160mm

A little bit more update on our house. Just before we embark on our Easter holiday, we were informed of some bad news. It appeared that due to our land being a corner lot and set next to a road, the house is required to have a minimum setback of 2000mm from the edge on the side next to the road. Ours had a 1840mm setback, short of 160mm or 16cm. Simonds informed us that since our house is already parked right to the edge on the other side, we will need to reduce the width of our house by 16cm. Straight away, they proposed to cut the width of the entry area. It was only after asking than I found out this meant we can't have double doors any more and I'm not happy about that. What made us confused and astonished was why no one from Simonds had the knowledge to inform us of this policy until now. If we had known that in the beginning, we might have chosen another house design.

One thing I have learnt from dealing with Simonds is not to trust every word they tell you. Sometimes they don't know their facts or sometimes they'll doing it on purpose for their advantage. So first of all, I asked Hubby to double check the 2m setback policy with Council but it turned out to be true. Then I challenged the fact that the 'road' next to our site is actually a 'lane' as stated in its name 'Alana Lane'. I was told that even though they name it a lane, it is in fact classified a road as it is 6m wide. I made them send me documentary proof for this.

We later learnt from the developer, who has by now become like an ally, that we could actually ask for a dispensation of the rule. (See? Simonds didn't even tell us about this option. We only found out by asking someone else.) Since it was only 16cm, we were likely to succeed. The night before we set off, we wrote an email to Simonds requesting that they ask for a dispensation. While driving along Hume Hwy the next day, they replied that they could but asking for a dispensation involved giving notice to all the adjacent neighbours and asking if anyone objects to the dispensation.What? How come reducing the setback on our own land needs the consent of neighbours?

Worse, this process of asking and waiting for their response might take 6 - 8 weeks before we get the green light! Again, the concern about the site start date comes to play. The Customer Service rep recommended that it would be faster and easier to work on where to reduce the 16cm from our house. She compromised by saying that if we want to keep our double doors, we can sit down and work together on where else the reduction can be. After considering, we agreed to meet her after the holidays.


Much as we would like to keep the original size of the house, we agreed that a cut of 16cm is not a significant difference in a house that's 14.5m wide. Even though we know that agreement from the neighbours to the dispensation would not be difficult to get through the developer's help, we also wanted to start construction as soon as possible.

All the finance approvals are in place and the land was finally settled on 20 Apr. We are ready to go as soon as we decide whether to shrink the pantry/study or the lounge. In the end, MY pantry won. Storage space for all my cooking ingredients and appliances is precious. The lounge, it will be a little narrower, but I don't think it'll be missed at all. I hope I'm right.....