A proper site visit isn’t a stroll around the block. It’s where you catch the stuff that turns into $30k surprises later.

We’re back with Brad from Sanford Buildco to have a conversation about what a site visit should actually involve, and why doing it properly is one of the simplest ways to protect your time, your margin, and your sanity.

We break down how our checklists differ across inner-city and rural sites, but still cover the same core categories: access, services, water management, demolition risk, and the existing building. We talk through real examples like tram and train line constraints, construction zones and parking permits, combined drains, earthenware stormwater, boundary trap upgrades, three-phase power, septic fields, and when a sump and pump becomes the only option.

We also get into the stuff that catches builders out if you don’t look early: neighbour water issues you can’t control once you’re hard on the boundary, asbestos you can’t spot from photos, and demolition rule changes that can turn normal waste into hazardous waste overnight. The theme is simple: gather better information now, and you’ll have fewer ugly conversations later.

CHAPTER MARKERS

00:00 Introduction

02:00 Site Visit Checklist

02:49 Access Constraints

03:40 Rural Access Costs

06:00 Plumbing Red Flags

07:10 Sewer Plans and Cameras

10:47 Power Upgrades Reality

11:45 Septic and Stormwater Pumps

14:38 Service Locators and Photos

16:58 Electrical Planning

20:09 Neighbour Water Risks

21:27 Retrofit Foundation Checks

22:43 Asbestos Budgeting

27:13 Digital Site Reporting

30:14 Parking Constraints

33:57 Demolition Rules and EPA

35:58 NBN and Service Scope

Brad - Sanford Buildco Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sanfordbuildco/?hl=en

Our Sponsors:

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Connect with us on Instagram: @themindfulbuilderpod

Connect with Hamish:

Instagram: @sanctumhomes

Website: www.yoursanctum.com.au/

Connect with Matt:

Instagram: @carlandconstructions

Website: www.carlandconstructions.com/

Another episode of-

In our

pre con- … Profit Builder Podcast

… pre, where we are in our pre-construction series at the moment.

Yes.

We are- Still with

Brad

We're still with Brad.

We've- Hi … we're still with Brad.

Hi.

And we are coming from our mobile Proclimer Build to Last

studio, Proclimer being our major sponsor, absolutely love them.

Brad- If you haven't guessed

yet

… you've been using them for years.

Matt, you've been using them for years.

Uh, but also a big shout-out to Kya from Wilderness Build Co. Uh, we

are currently using their boardroom.

Today, uh, we are gonna be talking about what to look out for

when you're doing a site visit.

'Cause I kinda feel like people say they're gonna do a site visit, but

are they just doing it for the optics of going to site and having a look?

Like, we brought Brad in here today because, uh, you know, Brad's one of those

guys that likes to turn over every rock.

Uh, and I know, Matt, you and I have been doing our site visits,

and they're pretty robust, and we've been doing them for a while now.

So-

And we're all looking, looking at different things, like Brad's

more rural, I'm very in the city.

Yeah, and I'm kind of blending between- Yeah … the two sometimes, so.

Yeah.

So and, and there are certainly things that I look for on

every single different site.

Ha- yeah, 100%.

So my first question is when do you do your site inspection?

Is it the moment the client calls you?

No, no.

Yeah.

Good.

No.

When do you do… Yeah.

So generally speaking, I'm not meeting up with them and I'm not visiting their

site until after feasibility costing.

And that is, I know it could potentially sound a little bit arrogant, but

I wanna really protect my time.

And, and if we're just talking about feasibility costing, there is so

much you can do, there's so much information you can find out- Before

before actually going to site.

So generally speaking, we are go- that's the first thing that we do

after issuing their, issuing the client with an invoice, the next thing

we do is actually go out to site.

So after feasibility, send them an invoice for the next phase,

and then we're going to site.

So when I do mine, I've got, I've got a, like a, call it

a form I fill out to myself.

What I do now is I actually use voice to text and talk my way through the

answers to each one so I can brain dump.

Awesome.

So I, it's a form I built up on safety culture over the years, and I look to

bring out a different form coming up.

But mine is broke, and I don't get a plumber or electrician out

straightaway unless I think I need to.

I break mine down into I think it's about six or eight categories.

So I, I have, I've kind of written them down quickly here.

So, like plumbing, electrical, access, water management, demolition, existing.

They're the ones that I'm kinda look- I'm, I'm kind of, that's my sort of headings-

Yeah

… kind of thing.

Um, for me-

I will, it's a lot of photo documentation.

Mm-hmm.

Access, it's kind of seeing the site.

It's probably the, it's, it's also the easiest one 'cause

it's, it's not changing.

The access in Australia isn't changing.

So I think most people when they go to site, they can look at the power lines.

Things I've been called out in the past is, um, tiger tailing, uh, the, the

power lines, but actually tramlines.

So if you're within a certain distance of a tramline or train line, you've got

a r- you can have big problems there.

So they're things that I've sort of learnt with access, um,

'cause my jobs are quite tight.

And parking for you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Where, where are you putting a skip?

Where are your team

parking?

Like- Yeah, construction zones.

Yeah, yeah, so it's, it's, it's those sort of things.

So my jobs are tight.

Like, there are times where I can't even truck down the street,

so I've got to think about how we're gonna construct the project.

But I'm doing mine once the, the feasibility's been approved

because there's no point doing the site inspection if they can't

afford the project to start with.

That's exactly, that's

exactly it.

Okay.

It varies for me because the site inspection plays such a huge part in

what the cost of the build's gonna be because I'm potentially hundreds and

hundreds of meters away from power.

You might have to upgrade the transmission

line.

Needing to work out what services we're including in the project.

You know, water.

Is it off-grid power?

All these sorts of things that could be up to a quarter of a million dollars-

Yeah … in costs that are completely separate of the, of the actual building.

Um, you know, and if you're not including that in feasibility costs.

Like roadway, like creating just a path even.

Yeah,

I was just, I was just gonna say, like, it, it would be interesting

to unpack a little bit more of that.

So what have we got?

We've got access, so roads.

Yeah.

So roads, roads in.

So access we can generally get in.

Yeah.

But more often than not, we've needed to do extensive driveway works because, you

know, they're rural properties made to get a four-wheel drive car in, but they're

not gonna get a semi in or a great truck.

What are you doing,

what are you doing in that case?

Like literally pouring a concrete asphalt path kind of thing?

No, no, just like grading a driveway, putting rock down.

Road, road

base, yeah.

Yeah.

But I'm, I'm not talking about like one truck.

I'm talking like two weeks of-

No, no, no, no, no, no

… of excavation, like- It's

like, it's like it's a job in itself.

It's-

Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely.

Um- Which,

which could be 60 grand.

Yeah.

So access is one, but and then that's, that's it.

Like, and then you've got potential retaining walls if you're doing

site cuts and stuff like that.

Yeah.

The heights for just to get- Yeah.

A big thing for me too is like sussing out what suppliers we're gonna use, especially

like concrete, that sort of stuff.

Like- Ah, that's a good point … you know.

Yeah.

How much travel's involved, where's the nearest plant.

Um, those sorts of things can have a really huge-

Time,

time between trucks as well.

Yeah, time between trucks, yeah.

Yeah.

And whether the yard has the capacity

to get

you-

The d- … enough

trucks- Yeah … on the pour.

Yeah, y- uh, and I never thought of that.

So that's why I think these categories actually kinda work because you kind

of like, what I look at access is not what you're looking at access.

You're not worrying about a train line or a tram line.

Well, I think- Yeah … at the end of the day, the, the core things are the same.

Like-

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But they- Yeah … they're kind of easy categories because everyone's

gonna have plumbing to look at.

Yeah.

Whether it's if you need a septic system on site or we need to do a boundary trap.

Power upgrade, you might need to run a new transmission line

and 150 mil underground cable.

I might just need a three-phase upgrade.

Demolition's demolition.

I think that's probably the only constant one that we could probably look at.

Yeah.

Um…

I mean, one of, one of the things that I know you and I are looking at,

particularly in this sort of inner city things, is, or even just old houses,

is if it's an old house that was built in the '50s, '60s, or '70s, there's

a really good chance that all the plumbing and all the storm water- Yeah

is earthenware.

Yeah, so

th- And there's a really good chance that- Almost always … at that point

of connection, it's gonna be cooked.

Yeah.

It's gonna cost you 400 bucks to throw a- Camera … camera down the tra- th-

the camera down the drain, 'cause the last thing you wanna do as a builder

is build this beautiful new home, connect another four toilets and shower-

couple of showers and a laundry and all that kind of nonsense, up t- Mm-hmm

that's my new favorite word, up to, uh, a new line to a point where it

goes into earthenware and then into a boundary trap that might be dislodged.

Yeah.

And then all of a sudden you get a backing up in the new bloody toilet,

and next thing, the OGs overflowing.

I think all,

all new homes have to have a boundary trap upgrade.

Don't quote me on that.

You

know what?

If,

if- I give misinformation all the

time … if you're not upgrading the boundary- Yeah … trap, then-

We do it on every job regardless … like- Period

… it, it, honestly, i- if your plumber's telling you it's cost, gonna cost

any more than 1,500 bucks, they're fucking lying because they're

gonna have a machine there anyway.

Yeah.

They're gonna dig a hole and they're gonna put a new PVC boundary trap in

there.

One point.

Usually one point.

Job- And you can measure the depth … job done.

So what I will do, my first thing, I go on site.

I, before I go on site, I'll actually get the civil plan from the water authority.

Yeah.

The old school.

Dial before you dig.

Yeah.

No, the, no, the, not, the actual proper old hand-sketched ones.

Oh, okay.

Like the, like the pro- like, so we can actually see where, what they kind

of have laid out because where I build a lot of time is combined drains.

We get combined drains all the time.

Yeah, so I've done a job where one of my first, this is why- What's a

combined drain, just for those playing along at home?

So combined drain is,

for example, you've got, say, houses in a row.

All the sewer runs in the back, and they all run to, like, their sew- the

next door's neighbor sewer will run through your property pretty much.

So they, next door neighbor, their outlet comes onto your side, and you've got one,

one pipe that then goes out to the main.

So, and that can be hard, 'cause sometimes you need to rip up next door neighbor's.

You've got to put a second line in, or you got to pick the right size.

So we wanna know that.

So if we know it's a combined drain, we'll pu- chuck a camera down, film it, see

what's happening, where it's all going.

Um, there's 500 bucks, like money well spent.

Um, but we also wanna know the right depths and locations, because we can

usually read these old plans that are in feet and inches, but if we,

if it's three meters deep, we wanna know, because, yeah, that adds a cost.

So that's one of the first thing I'll, I'll kind of look at.

Sewer, and the easiest way to f- once you find it, the old cat, we just

get a tape measure, put some gloves on, measure how deep it is Mark it,

document it, and then we know in the future where we're going down.

So that's, it's generally the easiest one, but when it gets combined,

that's, that does get a bit tricky.

Um, stormwater almost always we're just getting a new legal point

of discharge and upgrading it.

Like, it make, makes no sense, like water kills buildings, and I'll, I'll

get onto, to existing and neighboring properties with water in a minute.

But that's, that's an easy, easy one to look at.

But I'm also looking at, when I say plumbing, I'm looking at if

there is ex- what, what's their existing heating and cooling?

Do I need to have the, the heating and cooling pump down?

Like, what's, what's, uh- Ah, yep … what's actually there too?

So I'm looking at heating and cooling.

Is there an evaporative cooler?

If it's a retrofit, how are we gonna get that evaporative cooler off the roof?

What are we gonna do with the roof?

Um, I'm looking at, at that from plumbing.

I'm also looking if there's spas and swimming pools and

existing rainwater tanks.

So I wanna know, and then it's got to do with, let's say,

let's just say water- Yeah

um, that I want, I wanna know everything about the, the water.

Do we have to relocate the, the incoming water main because the tap

needs a shift 'cause now the, the driveway's on the opposite side?

Yeah.

Is there, is there a change in crossover?

Yeah,

yeah.

Yeah.

I've, I've had jobs where we have to water tap, change a water tapping and

it's 30 grand, 'cause we've got to now tie into the new water connection.

Hey, Matty, I've been talking to a few people recently, and

they're like, "You know what?

You've been building with Pro Clima for years.

Like, how do we get to where you

are?" So we all started at level zero at one point, and we got there.

But one of the things that Pro Clima have on their website is they have a library

of so many details from wall to roof to subfloor to window assemblies, for

multiple different windows, on how to use their product and install it correctly,

and is one of the, the best resources you can find online to learn how to do this.

And if you're an architect and you're not sure how to draw something, they've

probably got the answer already.

And I think about, you know, 2018, 2019, when we f- we, we first started

getting into this, we had to trawl through all kinds of different documents.

We had to

make it

up.

We, well, we had to make it up.

It's all there for

you.

Yeah.

The answers are free now, and social media's great.

There's so many awesome videos and content out there, but the ultimate

source of truth is the Pro Clima website.

They have every single detail that you can imagine.

And you know what?

If they don't have it, you can email them and they'll help you solve it.

Damn right.

So use Pro Clima, proclima.com.au if you need to reach out to them

I'll, I'll go for now.

So on power.

So three-phase upgrade pit, most jobs need a pit underground anywhere

between upwards of 3 to 8 grand.

3 to 8 grand, yeah.

So, so the other day, on one of my jobs right now, the pole

is literally out the front.

It, it's literally, it, it, it's a shovel down and your, your pit's there.

Like, it's, it's… Couldn't be easier.

Five people came from City Power to do this job.

Four of them just stood there Five people, eight grand.

Honestly, it was a few shovels deep, they just had to, like, connect it in.

I could not get my head around it.

That's why shit's expensive.

I've got photos of it and I'm like, "Don't put it online, Matt.

Don't be stupid."

I can understand when, when they've got to, they've got to dig into the

footpath, they've got to cut it, they've got to close the footpath off.

They do all those kind… Like I, I… There's a part of me that's kind of-

$1,500 to block the road off and go and dig the ground up and go underneath.

This, the pole was there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's insane.

So, so Sawah, do you guys have any comments on, Sawah, anything?

'Cause you, you're looking at septic tanks.

Yeah.

Yeah, we're mostly doing septic tanks.

Um, one of the big- Or in a bu- or

in a bucket

… Yeah, or in a bucket.

Um, which that, that, that job had a septic anyway.

Um, but a lot of- They

shovelled it to the bucket and then poured it into the septic tank

… Yeah.

A lot of the challenge there is with, like, what happens with the field.

Yeah.

So Bubs, where it was really rocky, we actually had to bring a whole heap

of clean fill in, um- Ah … because we couldn't just trench through the

rock and then fill it back over with the shitty rock that we dug out.

Is there any,

is there any risk of that slipping?

Like, like-

It's on a flat bit of-

Yeah

… ground.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, cool.

Cool, cool.

Yeah.

So you've

actually built the whole

place up?

No.

We scraped a couple of hundred mil out.

Yeah.

Put the effluent lines in and then put clean- Filled it back

up … put clean fill back on top.

Are you

on a pump system there or no?

Yeah.

There's a reticulation pump out of the- Like a s- … septic tank, and

the field is a good couple of hundred meters from the septic tank location.

Yeah.

'Cause we had to go all the way down the hill to somewhere that,

you know, you're not gonna have crazy problems with erosion.

So one job I needed a, a pump in, in a city because w- there, there was just th-

the, no fall on anything to get it there.

Yeah.

That's, actually that's another thing to think about with your stormwater, 'cause

a lot of the times- Mm … there's this, like, in the '50s and '60s, they're just

like, "Oh, well, we'll just- Spoon drain

we'll just try and run it out to the front," knowing that the front

curb and gutter is actually higher than where everything's coming from.

Yeah.

Yeah, and you end up with, like, a semi-charged line or…

Yeah, so it's just something to think about.

Like if, like go and check the curb and find out, like, and just eyeball it or get

a laser and, you know, ping a few heights.

'Cause if you, if that's… I've had it on three different occasions where

we've had to have a, um, sump and a pump.

And they're not cheap.

They can be-

No … like

30 grand, aren't they?

N- uh, this one wasn't too bad, but there's all the risks associated

with that- A pump will eventually die … 'cause it's one more thing,

it's one more thing that can go wrong.

Yeah.

That's, I guess, what I was trying to get at.

And it needs

to be regularly serviced.

Regularly serviced, you know, click, put that into your, um,

handover document and stuff

like that.

Ironically, you can do a pump in the, in the NCC, but you need a performance

solution for a charge system, which is gravity that the Romans were using for-

Yeah.

Well, that's

it … like, isn't that ironic?

Like-

So, and

then- They always would never, they kind of won't fail

… and then, and then quite often too, you need it pumped into a water tank.

Yeah.

And then the water tank flows out naturally.

'Cause what the councils don't want to see is a pump like spurting water

out into the, into the laneway.

So you, you got to pump it from a sump into a tank, and then the tank drains.

Yeah.

So all these things that feed into the cost of a project, which

may or may not have been caught up in the architect's design.

Yeah.

And it's also not fair for the architect to know these things.

As builders, this is what we know, and you need to be, uh, comfortable

with having the conversation to bring the right trades out- Yeah

at that point, be like, "No, this needs to happen." But you still need

to know that these things might happen.

One of the other things that we, that we do, we bring in a service locator

and- I had an example two days ago.

Sam Cox called me up, he's doing some landscaping-

Yeah … on one of our projects.

And he goes, "Do you know where this power's running?"

And I go, "Mate, stand by." Sent him the plan of the service detection,

and he goes, "Oh yeah, great.

Thanks for that." Carried on.

And this is after we've finished the project.

What

does, what's that cost?

400 bucks.

So it's- And they come back with a woo, woo, woo, woo, yeah.

Yeah, so they're mapping everything, so we get a full map of where, where gas

is, where, um, NBN is, where power is, where water is, where sewer is, where it's

coming into the property, where it runs through the property, and then all the

depths, and we get a full map afterwards.

That's pretty good, yeah.

It's a no-brainer.

Oh, okay.

Like, absolute no-brainer.

And so we know where power's coming in, we know where gas is

coming in, we know where water's coming in, we know the depth of it.

So, you know, if someone's putting a new fence along the front boundary, you

know, we know where that stuff is, so we can just share with, um, everyone.

We give it, give it to the designer.

Yeah.

Um, we're very much like you though.

We have a form- Yeah … that we're filling out, and we start at the

front of the property, and we're taking pictures of our surroundings.

Yeah.

Down the street, up the street.

I'm asking the client where the coffee shop is.

What cancels.

What cancels, when the bins come.

Yeah.

You know, is this a busy street where people are parking, you know.

Is, is it City of Yarra who are a pain in the arse?

City of Yarra.

Is there a school there?

Yeah.

Is there trams there?

Like, we wanna know all of this stuff, and we're documenting it all

down because that's really valuable information to pass on to the site team.

'Cause if we go, we know there's a school up the road, and at 8:30,

9:00, this whole place is full.

And if all of a sudden we've gotta get a concrete pour, like we know

that there is no way in hell… Well, we're gonna cause all kinds of ruckus-

Yeah

… if we're pouring concrete during school zone, or if we're getting

a delivery or something like that.

Um, and then we're working out where the meter is, we're working

out where the sewer's coming in, we're taking photos of it, and we're

taking like 100 photos of the site.

Yeah, like my camera is full of them photos by the time we get there.

Mm. And you use them all the time.

Um, electrical.

Do you know one of the other things, sorry, that I'm loving

about my new Mac, Matthew?

No.

Is that my photos- All sync … are ending up on my, on my iPad,

rather than me have to share them.

Yeah.

Sorry, digressing.

Everyone, I just- Um … everyone, I just got a new Mac.

So ele- electrical for me, where the first thing we're looking at,

is it most of our projects have to go underground electrical pit.

Yep.

It's also if you're spending 1.5, 2 million on a project, do you

really want an overhead power line?

Um, is probably the other thing.

So we're looking at that.

We're also looking at how we're gonna get temp power during the project.

Can we get pit to pole?

Do we just do a sub-board away from the house?

What makes sense there?

Yep.

Um, also, like, in demolition, do we need to disconnect existing solar panels?

Yeah, that's a good point.

Like, there's some- there are things that I'm kinda looking at.

Um, what else I looking-

Any, any material that you're gonna be reusing or that

you think can be reused, uh-

Oh, we're looking at existing switchboards and stuff, but we will

always do an exist- We'll just always upgrade the switchboard regardless now

I'm just thinking more along the lines of, you know, is there flooring in there?

Is there weatherboards?

Is there- Oh,

okay.

I'll get the demo in a second.

Yeah, yeah.

Sorry.

Matt's

trying to

structure

this a little bit.

I need to structure it.

Yeah,

yeah.

We're, we're talking electrical.

Yeah.

Is

there anything electrical?

The, the power supply, what you've currently got supplied to the

property's a, a big thing- We-

especially now that we're all going all electric.

All my projects are three-phase.

I can't remember ever doing… I- Ever since I built, I

think I've done three-phase.

When it's available.

What do you mean?

Well, sometimes- No, it's not … Warrandyte, my house, it's

gonna cost me 60 grand to get it, 'cause it's 100 meters up the road.

But- Oh … I'm confused now.

Like, single-phase.

I've, I've got two phases to my property.

Yeah, okay.

So to get another phase, I've got to-

Upgrade everyone else's to get

there … I've gotta bring it up.

Yeah.

And I actually told them, I called them, I go, "I've got a five tonne machine there."

Oh,

do you?

"I'm happy to roll down at midnight and dig a trench, lay a conduit

for you, and then cover it back up again, and you can use the conduit."

They didn't wanna buy it.

Fuck, these authorities kill me.

Um-

I was joking, by the way.

Just joking.

I'm not.

He's talking about, like, not on his property.

On my- On

the-

Up the road

… down the road.

Down

the road.

Yeah.

I, yeah, I… Look, it pro- it probably costs half the, or a tenth of the figure.

They just have the monopoly on it.

Anyway.

Hey, I'm, I'm about to go on a journey with systems, and I'm working

with James from Biztech Guru, who, he was a guest on our podcast.

He was, and I've actually done a lot of work with James in the past,

and it has transformed my business from just being this classic

clusterfuck of a building company to a systems-orientated focused business.

And

what he's, from my understanding, it's all focused on builders.

Yep.

And we're going to be doing a live webinar with him coming up- Yep

as part of this, and it's gonna be a big introduction to systems and

how it can improve your business.

And you know the beauty about it?

It is gonna be absolutely free.

Yeah.

So keep an eye out for the dates.

Uh, this is gonna be a really incredibly valuable workshop to not miss out on.

Yeah, so either shoot us a DM, um, check the show notes, but we'll put a link

below here to show you how to sign up.

So- Cheers … make sure you sign up.

Before I get to demolition as well, the other thing I look at

is water and next door neighbors.

So I wanna know, especially if it's a renovation or, uh, actually

I'll do- Are they dickheads?

Hun?

Do

you ask that?

No, no, no, no.

What I mean is, like, so for example, are their downpipes

just not hooked up to anything?

So- Yeah, that's a good point … so is their, is their… all their

rainwater just going to the ground?

Is that gonna affect my, my foundations?

Is it gonna make it muddy?

Yeah, good point.

Is it not drying out?

So I'm looking at what other neighbors are doing with their s- water management plan.

Is their, is their legal point of discharge completely clogged up so th-

we've just got a ton of groundwater?

I'm looking at, when I say water management and neighbors, I'm,

uh… Look, the neighbors aren't gonna affect me really when we

build, to be honest with you.

Um, I just wanna know that, uh, the management of their property is

being… not gonna affect my property.

Yep.

Um, fence lines, all those sort of things.

So we wanna know, is there gonna be any conversation?

If there is, that needs to come through the client.

So, uh, we, if they, if they've got really bad down, downpipes and it's just

all rotted out and all over the ground, clients need to go to their neighbors

and make them aware that they need to fix that and… because it could have

a huge effects on our, our foundations.

But are you then just managing for it anyway?

No, because I can't, because if we're, I'm building hard up against

the boundary on two sides, I can't manage water on their side anymore.

Mm.

Like, what am I gonna do?

So I have to make- I mean,

you would like to think that if there is a water problem on the

other side of the property, then your boreholes would've reflected that.

You'd like to think that, but-

Well, I've had boreholes where the tip didn't show up.

It was a tip.

We kinda knew something wasn't right, but we've-

Oh, is this the EPS one?

No, no.

Yeah.

Well, no, but there was actually two issues on that one there,

so I'll, I'll get to them.

Digressing.

Digressing.

Yeah.

Um, existing building, 'cause it kind of falls into demo, um, if we, we're doing a

retrofit, I wanna know what the existing foundations are, what's happening there.

Mm. Are they viable?

I was yesterday on site and we're looking at the old, the old bearers, now 100

mil wide but 70 mil high, and it's like, well, to replace them and start propping

up is really expensive, so let's just add new stumps in and rejig under there.

So we had, again, Ornik out on site and had a good conversation how we're

gonna approach the existing building.

Did I say that

Yasher was up in the roof?

Nah, it wasn't Yasher, it's Farouk.

We got in the r- Oh, Farouk.

Yeah … we got in the, we got in the existing roof, and the chimney that the

council wanna keep for heritage is on this complete angle that's completely

cracked, so we're gonna s- wonder if they're gonna make us prop it up to be

reused because it's structurally, uh-

How are you managing that thermal bridge too?

So this is a good question because I wanna… 'Cause now it's, we've

gotta have a conversat- conversation around condensation management-

Mm … 'cause the NCC tells us.

If they say no Will council sign a letter saying that they're responsible?

Because ultimately we're doing everything we can.

You're the preventer, you're the roadblock.

Can you just sign this to say, "Hey, guys, um, yeah, we'll take responsibility

if this fails in the fut- future." We'll see how that conversation goes.

Sorry, that's a bit of a smart arse- I highly doubt it … dig

at councils, but, um, but existing building, is there asbestos?

Is there these things?

We want to know everything about the existing building.

Yeah Um-

And just here's a bit of a hot tip for everyone.

Even if you can't see asbestos in a building, put a fucking goddamn

provisional sum allowance in your contract or your costings.

Or just say it's excluded.

Yeah.

I kind of find it easy that you just put like a five grand allowance in there.

Yeah.

Go, "Look, we're, we're assuming there's asbestos in here.

Let's just put a budget in there.

If we don't find any asbestos, it's a provisional sum.

We'll just reconcile it and give you the money back."

So story on asbestos, had a client, uh, project never went ahead.

They were gonna go do demolition themselves and I was like, "Hold

on, let me just do the site inspection before I come on site.

Just slow down." They're like, "No, no, no one's here, we just want to slowly

chip over time." And I'm… They're like, "We're gonna start this week."

And I was like, "No, no, no, let me get there." Luckily, I convinced them.

I come in and I was like, "Hey, guys, every single wall internally

is clad in asbestos." And he's like, "What do you mean?"

Like, "All your cladding's asbestos, all your walls are asbestos. The

whole house is literally an asbestos shack." And you couldn't tell that

from the photos or anything like that.

And- Good

fire properties

… and he got it all tested, and luckily they listened because they would've

just all whipped into it on the weekend.

And they would've had like a loosely fitting-

No, they wouldn't have probably used one … yeah … and they would've

just thrown it in the normal skip bin, and then all of a sudden now what?

Well, the tips now are like anything cement sheet, anything that even remotely

looks like asbestos has to be like double bagged in builder's plastic.

Really?

Yeah.

Even cement sheet?

I've never had-

Yeah, like the one I'm doing now, they demoed the bathroom themselves

and just like the standard cement sheet tile underlay, yeah, had to be

double bagged in builder's plastic

taken away.

Yeah,

you know what?

I'm not opposed to that.

Like I, I, I don't

know.

I, I don't disagree.

I'm not, I'm not

opposed to that

at all.

Well, it certainly eliminates people just going rogue.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Um, so exist- with the existing we want to know everything

about the existing building.

Like if we can poke a tape in and see the existing, um, frame,

what's happening in there, is there insulation, we'll thermally camera it.

Sometimes we'll do a blow door test to understand where

some weak points might be.

If it's a really detailed retrofit for passive house, um,

we'll jump in the existing roof.

We want to know everything about that structure, especially with propping.

Um, also asking the clients about their lived experience.

Yeah.

Like have you found there's cracks and there's movements

over certain time of the years?

The more information you have about this early stage, the better.

But-

So the cracks is a really good one too because if you're… I, I went

and looked at this Carlton project- Yeah … two days ago and I walked in and

I'm looking around, I'm looking at the ceiling, double brick, bluestone- Yeah.

Oh

… bluestone footings and I looked up, I'm like, "See that crack there?

If we don't get these footings-

Done soon

… you know, if we don't get these footings, you know, under, um-

Pinned

… like, um, p- supported- Yeah

Uh, write that rising damp issue sorted out.

Like, these cracks are going to come back, and I'm telling you right now, I'm

not taking any responsibility for it.

Like, we need to go through and actually make sure that we're

giving this building every, the best chance we possibly can And have

fun underpinning bluestone.

Well I've

done a ton of bluestone work in Williamstown over the years.

It is really difficult to work with.

Oh, it's an art,

mate, yeah.

I'll, I'll give you some stuff.

Um, uh, but then you go into demolition now, and I am not the greatest at

this, I'll be open, but resource management, you're a lot better.

So th- the, yeah, things to think about.

Um, well, one of the other things that we're doing when we're going to site

is actually starting to think about where we're putting site containers.

I mean, that's probably a foreign concept to you.

I, I'm,

I'm like, can we get into site?

Site containers, camera, bins, toilets, like, where's the

breakout room going to be?

Like, we're thinking about all of that and mentally mapping them out.

Yeah.

Because there might not be somewhere for the team to go, like, and grab a cup

of coffee, so where's the closest cafe?

Like, if they're going to have a break, they're going to need s- and

if it's pissing with rain, they're going to have to go somewhere.

They don't want to just sit in their cars.

So all these things we're starting to map out.

Gee, you're nice.

There's a thing called a rain jacket.

I'm a lot nicer, man.

That's what Dave's calling me.

Yeah.

Fuck you.

Um

I know Dave's listening.

I know he is.

He's probably listening live somehow.

Um, what else have we got?

He's

probably tapped your phone.

He's in Byron Bay at the moment.

He's in on his week off, still sending me photos of buildings.

Um,

he did that straw bale thing with a client of mine now.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

They were doing the course together wherever it was up in the south.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

He said he found it hard because he's the only builder, so his questions are very

technical compared to the owner builders.

He loved it though.

Like, so, um, anyway, off topic.

Uh, demolition existing, what else is there that we're looking for?

Um, I will then at the end put a report on each category.

So it goes for them all, and then I'll give you my thoughts on each one.

Yeah.

So we're, we're doing something similar to you.

The, we've actually got a form that's connected to Asana that

I'm just filling out on my phone.

Yeah.

I press, boom, update, and then it gets spat out into my, um,

project management, um, tool.

All that information then gets dragged into the site visit tag in

our workflow, and that, all that information sits in there for any

of my team to review at any time.

I like

seeing it in Asana, actually.

Yeah.

Yeah.

At what point are you doing dilapidation reports on

neighboring properties and that sort of stuff?

I don't do them myself.

I outsource it.

The handball getting it done.

Uh- But at what point are you getting it done?

The moment we start.

But yeah, but

just before we start, yeah.

Okay, so not at- No, no.

Yeah.

No, no, because- Things could happen … there

could be six to eight months, and there could,

there

could be a season It could be two years

like

I want that dilapidation report to be done- At

the, the minute before we walk in

… yeah, just before we walk in.

Yeah.

This is the existing conditions.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, because you could do it, and then the cracks happen before you even get

to site, and then they wait till you're on site, like, "Look what happened."

Yeah.

Yeah.

So you want to, you automate, like dilapidation report, I, I

will always outsource it now.

I will not touch them, not my problem.

Someone else needs to do them.

What I would do is also go through and scan with my Matterport now

So some, what we will also retrofit, we will run our, if we're retrofitting

the project, we will run a Matterport scan through the whole project

so we can always reference it No,

just to give a shout-out to, to C.R.

Kennedy.

What is this Matterport magical

camera that you were talking about?

It's a camera.

We did a whole episode with, um, Vas from C.R. Kennedy about building technology.

It's a camera that scans the building sites in 3D.

Yeah And you can walk through it and measure.

It is, for a retrofit, the amount of times I referred to it on one of my

projects in Altona right now, and we then, so we did it before we demoed and

now did it after demo, so we can start to just, we kind of just update as we go.

So I will also do that at a demolition.

If we're d- gonna retrofit the project and Sydney, and it's keeping a lot of

the building, I will, I will scan it.

I tell you what, talk about like a really cool thing to kind of demonstrate to

your clients when you're actually going out there and doing that site visit.

It's hard when they live there too though, 'cause you just don't want to

get all their stuff in it, but it's like too bad- Yeah, well, it's- Too sad

… it's a good, it's a good point.

Think you know what?

Parking.

Yeah.

And, uh, parking zones.

Like you want to, especially in inner city, it's not so much for you, Brad.

Yeah, not a problem for me.

Not, not a problem, not, not a problem

I park wherever you want.

You can drive your car.

I can't even, I can't even get the street- Not a problem for

you … in some of my jobs.

But like it's a really important thing to kind of jot.

Like again, I went to this project on Monday, Tuesday in Carlton,

and I'm looking around and I'm looking at all the street signs.

Two hour parking Two hour parking, two hour parking.

So the first thing I said to the client is that we're, we're

gonna have to get a construction zone out the front of our- That's

three grand

for- Yeah, construction zone

out- Actually, a $1,000 a month

… out, out the front of the, the property, which means that it's two bins.

Yeah

Where you can… They're your bins, they're your parks between 7:00

00 or 7:00 and 5:00 and no one technically should park there.

So they are your parks for the project.

What

happens if they do?

Do you get- You can get them

towed.

Oh, you just get them towed?

Yeah, I've had someone towed before.

Oh, man.

St Kilda.

Amazing.

I'd just be like, "Tom."

Yeah, Tom.

It's in, in our… Like, we'll give them every opportunity.

Like, we'll call the cops, try and get their phone number.

Oh, no,

fuck that.

You just don't park there.

Yeah,

no.

I, I know, sorry.

Yeah Employ country people with winches on their four-wheel drives and just…

But yeah, but I think it, yeah, it's all, it's that, the two-up

hanging, a, a tip I'll use, just ask the client to go get two permits.

Exactly the conversation I

have with these guys Ask them if they, pay if they can get, if they

can pay to get another one, it's a lot cheaper than the construction zone.

Yeah.

Um, so that's something.

But

you do, you do wanna be protecting the front of your site though.

That's the beauty about the construction zone.

Yeah.

You said no one

will- So how am I gonna set my hoarding up, all that sort of stuff.

Yeah, yeah.

So I will look at how I'm gonna set my hoarding up.

Um…

Oh, actually, another good, good one, um, particularly if you're t- building

around Melbourne or inner city, is all those bluestone bloody laneways they've

got there, the council will absolutely make you put it back as it was before you

got there, and that is a cost Like a cost

Yeah, I had one like this and, but th- they'd built the laneway half a

meter into the neighbor's property.

Oh.

Yeah, it was like been there forever, but they wanted us to reinstate it,

and we're like, "Uh, well, there's a building on top of it now." Like, they,

they, they couldn't… They're like, "But it's, it used to be a meter." I'm

like, "Yeah, but we're building on it now." And so they couldn't get their

head around how they still couldn't have their meter into their house of bluestone

So this is the neighbors who are saying that?

No, no, no, it was, no, it was the council driver, like the laneway.

Oh, they built it onto the property.

Yeah, the laneway was a meter into the property.

So when we demolished it, we started again, and obviously we're building

on that area, and they're like, "Well, where's the blue stone?"

I'm like, "Well, it's, uh…

Common sense, yeah, like we've built on that, on that area." So-

I'm surprised that didn't get flagged during pre-con, that they

could actually see it on the plans.

Yeah, I'll tell you more after.

Uh . Um, the bit… Yes, I have had something like that, but laneways also

check if you're gonna use access to c- Yeah … uh, observe the laneway, ask

the neighbors who uses it, who doesn't.

You know, I think just- Just don't assume you can use it

… in summary, the more information that you can drag out of a site visit,

and don't just do a bloody, you know, virtue signaling one-hour pop-in.

Like- Three, I'm three hours … put three hours aside … I'm earphones in,

just me

… um, bring your p- bring your supervisor around if you want to as well, bring the

designer around if you want to, bring the engineer around if you want to.

We're definitely bringing the site, um, the scanning people and the plumber.

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

And then we're doing our own report.

Yeah.

Actually, the last one did have the plumber come out, um,

'cause he did have the camera.

But yeah, y- you kind of… Information is key.

So I think the clear thing here is you're not gonna get 100% of the

problems, but you might get 95% of them, and you're gonna reduce the risk

of those harder conversations- Yeah

in the future.

Now, when we come to demolition, I wanna jump back to a few things here.

Gotta be really careful of what EPA guidelines are there.

You also need to understand council restrictions on demolition,

on what can and can't be done.

Some councils will make you write a, like a construction program on how you're gonna

dem- demolish a house, and how you're gonna get the waste out of the site.

Uh, you gotta understand legislation changes.

So one of my projects in, a few years ago, we started February.

As of J- June, uh, July 1, they changed a rule on EPS demolition.

Anything that was on site, uh, was treated as, as hazardous waste, which means it

needs to be tested, treated like asbestos.

Needs to go into a special bin.

That change out of a f- click of a s- uh, click of, click of a finger.

So you gotta also understand what the legislation is with these

sort of things, and there's so many easy tools now to do that.

But that again will help you, um, with the conversation with the client.

So when we found out it was gonna cost an extra $30,000 demolition,

we at least had all the information.

I could do my research through the council and the EPA and get it all documented to

show how, yeah, this changed at this date, this has come out of nowhere, here it is.

So I think it does allow you to do that.

Um, it's al- it's also understanding the neighbors and being respectful, like

y- you kind of don't want the hammer machine on the, going at 7:00 AM also

to some extent at the start, because it does set the precedence for the project.

No.

I, I, I try to be a little bit nicer at the start.

7:00

AM.

Yeah.

No, you gotta get started, mate.

I

do, yeah, I know,

but- Gotta, gotta crack those eggs.

Gotta crack them early.

Crack the eggs early.

It's

always at 7:00.

They're starting the machine off at fucking 22.

That's the problem And where I am, yeah

Or build out where I am.

Oh, you could start around the corner Run

around the block, mate, no one

cares.

Um, anything else you guys have come across in demolition that you-

No, 'cause I think demolition's kind of… It's, it's probably flexing a

little bit out of, like, what I'm looking for on that side of it stuff anyway.

The only other thing that I'd add to this is before you get to site,

dig before you dig, legal- Yeah

body discharge.

Yeah,

yeah.

Like, get all that stuff before you go to site.

Or

NBN is probably something we haven't covered.

Oh, actually, that's a good point.

They

are, they are the hardest people to deal with, NBN.

We are talking about NBN from the moment we chat about feasibility all

the way through to signing a contract and saying to clients, "Call them,

let them know what's happening.

Don't just disconnect it off the side of your house, get an abolishment."

Yep, that's what we do, yep.

Because if you don't get an abolishment, then they're gonna,

when they come to reconnect it, they think it's just a connection

fee, it's not a reconnection fee.

Yep.

So yeah, NBN-

We run a conduit to the, to the front of the property and they can, for

maximum of three bends, we always do that so it can go underground.

But ultimately, like, I keep NBN out of my scope of works completely.

Oh, 100%.

Do not touch service provider.

I was, I was

even gonna say before, a lot of the time significant demolition we're

keeping outside of our scopes.

I will now, I don't want full demolition.

I mean, it's out of my contract.

We'll get you a price to start with and help you, but-

That's what we're doing.

That's what we're doing

… I, I don't wa- I don't want a, I want a flat site.

I want a clean site.

Yeah.

So, um, just it's something that I don't want to navigate.

Well, I mean, the other thing too is it's a separate permit.

So- You don't need me … I, like, we don't want to double

dip on the, on the price.

Like, 'cause we need to marginalize it.

You may as well-

And the headache's not worth

… here's our demo company.

They do this stuff all the time.

Yeah.

Deal with them.

Juice ain't worth the

squeeze.

Get it down.

Yep.

I'm-

That's it for me

… yeah, so I think the- Yeah … the key thing is, like, my site template is

just built up of experience and, oh, I missed this and I didn't see this

last time, or this one had a spa, I haven't had a spa, gotta add that in.

So, sort of checklist along the way about has it got this, has

it got this, has it got this?

And it, it's something that's built from experience.

We might build one out for this pre-construction series that people

can, can access or just provide ours.

So-

Okay.

And, uh, we'll wrap it up with our, uh, MEGT Mindful Moment.

Mattie, you got one?

Yeah.

So MEGT, Australia's largest apprenticeship expert.

So apprentices, the time that when you come on site, there is usually two

worth, two, sometimes two years' worth of work has been done to get there.

What you need to understand is we have things like services, gas,

power, sewer, all these things coming and being, coming into the house.

Just don't rip it in or just don't get a shovel or a bar and

start smashing it into the ground.

The documentation's there.

If you don't know, ask.

Because one, it can be really dangerous.

Power, you could just go straight to an existing underground that you had no

idea was there, or direct potentially the wrong person do the wrong thing.

Um, we, we, we ultimately at that point, it's arguably the

most dangerous part of a project.

So ask, dial before you d- you dig.

If you don't have it, that is one of the easiest things you can do is call

up and they will send you everything.

Um, I remember when being an apprentice and someone just was, uh, digging for

a post hole, common thing for fences, went straight through the gas main.

Methane shooting up everywhere.

Um, so you gotta be very mindful of what's happening.

So-

Is there a cow there

or was there?

Pardon?

Was there a cow there?

There's methane.

Yeah.

Well, isn't it methane's the gas that comes out?

Gas.

LPG.

LPG.

LPG, fuck, sorry.

Yeah.

There's

a cow

… LPG, sorry.

Um, I don't know why I thought that.

If you're an

apprentice, don't listen to Matt.

Yeah.

But there was, there was, yeah, there was- I

guess the point Matt's trying to say is, like, there is a history, there, there is

a history to, to get to where you are now.

Yeah.

And if you're a good builder and you've got a good pre-construction

process, the history should be there for you guys to access.

Yeah.

So just ask the question.

I think it's as simple as that.

We ask questions when we're going a site to do these site visits.

Ask a question when you get to site and just think, start

thinking about these things.

Yeah, yeah.

100, 100%.

Brad, thanks for coming on- Thank you very much … again.

We've really enjoyed- Top … having you on these, uh, couple of podcasts.

Thank you.

Cheers.

Welcome.

Thank you