Building a new home in Kalkallo: estates, stages and the defects that repeat
Nearly all new building in Kalkallo sits east of the Hume Freeway in Cloverton, with Kallo adding homes north of Donnybrook Road near Merri Creek. Both are volume builder territory, with lots typically in the 300 to 450 square metre range and a mix of single and double storey designs. The building surveyor signs off the permit stages, and that is not the same as an independent check of workmanship for you.
Where the lots are
Cloverton, the former Lockerbie land, is planned for around 11,000 homes and covers most of the active streets. Kallo is a much smaller estate planned for about 730 homes beside Merri Creek. The original township around the old Hume Highway alignment is mostly larger rural lots with little new building.
How a build runs here
Slab, frame, lock-up, fixing and handover follow each other with little slack, and trades move between several houses on the same street. That speed is why items get covered before anyone looks at them.
What we raise most
Top bars and cover at slab, bracing and truss bearing at frame, cut bracing and crowded services at lock-up, and water details at the wall base at handover.
Which visits to choose
Frame and PCI if you can only have two. Add slab on the reactive clay, and lock-up if the house is double storey with ducted heating and lots of services in the walls.
Talk to the supervisor early
Tell your site supervisor at the start that each stage will be independently inspected, ask for dates as soon as they are known, and confirm each visit in writing.
More about Kalkallo
- Buying an established home in Kalkallo: prices, age of stock and what to check
- Kalkallo growth: from a gold rush stop to one of Melbourne's largest planned communities
- Permits, Hume City Council and building disputes in Kalkallo
- Kalkallo soil: the Gilgai plain, reactive clay and cracking
- Termites in Kalkallo: management systems, gardens and conducive conditions
- What our Kalkallo inspections find, stage by stage
- Kalkallo site conditions: wind, climate, grassland and creek overlays
Written by our local inspection team from work carried out in Kalkallo. Licensed building practitioners, Building & Plumbing Commission registration CDB-U 53425.
