One of the basic statutory requirements of the National Building Regulations (discussed under the post First things first – site specifics), is that nobody may start with the building of any house without the prior approval of the house's building plans by the relevant local authority. This requirement is applicable to all buildings erected within the boundaries of jurisdiction of all local authorities in South Africa.

Every prospective house owner is therefore obliged to submit to the local authority a full set of building plans for approval, before starting with any building work. Such building plans may be drawn up by the owner him/herself (if competent), or by a suitably qualified draughtsman, architectural technologists or by a professional architect. It is important to note that from 1 July 2006, all persons practising architecture or submitting building plans to local authorities are obliged to register with the South African Council for the Architectural Profession or SACAP for short. The SACAP website can be visited here.

Local authorities differ in their requirements regarding the format in which building plans must be submitted. Most require only paper copies, while some may still require a more permanent or plastic copy. Usually at least one copy should be colour coded as required by the National Building Regulations. Also note that most local authorities have a plan scrutiny fee payable. These scrutiny fee structures vary amongst the different authorities, but are usually based on the floor area of the building and/or on the number of sanitary fittings in the building.

All building plans must comply with a minimum standard, and indicate a specified level of information. The basic ingredients of a building plan that are always required comprise a site plan, floor plan(s), 4 elevations, and at least one section through the building. The site plan is that part of the building plan linking the building to the owner's specific stand. Stand-specific information like the building lines, servitutes, slope of the land, the direction of true north and the sewer connection point is therefore indicated on the site plan. Furthermore, the layout of the sewer system, in plan and elevation, is also required, as well as an electrical layout. Another very important component of a building plan is a door and window schedule. This schedule is then used to calculate the net energy performance of the building, in accordance with the requirements of the National Building Regulations. This is a specialised topic and I will attempt to explain the process in more detail in a future post.

Most local authorities have the detailed requirements for submitting a building plan for a house available at their building enquiries counter. As you can probably gather from the previous paragraph, the drafting of a building plan is a specialised subject, and should best be left to a trained, skilled and experienced person, as stated above, somebody registered with SACAP as a competent person. If your budget allows for it, by far your best bet is to appoint a professional architect to get the job done. Not only will an architect ensure that his/her building plan is compliant to all statutory requirements for approval by the local authority, but architects are also specifically trained to assist you with the planning and design process of your house. Your architect can also be contracted to do the project management during the construction process, saving you many headaches! I

If you prefer to appoint an architect to get the job done, you can always refer to the list of trusted consultants to find a suitable architect I personally know and trust to recommend to you.

If your stand is located inside an estate or other typical gated community managed by a Home Owners' Association (HOA), your design and building plan may be subject to approval by the HOA prior to submitting it to the relevant local authority.

Apart from drawing up your own plan yourself, or appointing a SACAP registered competent technologist or a professional architect, you have another choice when it comes to obtaining a building plan for your house. You can buy a so-called "stock plan" from a variety of websites in South Africa. These websites offer a variety of house designs, usually filtered by architectural style and number of bedrooms.

Stock plans come with obvious advantages as well as disadvantages. The more reputable websites offer only plans designed by professional architects, so you can be assured of proper house design principles and compliance to the National Building Regulations. When you buy a plan online and order a hard copy, you will usually be supplied with the design architect's SACAP registration number to certify the plans. This certification usually excludes the site plan and any other changes made to the original building plans. You could then opt to get a draughtsman in your area to do the site plan and the approval at the local authority, or you can do it yourself. Some of the online firms offer a service to customise their stock plans according to your needs, although this may not always be possible. Sometimes customisation requests by buyers can involve major alterations to elevations and roof designs, which may alter the aesthetics of the house to such an extent that the design architect will not be willing to apply them to his/her original design.

The major advantage of such websites is that it offers you the opportunity to page through many and varied designs and styles. You can indeed indulge in some serious "window shopping" to get ideas for your own future home! However, always read the website's Terms and Conditions as not to infringe on the published copy rights.

Please note that the new SANS 10400 Building Regulations now require not only a registered architect to certify the building plans for approval at any local authority, but also to regularly inspect the building work during construction and at completion, certify compliance with SANS 10400. Although most of the stock plan websites do certify their building plans in terms of compliance to SANS 10400, it is unlikely that they will be in a position to conduct any inspections during construction time or to certify compliance at completion of the house. The reason is that these firms sell their plans country-wide, but are usually based in one city or town, without the resources to carry out inspections country-wide. Should the applicable local authority enforce this regulation, it will be the home owner's own responsibility to find a competent person in his/her area to inspect and certify the building work for compliance.

Source: Portions of this post have been based on a page from inhouseplans.com