The Process

Quoting

After you have have made contact with our office you will be encouraged to make a time for Mark to visit you on site or have a meeting in the Plan Vision office, depending on what type of project you are thinking of undertaking.

Every project is different depending on factors such as site slope, size of the project, whether it is single storey or two storey, whether there are bushfire issues, planning issues, flood issues etc.

Plan Vision's pricing takes all these into consideration. You could be doing the same project on a different site and the prices would be different depending on the circumstances.

Once complete we can provide a written quote on site or via email or you can look at going ahead straight away. We can usually start site measuring or organising a survey and discussing the design further with you right away.

Example of a Quote (826 KB)

Client Agreement/Inclusions

If you would like to go ahead straight away or if you call back at a later stage and get everything started, we will fix the prices outlined in our quote or discussed on site in our Fee Agreement. Unless you decide to do something different from what is discussed originally our prices are fixed and won't change.

We attempt to organise everything for your project and the quote will try and give an estimate of everything that will be involved with your project.

We don't require a deposit to start, just a completed Fee Agreement. We will invoice you at the end of each stage.

Example of a 3 Stage Fee Agreement (1,301 KB)

Example of a 4 Stage Fee Agreement (1,302 KB)

Example of an Invoice (193KB)

Site Measure/Survey

The first step in the design process for additions and alterations is a comprehensive site measure. We will measure the existing house, take levels, photos and even videos of your property. Once this is done we will also have a much better idea of how everything goes together and can provide further design advice and isolate any Council or other issues we think might affect your project.

If you are looking at a new dwelling, dual occupancy, or unit development the first step is usually to obtain a detailed survey of the property through Parker Scanlon Surveyors.

We may do quick sketches with you on site if it is a relatively simple job or we may just talk to you about your design, but in most cases, from the first measure up we will draft just the existing plans first, then have a further office meeting to discuss the design. This is done in front of you using our CAD software, and you can start to see the project coming together.

Example of a Site Measure (637 KB)

Example of a Site/Office Sketch (1,034 KB)

Example Video of what you will see when you come into the office for the Design Meeting

Concept Design

Once the site measure has been completed, the survey received, or the office design meeting completed we can look at completing some concept plans depending on the type of job. This does not occur on every job as some additions we can take right up to full working drawings from the outset.

In both cases though, full plans or concept plans, they are as much for you to look at what we have done and let us know any changes or ask any questions you may have. We will then refine the plans and get them finalised, or in the case of concept plans, do any changes then finish the working drawings.

Example of Concept Plans for Additions (1,277 KB)

Example of Concept Plans for a New Dwelling (2,327 KB)

Example of Concept Plans for a Unit Development (1,019 KB)

Final Plans

Whether we are taking your plans straight to working drawings from the start or after we have completed some concept plans, we will then complete the final plans. Depending on the staging of your proposal, these final plans might be full working drawings or Development Application (DA) only drawings.

In both cases the plans will be forwarded on to you for a final look over before the rest of the processes are started.

At this stage you will also get a What Happens Next? Information pack, outlining what we need from you to be able to submit to Council. This is usually a cheque made out to Council for their fees which we will find out for you, signing the Council forms, giving the go ahead to the engineer or other consultants as required.

Our final invoice will be sent out at this stage also with a seven day account similar to any deposits paid, and while there are still some documents that need to be completed to submit your application to Council, such as engineer's certification or BASIX certificates, Plan Vision has completed your plans. We are a small home run office and even a small delay in payment can affect our cash flow. We appreciate your prompt payments and will endeavour to finalise any changes and organise any further information for your Council submission asap.

Example of Final Plans for Additions (1,352 KB)

Example of Final Plans for a New Dwelling (5,585 KB)

Example of Final Plans for a New Dwelling & Granny Flat (4,930 KB)

Example of Final Plans for a Dual Occupancy (1,580 KB)

Example of Final Plans for a Unit Development (2,655 KB)

Consultants

Once the plans have met your final approval, they may need to be sent to other consultants to obtain reports, endorsements or certificates for items such as engineering, BASIX, landscaping, storm water, geo-tech etc. These should be outlined in the Client Agreement you originally signed.

We will provide you with the details of any of these consultants, as they are companies separate to Plan Vision, and while we chase them up and generally make sure what they have completed ties in with the plans we have completed, we cannot be held accountable for their time frames or quality of work.

We do use the consultants that we have used in the past and had positive experiences with. Some of these consultants we have been using for many years.

Once the further information has been received from these consultants, provided we have your Council fees and forms, we will submit the application to Council.

Example of Engineering Plans for an Addition (720 KB)

Example of Engineering Plans for a New Dwelling & Granny Flat (944 KB)

Example of Engineering Plans for a Dual Occupancy (739 KB)

Example of Engineering Plans for a Unit Development (739 KB)

Example of Landscape Plan (2,554 KB)

Example of a BASIX Certificate (112KB)

Example of Arborist Report (608 KB)

Example of Geotech Report (1,908 KB)

Example of Stormwater Plan (149 KB)

Council Submission

We will fill out Council forms, make relevant copies of the specifications, plans, statement of environmental effects and any consultant information and this will be forwarded to Council.

Depending on your project, this may be taken into Council in person, or posted into Council at the discretion of Plan Vision.

While we usually put ourselves down as the applicant to Council, this is just to ensure that if Council need anything they can contact us and we can get it to them in a timely manner.

We don't under any circumstances chase up Council or attempt to speed up the process. Unfortunately, we have to deal with Council on a daily basis and need to have a working relationship, which we will not endanger for future jobs to try and get your plans approved a few days quicker. If you would like to call Council direct during the process this is okay, but unless Council contact us or require us to provide further information, we will let the application run it's normal course.

Once the plans have been approved and documentation sent to us, we will scan a copy for our records and forward the approval to you.

At this stage the planning process is complete and your chosen builder will take you from here.

Builder recommendations

We are happy to provide you with recommendations for builders if you have none in mind that would be able to construct your project from our plans.

Please note though, if you have been recommended to Plan Vision by one of our builders we will not provide other builders' details.