5 Reasons why an Acreage Home might not work for you

5 reasons why an acreage home design might not work for your rural block

There are 5 main circumstances when Clarendon Homes may not be able to build on your rural block. An initial assessment will be made by your sales consultant before a deposit is taken. You can use the following guidelines as a checklist before you visit a Clarendon Homes display centre.

1. Your block is “off the grid” in a remote area

Clarendon can’t build if your block is in a remote area which is considered “off the grid”. That means you have no access to connected town services, such as, water, electricity, septic or mobile phone coverage. These are essential requirements before Clarendon Homes can build.

2. Difficult Site access

If your block has a narrow or steep driveway that doesn’t allow for construction materials, such as, roof trusses, to pass through this means Clarendon can’t build on your property. We also can’t build on properties that are accessed via narrow roads, rough unsealed roads, narrow bridges, bridges with low load limits or creek crossings.

3. Compliance restrictions

Bushfire or flood impacted areas

Your block could be in a bushfire or flood impacted area. Both of these are common for properties in rural areas due to large numbers of trees and nearby creeks. You may need to have your block assessed by an external consultant, such as, a Bushfire consultant or a flood report from your council. Your Sales Consultant will guide you on this.

There are some circumstances where we definitely can’t build, such as, if your bushfire BAL rating is flame zone or if your home requires a suspended slab for a flood impacted area.

Mine subsidence areas

Some rural areas could also be in a mine subsidence area. In these cases, whether you can build on your block or not will depend on the requirements of the Mine Subsidence Board.

Soil contamination

There have been cases where rural blocks were previously used as a plant nursery, industrial site or have existing buildings which contain asbestos. This could mean contamination in the soil that requires remediation works before Clarendon Homes can consider building.

Overhead power lines

In rural areas, it’s quite common for overhead power lines to cross over the top of vacant land. If you have overhead power lines which pass over your building area then Clarendon can’t build on your block because of the safety risk.

4. Council restrictions on biodiversity and tree removal

Depending on your council, there could be council requirements around critical habitats for plants, animals and wildlife that you need to preserve on your block. This could impact how many trees you are allowed to remove to create your level building area. In some cases, you may not be able to create a large enough building area due to these restrictions.

5. Slope of your block

Clarendon’s acreage homes are not designed to work on steep sites or split levels. If your block is on a steep slope without a level building area that’s big enough for your home to fit then an acreage home design won’t be the right choice for you.

If you have questions about whether we can build on your rural block, visit your nearest display centre for advice from one of Sales Consultants.