Building a deck in Torquay - some questions...

I've read through some of the threads on here what seems like a thousand times and found it all very helpful in planning our deck project. Also bought the Staines manual which again was very helpful. However, I still have a couple of questions which, hopefully, you fine gents can help me out with...

1 - building permit, do I need one? The deck is to be 42sqm and is no more than 400mm above natural ground level at any point. I'm constructing in a similar method to Raff's deck, with the 90x90 TP bearers mounted directly to the Pryda stirrups which in turn on concreted into 250x200dia concrete pads. At the junction with the house, I'd planned on supporting the joists (90x45) on ledgers (140x45) anchored to the brick veneer wall (yes I know this isn't ideal, but given the height of the deck, side loading is minimal). So, do I need a building permit?

2 - deck board choices. I went to my local timber merchant to price everything up and found that Merbau has got a lot more expensive then when I started looking at this project. For 90x19 they quoted me $4.73/m - not a bad price at all, but makes the whole project more expensive than planned. Has anyone else found Merbau more expensive than usual? Anyone, the guy switched me onto Spotted gum. The colour's great and they can do me 86x19 for $4.39/m. I've not seen many projects in this timber though - anything special I should know before I start construction (note boards will be screwed with 10g type17 50m stainless screws)?

3 - Can't think of a number 3 at the moment, but give it time!

Thanks in advance for all comments

Jon


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