Bit of a circle thing, the engineer will have trouble commenting on what you plan to do without drawings of the existing and proposed. Never met an engineer who could not work their magic on any structure, but there will be simple and cheaper methods and then there can be some super expensive ones. Builders and engineers should be communicating as well. If i were you, i would have identified a builder, get a good architect to work with you, your budget, the builder and engineer, and town planner if this requires DA approval. Overshadowing is the shadow your structure casts on the neighbors property. Overlooking is when they can see into your property, some councils have means to prevent this and the last to build normally has to screen their windows to prevent overlooking, some require only high windows, not all councils and not all property sizes will be affected. If the architect draws in a 3D package it is a simple matter to show you where the shadows land at any time and day of the year, based on you address. If allowed to build that top story, they can show you if you shade your pool. This is a big investment from you, most likely you would be living with the results for years, i would imagine that you would want the best outcome for your family, and to engage professionals would be the way to achieve those outcomes. Thoughts and ideas from forums like this are great, but sometimes they are not aware of the outcomes of comments which might affect your whole project, and councils around the country all have different requirements. Check and check again. What is allowed in Brisbane with height and upper floor window sizes on smaller blocks, will not be allowed in Melbourne, or Sydney councils. Shadowing while really not an issue in Brisbane, will be a huge issue in Melbourne, so get a local team. Ros

Hi oklouise, In the shorter term, I was going to live in the granny flat and rent out the main house to people I know or 2-3 international uni students. In the longer term, I would like to have it as a lowset living option for my mum who is in her late 70's. Somewhere, low maintenance, where she can keep her independence (as would I), but has me close by to provide her assistance where required. The original house has 3 bedrooms (the 3rd one is only 3.1 x 2.65m with no built in wardrobe. The back of the property backs onto a council park. The house is set back further from the front than all of the neighbouring properties (greater than 7 metres). The area under the current house would just be used for carparking and storage. The remaining length of my backyard from my back steps is 18.6 metres. I don't think it would necessary add value to my property, but rather provide me with an income as well as options for family or friends that need the accommodation. I hope to keep the house for the long term.

Going DA has its disadvantages. - Timing is way against you, unless you have time to kill, its quite a waiting process. - Want to speed it up, I recommend getting a town planner on board, yes they do make a difference, but it will never be as fast as CDC. - DA means opening your plan to neighbours objections. Have anyone ever have the nightmare of a neighbour calling you at 9pm to object to your plan? Just because he overheard someone says that we are going to cut some trees? I got objections to a submission about a family of bird that is going to be homeless when we trim some branches off. Or an acreage neighbour object to your 600sqm lot second storey addition because of privacy issue. They have backyard of 3000sqm with over 20m distance and have privacy issue? Give me a break, the backyard is enough to fit the whole street . Any objections from neighbour means a timestop from council, until they can investigate. - Some applications takes weeks until its 'allocated' to an officer. Meaning, its just sitting there gathering dust. Then its another 2 weeks of notifications. - Council front officers are the 'yes man' they say yes all the time, and all might be possible, with 'just submit it and we'll see' attitude. Once submitted, its 'not possible, and request for change or have it withdrawn'. Got clients slammed me because I refuse to do floorplan 20% over the allowed, they went to see front desk in council and told 'Just submit it and we'll see what we can do'. At the end its still rejected anyway, with cost of $$$ of DA application fee. And the advantages: - Council is the only one who can approve if there is no other way (heritage issue, flood / bushfire) - Council is negotiable to a degree, you just have to prove the merit, and talk in their language. - Council can fight for you against your neighbours objections. Took time, but yes they can be on your side. - Building a duplex with site a bit under the allowed? Three floors when its only allowed 2? Yes it can be done. Just play the game right. - Going with DA code sometimes means a bigger floor space allowed, higher roof, higher ceiling than the code for CDC, sometimes the fight and wait is well worthed. And finally there is the L&E Court. If things goes South, and everyone thinks they are correct, there is the L&E court to settle it. My point is : DA : go fully prepared, you are there to fight for it. CDC : get a good team, and the certifier is just there to certify. It will get done quicker. I am not anti councillors, I actually pity them, they are overworked, understaffed, and get abused in daily. If I can advice my clients to avoid DA and still come up with great result, I would go that path.

Hi Emma, Sorry you are going through this, renovating is a stressful time as it is and having these extra issues never make it any easier. Firstly, you are not overreacting. Unfortunately sometimes you just live around unreasonable people and there is not much you can do to please them. You have been doing the right things and trying to keep everyone happy and doing your works by the book. What I would advise based on our experience in these situations: 1. Keep being polite and lovely as you guys have been. These battles are not won via screaming matches in the streets. If they scream at you in the street, hopefully other neighbours see and will automatically be on your side for not acting out. Being polite doesn't mean be accommodating however. We once let (with permission of our client) a disgruntled neighbour who was causing issues come onsite to discuss their concerns and see that you cant look into their house from the upstairs widows. However they just ended up trying to wander through the property and take photos to try find any sort of changes or anything they can complain about so we had to kick them offsite after it became clear peace was not an option for them. 2. Keep building as per your approved plans, they had the chance to object and most of the time it's tough luck for them. If they write to the council or your certifier then you may need to respond and push that you are working by the approved plans and they may come check. Some certifiers/council workers may try reason with you instead of pushing back on the neighbour (as it is easier to reason with a sane person), however stick to your guns. If you are doing nothing wrong and your noisy works are within council approved hours then the neighbours can go through the effort and take it to tribunal (not a great use of your time I know, but usually you will have the upper hand here). 3.Regarding the vandalism, take photos of what they have done. Discuss it with them and request they pay for the rectification. Depending on the $ value, you can pursue the costs via police report and taking them to court. If you are not too bothered about the cost then at least you are putting them on notice. Either way, I would advise reporting the vandalism to the police so there is a record of it (just in case there is more in the future). You can tell the police you don't want to press charges or don't want them to talk to neighbours to not raise tension if its a one time thing. You may want to invest in some security cams if you think it may be a regular issue. Alternatively, if they have just painted the fence posts on their side (or you can just touch up paint the posts on your side), finish it off and let them continue to look at a half spraypainted fence from their yard :P. 4. Be extra vigilant regarding things that council can pick on Eg. - Noted hours in the approval for noisy works / days with no works - If permits are required for street parking in your street / not blocking any driveway (including your own but parking across it ) - Proper dust management for outdoor dusty works - Sweeping the footpath/ street if any material deliveries result in mess. Don't worry, managing the neighbours is part of the process, most of the time people understand that the construction work wont be going on forever and that your doing your best to keep them happy too. Sometimes you get people that have quick tempers and want to latch onto any argument. As long as you are doing the correct and approved things you can do your work and after the works done you can try smooth it over with chocolates etc Good luck with the rest of your renovations!