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Consumer & Business Services
New guide to help consumers to build, extend and renovate with ease
The Building, extending and renovating booklet has recently been updated by Consumer and Business Services (CBS) to help consumers to know their rights and responsibilities when building a new home or renovating an existing property.
The new edition of the booklet now includes information on other topics of interest such as solar panels and battery storage. The Building, extending and renovating booklet also contains handy tips and information on:
• different building options
Here are some of the tips for consumers that are outlined in the booklet.
Owner-builders
Being an owner-builder means taking on responsibility for the entire building project. This includes managing quotes and contracts with tradespeople. Owner-builders don’t need to hold formal trade qualifications to perform building work, unless they perform specialist work like plumbing, gas fitting and electrical work.
Other responsibilities for owner-builders include things such as:
• obtaining development approval from the local council
• arranging for power, water and toilet to the site
• ordering and managing delivery of materials
• keeping records of the project
• hiring a supervisor or private certifier to sign the Statement of
Compliance.
Renovations
When planning to upgrade or remodel a home, there may be some extra financial and legal requirements such as:
• upgrading existing electrical wiring, plumbing and gas fittings to meet
current standards
• asbestos removal, or the need to work around asbestos
• older, imperial-sized building products needing conversions to metric
sized products.
Compliance documents
When work is completed, all registered workers who did plumbing, gas fitting or electrical work on the property are required to provide a Certificate of Compliance, certifying that all works have been performed to relevant standards. If the project has been managed by a builder, a two- part Statement of Compliance must be completed and signed by both the builder and the property owner. The builder certifies that the work has been carried out to relevant standards, and the property owner certifies that the work performed is in line with the plans and specifications of the original development approval issued by the local council. The Statement of Compliance is then submitted to the local authority.
See the new guide
Copies are now available to view online from the ‘Resource Centre’ on the CBS website: www.cbs.sa.gov.au/resource-centre
• what paperwork is required and should be kept
• the building process
• planning an extension
• certificates of compliance
• terminating a contract
• what to do if any issues arise with a licensed contractor.
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