It is the Development Control Plan that Pine Rivers Shire Council gazetted on 27 November 1998 and amended in December 2011. In North Lakes, it means development is controlled by approved precinct and sector plans, and any new work must meet their design and siting requirements. It affects where you can build. The footing design is a separate matter: it still depends on an AS 2870 site classification, which is what our report provides.

In most cases, yes. The certifier needs a site classification to AS 2870 for the new footings or slab, based on the ground where the new structure will sit. A report for the original house describes the ground at that time and in that spot. Trees, drainage and plumbing changes since then can affect the reactive clay found across much of Queensland. Ask your certifier what they will accept, and we can test the new footing area.

City of Moreton Bay publishes information on the North Lakes precinct and sector plans on its planning scheme page for North Lakes. Each sector plan acts as the code of development for its area, and any development must comply with its design and siting requirements. Your designer or certifier can confirm which plan applies to your lot. Once you know where the structure can go, tell us, and we will drill near that footing area.

The existing slab shows how the original house was built, but it does not classify the ground under a new extension. North Lakes is reported to have begun in 1999, so the earliest homes have lived through decades of moisture changes. The QBCC notes that trees, poor surface drainage and leaking plumbing can cause damage on reactive clay. A new classification near the proposed footings gives your engineer current, site-specific results to design the extension and its connection to the house.

It can. A site classification describes the ground where it was tested, and the new footings will sit on a different patch of soil. Reactive clay moves as its moisture changes, and the QBCC notes that trees, poor surface drainage and leaking plumbing can affect that ground over time. The class letter only indicates how reactive the clay is, from slightly to highly reactive. So the result for the addition may differ from the one on the original house plans. Testing near the proposed footing area gives your engineer results for the ground the extension will actually use.

We do not assess planning compliance. The sector plan's design and siting rules are checked against your plans through the approval process. What we can do is match our investigation to your layout. If you tell us where the extension, pool or granny flat will sit, we position our investigation around that footing area. The report then covers the ground your designer is actually building on.

The method is the same: boreholes, bearing tests and lab analysis in our NATA-accredited laboratory. The difference is the setting. North Lakes sits under the Mango Hill DCP's precinct and sector plans. It is also an established suburb, where the 2021 Census counted 8,135 private dwellings in the SA2. As a result, many owners are now looking at additions beside existing homes rather than first builds on vacant lots.