Nothing stays the same

When I think about the changes to the Queensland Building Act over the last ten years my head begins to spin. How much change can we deal with and keep track of it all? I'm then reminded there are other professions out there that have to deal with a lot more changes such as accountants and lawyers. Talk to an accountant about super and what date certain changes became applicable and you will realise we are not so bad off.
The best way to deal with changes is first deal with your attitude. Look at change as an opportunity. How will this help my business and customers. Attack the change early and be ready with new forms or training as soon as the change becomes applicable. The next is to track the change. Use a central document that the whole office can see and update this document as the changes occur. This quick record would be worth it's weight in gold.
I'm not saying we do this all the time at our work but if we don't we only have ourselves to blame

Bush fire

The new bushfire standard AS 3959 is now in force in Queensland. There is now 6 levels of bush fire construction instead of 3. The requirements are also in greater detail. Contact me if you want further details

Responsibility

What does this mean to you? I my certification business my responsibility is to ensure the building work complies with the Qld Building Act and I have the paper work (plans / certificates) that show how the building complies. This information is a mixture of requirements and experience and is used to protect us and the builder from complaints about the building over the life of the building. My idea of a good customer is an experienced builder that have systems in place that show they care about their work and ours. I am happy when a builder rings me up and asks why I did something because it means they are looking at our paperwork, they know what is normal and they understand the consequences if something is wrong.

Not only do we have to struggle in our business with the ecomic down turn but now our bank has decided to put a hold on our credit card due to a monthly transation limit which we did not know was there. They have been very nice and asked that I wait for 3 to 5 business days untill it is fixed and wait for 2 weeks before I can access the rewards programe. I said no problem I will also ask my customers to wait. So far the feed back is not good....

Tie down

I was asked a question the other day on "What tie down do I need". This is not a short answer. Tie down in construction is resisting wind uplift on a building.

1. The first thing is to determine the Uplift Load Area. Ask yourself how much area is this tie down holding down. Next you need the uplift force.
2. What is the force per sq m that is acting on the building. This can be determined by going to Australian Standard 1684. This standard will give you the uplift force based on the wind speed for the area (AS 4055) and the weight of the building being held down. So the uplift force on the roof / wall frame for a single storey dwelling located in a N3 wind rated area and with a sheet roof the uplift force is 1.33kPa.
3. Multiply you area and kPa to achieve a kN force. Say your area is 10 sq m then the uplift is 13.3kN.
4. Now you select a tie down connection rated at 13.3kN. Be careful to consider the joint group of the frame and the tie down capacity of the whole connection including the type of fixing into a concrete slab.

Easy.

For more info you can contact me at work

Local Planning Schemes

In my day to day work I need to reference the Local Planning Schemes to ensure I issue compliant building approvals. I have been using a good web site located in the Queensland State Government Dept of Infrastructure and Planning that has links to all of the local town plans in Qld. This has saved me time trawling through each local Government site. Enjoy

Welcome to the Building Certification blog

Welcome to our Blog. Over the next couple of months (and years), I hope to post useful information regarding the building approval and certification process.

In keeping with the theme of launches, I am also pleased to announce the launch of our new website which has been designed to provide you with a fresh, user friendly and informative site containing current information about the Building Certification services that we offer throughout South East Queensland; specialising in the greater Brisbane area, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Mackay.

Michael Ross.