 “The Fascism of building regulations in the West are killing Earthships – Material re-use is deeply subversive to the corporate cartels – as its the height of anti-consumerism” unknown Earthship writer The Dude started this page in an attempt to document the hurdles he has faced (re. building the Earthship Hut) so far. There seems to be very few Earthships in Australia.
The Dude wants to know why???
NB: He encourages feedback comments through Facebook. Please note, this page is a work in progress and like everything in this world (the playing field is constantly changing). Also, worth mentioning - the vast majority of people who work for the local council etc seem to be very helpful and nice.
Currently though, The Dudes impressions are as follows:
1. Red tape at Government level (council, state, federal). Dude opinion: Part of Australia's employment problem, is that the focus is on - selling off real jobs (and then creating administrative jobs at government level). See dude comment in Encouraging Creativity.
2. Costs associated with this Red tape. You need cash! See below App1 list of council stuff - from recent land query
3. Actual cost of land You need even more cash! Australia has massively over priced real estate
4. Barriers to prevent self sustainability Utilities: it is in interest of a lot of people to keep you "plugged into the grid"
5. Local building codes. Because of its unorthodox nature, the Australian building codes struggle with Earthship technical specification. One could wonder - are these people that really that concerned about safety? In other countries, there is minimum Government interference and the responsibility (also the Freedom) is pushed back onto the individual.
 "It's more a guideline, than a rule"
Despite challenges - the Dream continues:
The Dude is no engineer
The Dude is no architect
The Dude is no builder
He just watched the below video on Earthship Huts and said
 YES SUPPORT THE DUDE!!! in his noble quest to build Earthship Hut. He has a # of people to convince! LIKE below FACEBOOK  The Dude is not saying there should be no councils
He is saying their rules and regulations and procedures need review
and need to be more flexible and reasonable...
The Engineering of Earthships - should at least be discussed App1: LOCAL COUNCIL FEE ESTIMATES
We estimate the cost of the application as follows:
House Application in the EP Zone (Code Assessable)
•Site plan, locate buildings, contours etc.
limited to area of works (approximately 1,000m²), $ 2,200.00
•Preparation of house application, $ 3,080.00
•Architectural/Draftsperson (by others), $ ??
•Hydraulic Report (by others)*, $ 3,500.00 ??
•Noise Report (by others)*, $ 3,000.00??
•Additional survey may be required for hydraulic study, ??
•Ecological Report (biodiversity) (by others)*, $ 3,000.00 ??
•******** City Council application fee. $ 1,565.00
Total $ 16,345.00
*If required
Comments
******** City Council will provide a 10% subsidy on the assessment fees if the application is
submitted using the Smart eDA tool. We have assumed that the application will be submitted
using this procedure therefore a 10% subsidy will apply to the cost of the assessment fee.
The subject property does not qualify for the ********** City Council Accelerated Development
Assessment program therefore the normal assessment timeframes apply in this instance. We
expect once lodged the application will be approved within approximately 3-4 months.
We do not intend to undertake a site visit and therefore we have assumed that site photos will
be provided by others.
CONCLUSION
The above fee to prepare the development application includes up to the point of lodging the
application with Council and about three hours of post-lodgement works. Extended postlodgement
work (eg. information request, negotiated decision application etc. if required) is not
readily quantifiable and will be additional to the scope of work outlined above and will be charged
at our standard hourly rate $120.00/hr + GST. Invoices will be issued as works progress but will not
be more often than monthly. Our fees will be fixed for three months and our standard terms for
payment are 14 days from the date of issue of the invoice and our reports, survey plans etc. remain
our property until fees are paid in full. Interest may be charged on monies outstanding outside
these terms at the rate of 1% per month. We also wish to advise that it is company policy that files
will be destroyed 5 years after the last written correspondence.
If you wish to proceed with the above, please confirm your client’s details and sign the attached
authority to proceed and return it to us together with a cheque for $1,000.00 deposit made payable
to ********* Survey & Planning Pty Ltd. (NB: have asterisked out actual council name)
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