project, including elevations and storm water design.
- In some cases, you may also need to provide structural engineering designs, a bushfire assessment level and design, soil reports and more.
Yes, we know what you’re thinking again. Suddenly the process doesn’t sound so easy!
Let Outside Concepts in Geelong help
Local government processes may not be simple to you, but your local Outside Concepts branch manager in Geelong deals with them all the time, so understands what’s required. And he can help you every step of the way.
Introducing Jaan McKenzie, a Geelong local who has vast experience in building outdoor living areas, including verandahs, patios and pergolas. Like all our Outside Concepts branches, helping people navigate their way through local planning is part of the job.
This not only reduces the stress on you to gather all the information required, it also helps to speed up the process. So, with a bit of luck, you could be enjoying a barbecue with friends or relaxing with your family before summer is here.
To find out more and to get Jaan to provide you with a free discussion, design and quote, phone 1800 601 674 or go to Jaan’s branch page and submit a contact form. He’ll then organise a time to pay you a visit and get the process rolling.
Looking for a solution to your outdoor lifestyle? Call us now for a free quote on 1800 601 674.
Thinking of building a new outdoor living area, such as a verandah, for your Geelong home? Get the ball rolling now so you can hopefully be in your verandah before summer is here.