# Forum Forum Help Desk Introduce Yourself  Newbie from Ballarat - hello there!

## faulty

Hello! 
Im a mid 30s newbie from Ballarat, VIC about to build off-grid solar, rammed earth residence on a cleared 3 acres.   Block is sloping east to west and fire rated @ BAL40.  
Day job is working at a desk and I'm not very handy...    pretty competent at digging holes and lifting heavy things though.   :Biggrin:     So,  i'll be enlisting *a lot* of help from my builder,  friends and family.      
So far have built a 7x12m shed, put in 20,000l water tanks and 25m of treated pine retaining walls (plus all the proper scoria/geotex/agi drainage to cope with cut&fill water issues).     
Look forward to picking everyones brain on here - looks like a great source of info. 
Cheers,
Faulty

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## Oldsaltoz

Hi Faulty, 
Looks like a fair bit of work in front of you. don't forget to add a few pictures as you go. 
Good luck and fair winds.   :Smilie:

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## shauck

Welcome to the forum Faulty. I noticed you're not far from me. Not sure how long ago you got your BAL rating but it might be worth getting it looked over as there have been some relaxations recently (last few weeks) with regards to BAL ratings. You may find you are able to lower it. Not sure but worth looking into.

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## OBBob

Welcome, sounds like an interesting project!

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## faulty

Thanks guys for the warm welcome - and sorry that was 3 acres,  not 30!   If it were 30,  i'd move the house site to somewhere with enough setback for fire!    You're right Shauck,   I've been following the work of Kate Cotter who's been lobbying against the planning minister for the last couple of years.   Bushfire Management Overlay - Lobby Group Against Planning Restrictions    I had to get a BMO report written up to get the planning permit through local council ($1200) so I'm not sure if it's a process worth revisiting or not - even at a BAL40?     Would there be significant savings at build time if i got it dropped to BAL29?      I'm not adverse to having a better built home anyway  :Smilie:  
For Oldsalt - here's my shed in progress.   It's complete now with 800mm retaining walls.   
and I got enthused and made a time lapse of the shed site cut.   The excavator operator was amazing - will hire him again.

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## faulty

I seem to have broken my thread - guess there's some newbie spam filter thing going on... 
Will try to post some more stuff once it's working again  :Smilie:

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## OBBob

Faulty you say?  :Smilie:

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## faulty

> Faulty you say?

  Ok,   we're back!   Apologies for technical issues  :Smilie:  
Almost finished shed - House will be built to the left of it - 32m north facing with three steps up the hill.

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## OBBob

Lovely spot!

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## faulty

> Lovely spot!

  Thanks mate - it is a beautiful little block,  but a tricky one as well.   Septic engineers report will require a secondary treatment plan,   closest powerline is about 500m and of course there's no other connections.    But that's ok because I'm a bit of a masochist and I enjoy making life hard for myself  :Smilie:  
Now I just have to build a house does the property some justice,  is sympathetic to its surroundings and is comfortable and functional.    Too easy.

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## OBBob

I dream of a house next to a lake ... but just on weekends,  lol.

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## Uncle Bob

> closest powerline is about 500m and of course there's no other connections.

  I'd be looking at going off grid.

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## OBBob

> Hello! 
> ... about to build off-grid solar...

  He he...

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## Uncle Bob

Great job of the time lapse video! Did you have a couple of cameras, or just move 'em move a bit?

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## Uncle Bob

> He he...

  See, great minds think alike  :Biggrin:

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## faulty

> Great job of the time lapse video! Did you have a couple of cameras, or just move 'em move a bit?

  Cheers mate!  Yep had 2 cameras - a nicer DLSR and an older model GoPro.     But I still moved them around quite a bit.    I've filmed the shed construction but haven't edited it as yet...  takes a lot of time and i've been flat out with other hobbies/projects  :Smilie:

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## shauck

> Thanks guys for the warm welcome - and sorry that was 3 acres,  not 30!   If it were 30,  i'd move the house site to somewhere with enough setback for fire!    You're right Shauck,   I've been following the work of Kate Cotter who's been lobbying against the planning minister for the last couple of years.   Bushfire Management Overlay - Lobby Group Against Planning Restrictions    I had to get a BMO report written up to get the planning permit through local council ($1200) so I'm not sure if it's a process worth revisiting or not - even at a BAL40?     Would there be significant savings at build time if i got it dropped to BAL29?      I'm not adverse to having a better built home anyway

  Not sure, I'm not really up with BAL 40, so can't comment on  the savings. You may have more flexibility in material choices too. I suppose it all depends on if the house you are building is what you want it to be under the current rating. If so, cool, leave it.  
Just realised you aren't on town water (doh). That's probably more difficult (last couple of years) to get past council round here than any BAL rating stuff.

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