So we finally had a house design that fit our list as best I could and that our strawbale builder supervisor was happy would be achievable for us to owner-build.  Now to get the plans to council – well, drawn up first - so here comes the draughtsman and structural engineer.

We worked with Geoff Brierely – a local, very experienced draughtsman who had already done some strawbale drawings with our building surpervisor so we had a great process.  We really appreciated how Geoff checked our room sizes and made sure this plan really was what we wanted (maybe he had heard about my 100+ drafts ;-).  A few weeks later, we had plans ready to go to the structural engineers, then they would be ready to go to council (with the other paperwork they require of course).

Now we had a little hiccough here, with missed emails (internet down), so our engineering took a few weeks longer than it would have otherwise – lesson learned – check your communication has got through!!!  After that was sorted, Roger Pateman at Margaret River Structural Engineering got them done (again, he had already done plenty of local strawbale houses) and we were ready to go!!! 

Yay!!

So we had done our bit and got the bushfire rating, septic application and electrical plans done – and we put them into the local shire on 18/7/2013 – and sent out our request for prayers and good wishes that they get through!