Brisbane’s property market is heating up but what happens when flood risk threatens your dream home or investment?
In this essential episode, Melinda and Scott Jennison sit down with Martin Roushan-Zarmehri from Stormflood to unpack the real risks of buying in flood-prone areas. From decoding council flood maps to why trusting a selling agent’s “it never flooded” could be a costly mistake. This is a must-listen for anyone serious about buying in Brisbane.
Whether you’re an investor, first-home buyer, or planning a subdivision, we break down how changing flood data, insurance limitations, and local topography could impact your next move. Discover how a professional flood engineer assesses sites, what buyers often get wrong, and why having the right local expert could be the difference between a smart buy… or a regretful one.
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Transcript
0:02: Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Brisbane Property podcast with Scott and Melinda Jannison.
0:07: And we’ve, we’re joined today by a guest and it’s quite a relevant sort of topic when we talk flooding in Brisbane, but we’re joined today by Martin.
0:16: Roshini Zamari Rohani Zamari, you go from Storm flood.
0:21: Welcome, Martin.
0:22: Thanks for joining us.
0:23: Thank you.
0:23: Thank you for having me.
0:24: Yeah, we’re really excited to have you as part of the podcast today and timing is, is quite, on point, really, because we all know, and there’s been some alarming messaging in the media about the fact that Brisbane is updating its flood mapping and obviously this means a lot for property buyers and, and the ability to get insurance.
0:46: So we want to be able to unpack that all today with you and, and really tap into your experience and Your knowledge in relation to flood impacts and properties and, and how it it sort of relates to different areas in Brisbane.
1:00: So thank you for joining us and we’re looking forward to to getting into this episode.
1:04: Yeah, I think, I think it’s also good timing.
1:06: we’re, we’re into spring now here in Brisbane and, We get those beautiful, beautiful weather.
1:12: I, I notice other areas and we get a lot of people inquire from business from us here streamlined from down south, and we’ve I’ve seen Sydney copping some rain and Melbourne and storms.
1:23: We tend to cop our wet weather in the summer periods.
1:27: So obviously now’s a good time I think to be able to help people understand and start to think about what they’re doing and what the actions are going to.
1:36: To do in property because obviously this impact and I think our storms and our and our rain events are quite severe up here and the amount of rain we get, so I think it’s good timing people to prepare for what’s coming.
1:48: Hopefully not too bad, it’s not that bad, but and that’s why we thought we’d we’d get trying to help get an expert to help people understand.
1:57: A little bit more about, what to be aware of as well without making mistakes.
2:01: Sure.
2:02: So if we, we unpack the big question, and, and I guess this is a question that most buyers have, but what is it that buyers need to understand about flood risk before they buy a home?
2:14: Or, in fact, if they already own a property and they’re looking to renovate, what would you say is, is important for buyers and, homeowners to understand?
2:24: I think, obviously, the first thing if I was looking at a, looking to buy a property, renovate, look at all the flood mapping, there’s so much good flo flood mapping out there.
2:34: I think the other part of it is you, you want to look at insurance these days.
2:39: Insurance is a big item, and things are changing in that space.
2:45: and I guess the, the big item right now is obviously there’s flood models that are constantly changing, the flood maps that go into from those flood models is changing.
2:54: , people can’t keep up.
2:56: I can’t keep up.
2:57: Our industry can’t keep up.
2:59: It’s so, you know, it’s a bit like that, but, and then you got the media as well, obviously, right now is they’re just showing everyone all the worst things and saying this is happening and that’s happening.
3:09: But, I think it’s, I think honestly, if you’re ever looking at property, first place to go is obviously the flood maps themselves.
3:17: Every council has them, and they’re very They’re a good indication of roughly what could occur, what your insurances could look like, and then after that, you can unpack it further, depending on what you want to do, and typically via an engineer is the best way to go.
3:33: So let’s just talk about flood maps if that’s OK, because obviously, you know, for property buyers, most people, especially in Southeast Queensland and Brisbane, off the back of some recent significant flood, events, most people are somewhat aware of flood risk now, and they are looking at Flood risk might exist.
3:50: If they’re going to these council portals to, to get an understanding of whether a property might have impact or not, and they see that this property might be flood free, you know, what’s the guarantee that those flood maps might, might change or, or never change?
4:05: Because you, you may be close to a flood zone, but, we know that these flood maps are constantly updating.
4:12: That’s true.
4:13: and I guess it’s really important to know the difference between The different types of flooding.
4:19: It’s like if we’re talking Brisbane specifically, like you’ve got Overland Creek River, coastal, Coastal’s roughly, it stays the same, but, the river model’s been around since what, 2019, roughly.
4:31: So that hasn’t changed, but the data behind that, when they, if they incorporate climate change, for example, that flood map, that flood extent could get worse.
4:41: So, you know, even the things that you see on, say, flood awareness mapping.
4:45: You might think that it may, it may have, you might be on the fringe of a flood extent, but in the next flood map that could come out, it may change the whole thing and you actually might be in that flood zone, for example.
4:56: creeks are always chopping in like the creek mapping is changing and updating consistently, I think recently, for example, in Brisbane we had the Brekkie Creek flood sled that got updated, so like, for example, if you were looking at, and, and this is where it gets difficult because if you, if you’re looking at,, the Brisbane City Interactive mapping, which is the planning scheme mapping, that was a bit, that’s always a bit behind the flood awareness mapping which council puts out.
5:24: But the flood awareness mapping is also a little bit behind in some, some regions as well.
5:28: So even then we get to overland flooding.
5:30: Over land flooding, for example, the data that goes into the flood awareness mapping is roughly a 2017 model.
5:39: So, and that’s using.
5:41: Ground like topography data from 2014, so it’s like, but there’s already new data out there that we could use, like council’s probably updating in the background as well, on top of that, our rainfall data keeps changing as well, so yeah, it’s like, When you see a site that it roughly looks like you might be close or within, you know, within the vicinity of it, just be a little bit aware and go, do I need to go get an engineer to have a look at that and just to double check that.
6:10: So it, it is interesting and, and for our listeners, some people, especially if they’re not Brisbane people.
6:17: , they might look at a property and go, oh well, it, it hasn’t flooded it, you know, and you do quite often get told, it never flooded.
6:25: but, you know, the biggest impact then, you talk about rain changing and all these types of things.
6:30: Some people might buy a property and say, look, it’s not in a flood zone, but in 5 years’ time, it could be in that flood flood zone.
6:37: And, and I’ve seen, I’ve talked to agents before and they said, You know, selling a property that one of them’s a while ago said they were finding it really hard to sell this property because it’s now in a new flood overlay.
6:48: Whereas it wasn’t in the flood overlay previously.
6:50: So there’s obviously a lot of things that have an impact on the changes, you know, obviously you said the rain, but obviously there’s, there’s construction and all these types of things that do have an impact on how they change and how those models change as well.
7:03: Yeah, that’s right.
7:04: and so, Like, you gotta think about where do these models come from, right, so there’s rainfall data that sits behind them that gets updated often.
7:12: There’s topography data which gets updated in most councils every 5 years they have a new data set that you can use.
7:20: , what else have you got?
7:22: You got, even the way that the model or models that can change like between engineering companies and people and everything.
7:29: So all of that, yeah, all of that changes the developments that occur around the sites and all of that gets incorporated into each update as well.
7:38: So, yeah, it’s, as a, it’s, it’s, it’s a moving, it’s constantly moving and changing all the time.
7:46: but yeah, I, I don’t really, I don’t have the answers I don’t, yeah, I don’t really have the like I think that, I think ultimately the answer to all of this will always be, get someone who knows what they’re talking about.
8:01: Look at it, because, yeah, especially agents, I think.
8:04: , they, they’ll talk to the homeowners typically as well, and the homeowners will always say, it’s never rained here before, yeah, so, so for a buyer, what do you think they misunderstand the most about when it comes to all these mapping as it’s, to be honest, the, the biggest one is that they most of them don’t even look at them.
8:23: I think like the some people that I, they come to me, they’ve already purchased the property and then they say, Oh, I’ve just realized there was a flood map over my site, and I’m like, well, now we’ve got bigger problems to deal with, right?
8:35: so yeah, I think not, not doing that first initial check is probably the big one.
8:40: Relying on, yeah, relying on real estate agents, like usually, selling agents who just say, yeah, I’ve flood hasn’t flooded.
8:50: interestingly, I like, I was in the market last year for a site and, and me being a flood engineer, first question I thought I’d ask is, is it in a flood area?
8:59: And I was, this is a, a blue chip, well-known flooded area as well.
9:06: you asked the selling agent agent.
9:09: And they said, Oh, not to my, not to my knowledge.
9:11: I was like, and I knew that particular place flooded in 2022 really badly as well.
9:17: Isn’t that interesting?
9:18: I will say for listeners, With the new legislation that came into effect here in Queensland on the first of, August in relation to a seller disclosure, flood is not part of a requirement for a seller to disclose previous flood events.
9:35: So, people think they’re protected because now sellers have a requirement to disclose.
9:39: That is Not actually the case in relation to flood.
9:43: So this is still one part of the due diligence process that buyers must, look at themselves and asking a selling agent as to whether a property has previously flooded or not is not due diligence, is due diligence is actually going.
9:59: Checking flood maps, if you’re unsure, it’s speaking to professionals like yourself, Martin, who are able to guide buyers to help them understand the risks.
10:09: So, if I was to, to ask you, like, What problems do you actually solve for, for people buying a home or for developers buying a site?
10:19: Like, what is it that you’re actually doing as part of your role?
10:23: So, I guess the first thing, like we, we typically do do, a lot of renovations, new builds, subdivisions, I mean, I work a lot in the commercial industrial development space as well, but typically what, What we do, we’ll pick, well first of all we have to figure out what model has driven that flood map that’s occurred, right?
10:44: So, even when I say a flood map, it’s not just like the flood maps that are in like say flood awareness mapping, but also like the flood planning.
10:51: Mapping as well.
10:52: So we will get that data, we’ll try and figure out when is it up to date, if not, then we’ll have to update that ourselves, and then put in the development, show the impact, show the, show that the flood planning levels work, look at flood risks, and awareness as well, like for example, you may need to demonstrate that, that, that new development has, accessibility, tra trafficability issues and stuff, so, Yeah, like we, we look at all those things, obviously like the bulk of our work is in the development space as well, so we prepare a lot of development application reports, flood reports for, for the DA’s.
11:30: , and then, yeah, essentially we’ll, and like our business particularly we’ll look, we, we try and like help everyone go through the whole design process as well, because it’s not just like architects, as there’s obviously architects, civil engineers, town planners, we’ve got to coordinate everything with them, and I think that it’s quite interesting certifiers and I think the big interesting issue right now is that even say architects are quite,, architects and certifiers are just not up to speed with flood flood mapping and and everything, so.
12:05: Sometimes you’ll have an architect who’ll, he’ll just put together a beautiful house, slab on ground house in the middle of, of a flooded site.
12:13: And then I’ll go and I’ll just get my red pen and be like, no, this is not happening.
12:17: So you’re the bad guy.
12:20: It’s interesting when you talk about commercial space, and that would, would there be a lot of properties, commercial space that would be in flood affected areas?
12:27: Yeah, and actually probably more so I’d say, a lot of my, yeah, a lot of industrial and commercial properties.
12:34: Are in the flooded areas, but because typically those are the ones that, you can actually develop, I’ll say easier than in a residential or or in a vulnerable use sort of situation because, one, you’ve, they’ve typically got bigger budgets to put it up on suspended slabs and things like that.
12:51: two, because the flood, like, I guess the emergency management components of it as well is more supportable because, You know, if there’s a person who runs a business, knows that there’s an incoming flood, you know, that’s coming, like an incoming flood, then they, you know, there’s, there’s more ability for them to evacuate and tell their staff and everything.
13:13: But for example, in a residential property, it’s so much more difficult because if that flood’s coming overnight, like, you know, like what we saw in America, for example, that was, that was a campsite, but similar, similar thing where essentially if there’s not enough time to evacuate.
13:28: You know, council won’t approve something like that because it’s not habitable space then.
13:33: Correct, yeah, yeah, that’s right.
13:34: So, so residential then for our, for our listeners, if we, if we simplify it down a bit and, and as you talked about, you just mentioned about building properties up, becoming flood immune, so obviously when we, when, designers come in, not architects, I’m not an architect, I’m a builder, but we’ll look at it, you, you can look at a property and say look, the flood level goes to X amount.
13:56: To become a, a habitable space where people can live, you need to become flood immune.
14:01: So you’ll build it above that, that flood level.
14:04: and then obviously they, the designers can design the building around that.
14:08: So obviously, that’s a big part of yours, in designing a property and saying this is the level you need to be at to make it a habitable space where people can build there.
14:15: , that’s right.
14:16: And I think, and this is probably one of the most, like, misunderstood items is that every council has a different requirement as well, right?
14:24: So, And this, I’ll give you a good example, like I’ve had certifiers come to me and they’ve said to me, we just want to want the 100, the 1% AEP flood level.
14:34: And I said, why do you want that?
14:35: And they said, Well, cause that’s what we’re gonna build to.
14:37: I said, but that’s not what the, the planning scheme asks for.
14:40: So, for example, sometimes people try and dictate to me what that level is that they need for their, to, to certify.
14:46: And I’m like, no, no, no.
14:47: If you do that, they won’t comply.
14:49: So,, but then, like, say, Brisbane, for example, yeah, typically you’ll have like a 300 or a 500 mil free board depending on non-habitable habitable spaces.
14:58: and then, you know, Logan, Ipswich, Lockyer, Gold Coast, Morton, they’ve all got completely different standards.
15:04: So, even, that’s why I guess it’s, it’s important to get, I guess, an engineer involved as early as possible when you have a flooded site.
15:13: And I think another point to add there is that,, depending on the type of use that you’re proposing on a site, everyone’s always looking at the 1% AEP, right?
15:23: But there’s also, for example, if some particular developments, you have to look up to what they call the probable maximum flood event and show that the flood risk is, is, you know, is mitigate its mitigated and you can actually develop within that region.
15:39: So, this is more so for people, especially looking at,, what’s the childcare centers and, age residential community type of thing, so vulnerable communities, vulnerable communities, so yeah, so like the rules are, they change depending on what you do, if you’re doing commercial industrial, it’s a bit lower as well, so, again it’s just.
16:04: You have to know what you want to build on that side as well, that’s really important.
16:07: So when you, when you’re looking at that due diligence and, you know, everyone’s got their grand ideas, I want to do a subdivision, I want to do this, I wanna do that, you really should know what you, what that end product is.
16:19: and I might, I might touch on that as on the subdivision item too, because that’s, that’s one of the big ones obviously for moms and dads coming in, always wanting to do 1 into 2 3s, so, and if you’ve got like say an overland flow path running through the middle of the site.
16:33: , half the time you can’t really develop, you can’t turn it into that because that water has to go somewhere.
16:40: You can’t block it.
16:41: Yeah, there’s, there’s more to it than just, Oh, can we just get a flood report that says it’s OK?
16:46: It’s like, that doesn’t, that’s not how it works.
16:48: And we’ve seen that, you know, mom and dad would be developers, get stuck, they get caught out.
16:54: They buy these sites and they make the assumption that they can be subdivided and that they can, you know, improve the density on that site.
17:02: In actual fact, it could be impacted by an overlay that prohibits that.
17:06: And that’s why getting expert advice upfront before you buy, either by seeking out services of a registered professional engineer like yourself, or alternatively, working with a quality buyer’s agent that’s going to draw attention to all of these risks, it can really save you a lot of Time and headache down the track, because once you buy, it’s too late.
17:26: You can’t convince council to change their, their planning scheme.
17:29: For buyers that are in the market, Martin, are there any practical tips that you can provide?
17:35: Obviously, desktop analysis and due diligence is critical.
17:40: If buyers are a little bit uncertain as to how to go about that, If they’re turning up to a property on site, are there any telltale signs that, you can say, look, if, if this exists in a location, there’s a higher risk of it being in a flood zone, for example, you know, stormwater drains, etc.
17:58: Are there any things that you would suggest buyers look out for just as a bit of a trigger on site?
18:04: Oh, so I think, yeah, look, look at the stormwater pits and pipes, if there, if there’s any within.
18:12: Usually if it’s big trunk infrastructure, you know, like talking, say, 600 mil plus size pipes, you, that’s, you know, and it’s running through the site.
18:21: It’s sort of telling you that councilors put that there for a reason and it’s probably taking water from one place to another.
18:27: That’s right.
18:27: , if you’ve got, if you’re in a sag, As well.
18:31: So like, you look at the road, if, if it’s, if it’s within a sag, it’s probably that within, you know, in the flash flood events, it, it’ll have a bit of issues.
18:40: But when you say a sag, is that like where water might pool until it drains away?
18:45: Yeah, yeah.
18:46: And I guess which way the site actually falls, like, that’s, that’s a pretty good telltale sign as well.
18:53: if it’s falling away from the site, I mean, then, you know, obviously if it, if there’s an overland flow path, it’ll go down via through the site, or if it’s closer to a creek system or something in its lower lyings, maybe the back of the property could be coming up in those events.
19:09: So, yeah, there’s those sort of things.
19:12: and I, I think going back to the SAG item too, like,, this is a, I guess I see a lot of this as, people flicking on these sites because they’re having troubles getting in and out of their site during flash flood events, it’s like, I don’t want to deal with this anymore, so they sell their property.
19:29: I think I, I just might make mention, you mentioned before about, things to look at as well in terms of when someone’s selling auctions, obviously, auction’s a big one, right?
19:38: I see that a lot cause I get cra I get some crazy time frames sometimes from people saying,, I need to know how flooded the site is by, you know, by the end of the week, and I’m like, no, no in that in that time.
19:51: the worst one I see more recently is, subject to counsel.
19:58: And, and, Obvious, and I always, I always say to anyone who brings me one of those sites to say, if it was subject to council approval, why didn’t the person who had the site approve went and got it approved for because then they just add value to it without having to do anything, right?
20:13: So.
20:15: Yeah, I think those two are my big tips, I mean, that’s they’re they’re probably your big tips as well.
20:21: 100%.
20:22: Always, you know, don’t trust what you’re reading and the listing or what you’re hearing and the questions that you might be asking a selling agent, do your own due diligence in relation to flood because there is no Requirement for, accurate disclosure.
20:35: I think, I think what you talked about as well, when you were talking about the saggings and the contours, and people, look, we’ve, we’ve got access to contour plans, we’ve got, we’ve got access to all of that information.
20:46: We do, obviously, because we’re professionals and you’re the same.
20:49: , the average person, they’ve got a car, as you drive around, actually have a look and just, just drive the neighborhood and get a feel of, is this property sitting up on the hill.
21:01: If it’s sitting on the hill, probably less chance you’re gonna get flooded.
21:04: You could be in an overland flow path if it’s, if it’s higher and it the water could flood.
21:08: Just have a look at where the ground sits.
21:10: That’s right.
21:10: It’s such an important thing when you actually look at a property to say, OK, I’m sitting.
21:15: Down in a hollow, that’s that road goes up, that road goes up, the water’s probably gonna come down here.
21:20: And it just gives you a bit of an indication.
21:22: So knowing the neighborhood, knowing the area is really important.
21:26: As you touched on, and I’ll remind our listeners, little creeks, rivers, things like that, the water has to go to those areas.
21:32: That’s right.
21:33: Water will find the lowest point and it will go towards it.
21:36: So just be aware and have a drive.
21:38: So if people are looking at a house or a unit, whatever it may be.
21:41: , don’t just drive there and drive home.
21:46: As you probably should anyway.
21:48: So actually drive the neighborhood and get a feel of what the neighborhood’s like.
21:52: I mean, that’s the beauty for us.
21:54: We, we, we buy locally.
21:55: We, we’re Brisbane specialists.
21:56: We, we know the streets and we know what it’s like.
21:59: you can just confirm it all then with your contours and your mapping and all those types of things on top of it as well.
22:04: I think that’s the, the risk, and I’ll, I’ll reference this all the time as I do on the podcast.
22:09: That’s the risk.
22:09: Of using out of area buyers agents to help with an acquisition.
22:13: If they’re not on the ground and they don’t know, the risks associated with buying locally, and they’re only looking at mapping, which you say, you know, has, has a degree of accuracy, but also it’s understanding, you know, what the surrounding area looks like.
22:27: We, we need to actually overlay all of these data pieces, if you like, to, to make firm recommendations to clients.
22:33: And then, of course, having industry colleagues like yourself, in instances where There’s a level of uncertainty over the level of risk for a client.
22:41: I was just gonna throw another quick one on, sorry, I’m, I’m jumping around a little bit.
22:45: have a look at the road.
22:47: Have a look at the gutters and if there’s any stormwater outlet.
22:50: Now council put those there for a reason.
22:52: So if, if there’s a stormwater outlet or a drain there, there’s a pretty good chance the waters is going to want to go there.
22:58: So have a look at that.
22:59: These are all the things you just gotta have a look around.
23:02: I, I was at a property last weekend, I think it was with a client.
23:05: And I just talked to him.
23:06: I said, Look, you can see there’s a stormwater drain over that side, stormwater drain over this side.
23:10: This is where the water’s going to go to.
23:12: And it gives you an indication then of what the local area’s like as well.
23:16: And, and I might add as well, like, yeah, in terms of other things around the area, like, look for channels, you know, there’s usually a drainage channel somewhere.
23:24: There’s, you know, if there’s a golf course nearby, if there’s parks nearby, like parks always, they, they use them to fly, they use them for flood mitigation all the time.
23:34: , I think as well, look at vegetation in the area, because vegetation can sometimes actually give you that little insight.
23:42: If you see something, cause, you know, as areas where water naturally goes through, it’s like a creek, and it’ll eventually create its own vegetation as well.
23:50: So look at that as well.
23:51: It’s a it’s a good tip.
23:52: It’s a really good tip.
23:54: Martin, when would a buyer move from just assessing online tools for flood risk to reaching out to someone like yourself to commission a full, You know, stormwater model scenario.
24:08: I’ve probably got the incorrect terminology there, but, when would they move from just the mapping tools to a full, you know, engineering report?
24:16: Well, obviously it can vary significantly.
24:20: if you’ve got river and creek flooding, generally we will have very similar results to that.
24:28: If it’s over land flooding, that’s where it gets trickier, right?
24:31: And, and going back to timing, like, for example, if someone says, I need, I’ve only got 1 week’s due diligence, right?
24:41: It’s like, you won’t get good, you won’t get a good outcome in 1 week, right?
24:44: How long does it take roughly?
24:46: Honestly, at the moment, like if I was to say probably between 2 and 4 weeks, depending on a lot of factors as well.
24:53: sometimes it could be.
24:55: Something quite simple that we just look at it and we go, yeah, you don’t have anything to worry about.
24:59: Other times, you know, it’s a bit like, based on my experience, like, even sometimes I’ve been in in situations where the flood awareness mapping doesn’t show flooding, and the flood planning area mapping shows no flooding, but even when we’ve gone through the DA process, it’s shown as flooded, well, it’s actually shown as flooded in the model.
25:17: So, and that’s a rare case, I’m not saying that that’s on every property, but it’s just, yeah, it’s.
25:22: , giving your engineer enough time is probably one of the things that goes back to things like even, your settlement dates and special conditions, things like that, I would be.
25:34: Definitely trying to get that built in if you, if you’re a bit worried about flooding.
25:39: Interesting because in the current market, there’s so much FOMO, there’s more demand than supply, and there are people that are prepared to make compromises on what they buy just to get into the market.
25:49: So, if you’re saying it’s 2 to 4 weeks to, you know, potentially get advice on a, on a site, and yet there’s a 3-week auction campaign, already there’s a red flag in terms of buyer risk.
26:01: And I think If you’re an informed buyer and you’re in that situation, then you, you may be willing to take on that risk.
26:07: I think, where it becomes more alarming and more troubling is when you don’t have the information and you’re making, those decisions without, without considering what risk you’re, you’re exposing yourself to.
26:21: I’ll also just mention that around Brisbane in certain pockets, there’s more and more parks popping up that used to be residential streets, and, and this is off the back of some of the The more recent flood events where some of the original character Queenslander homes have been relocated.
26:35: They’ve been moved offsite, and now we’ve got buyback schemes.
26:38: Yeah.
26:39: So, I know in, in a local area near where we live, that’s, that’s been definitely the case.
26:45: So it’s quite strange after many years to see kids playing cricket and soccer in an area that used to just be a row of houses.
26:52: But, I’m sure that in the future when it does flood again, You know, people that previously lived in those locations will be very thankful they’re no longer there near where we live, not exactly where we live.
27:03: We are flood that’s what you look for flood, so I might actually add that as well, so like, and especially in like areas like Wolston and Around the northern suburbs, you see a lot of these higher dwellings as well, right?
27:21: That’s usually a good telltale sign that there’s floodings in the area as well.
27:26: So if you go on Google Maps and there was a house there, and then after 22, there’s no house there or if it’s been raised and it’s up in the air, it’s usually a pretty good sign that, yeah, there’s the flooding item there.
27:36: It’s a very good tip.
27:37: So if you’re, pre-purchasing, so say we, you know, obviously a process that we would go through, what would you recommend buyers do to assess flood risk before they buy?
27:48: What, what sort of steps should they take?
27:49: Well, I mean, definitely the, the mapping, that’s the first and foremost, In Brisbane, I’d be using the flood awareness mapping more so than the flood planning.
27:59: That’s a good tip.
28:00: The flood planning is more than when you’re thinking about, I mean, they’re sort of, they are sort of interrelated in some ways when they trigger, but generally, if you’re thinking about development of the site, then you start looking at the flood planning area mapping.
28:12: So it depends on your, what, what the purpose of you purchasing the house is, or the property is.
28:17: If it’s for you to live in, then obviously, yeah, flood awareness mapping, Than going to an engineer and asking them, you know, well, trying to figure out how bad is the risk, how bad is the flooding.
28:31: and then, depending on, like, our process, for example, if I look at it and I’m like, oh, this, this looks like it needs a bit more detailed, modeling and everything, it’ll be, you know, 2 to 4 weeks.
28:43: This is how much it’s gonna cost, all of that, so.
28:46: , going through that process is is quite important if you’re very serious about wanting to make sure that there’s no flood risks on the site, and then depends, like, after that I’ll typically give,, you know, some sort of, document report that says this is what it is, or if they’re already, they’ve bought it and they’ve got the, the, they already wanted, wanting to develop it straight off the bat, then we go into that, that whole development application phase, get a consultant team and everything together.
29:15: And yeah, it, it really depends on what your, what your purpose for that site is, right?
29:19: So.
29:20: And for, for buyers that I guess are a little bit, unsure about those time frames.
29:25: Yes, it is a really competitive market at the moment, but if everybody is assessing the risks, sometimes you can secure a home or a property and, and insert special conditions that enable you to do some of this due diligence post-contract.
29:38: Now, of course, in a competitive market, conditions do matter, so that doesn’t always work to your advantage.
29:43: But sometimes those costs and that certainty can come once you’ve already secured the site, in a,, and, and you’re still protected with the outcome based on, you know, special, conditions that you’re inserting and get advice from your solicitor in terms of how to draft those special conditions to protect your interests as well.
30:00: What, what do you think the biggest thing that, or the most common thing that people miss?
30:05: , oh, what did they miss?
30:10: Is it overland flow because, you know, a lot of people look at river flooding and creek flooding, but They don’t understand the seriousness of potentially impact of overland flow, and I’m probably speaking more for residential buyers because people might be buying an old Queenslander thinking that they can build in under with a slab, and yet, if, you know, they might have checked the creek flooding, that doesn’t flood, it doesn’t, no river flooding, but have they checked overland flow?
30:36: Is that something that That you find people sort of have that aha moment post-purchase as opposed to doing that due diligence prior?
30:44: I think Brisbane specifically, yeah, Oland’s probably the the biggest one, I think one of the big misunderstand, and this, this happens is they’ll come to me and they say, oh, I just need a hydrologist report or a flood report.
30:57: And I’ll be like, Well, what do you want me to, I’ll give you a flood report, but what’s the purpose?
31:02: And they’d be like, Well, we’re trying to build a new house, so we just need a flood report.
31:05: And it’s like, the flood report doesn’t, doesn’t just say it’s all good to build.
31:10: There’s a process of having to design the house to make sure it’s flood resilient.
31:14: And that’s the flood report.
31:15: So I think that’s probably, one of the big ones, Yeah, I, I think that’s, that’s a big item that is, misunderstood all the time.
31:25: Well, I think that, you know, we’ve really covered a lot of, you know, what do buyers need to be aware of, what are some of the risks that exist out there, and, you know, I guess how buyers can protect themselves up front.
31:39: I’m conscious of time because I could speak for another hour on some of the, the knowledge that you have in relation to flood risk and, you know, how people need to be aware of all of this changing mapping.
31:50: We know the media, have, you know, they, they love to, to provide.
31:57: Information that people want to click on, clickbait, we call it, and we’ve seen some recent media in Brisbane about updated flood maps.
32:03: I know it’s caused some, you know, concerns for some property buyers, certainly for some property owners.
32:09: what would you say to some of those recent media headlines about the, the updated flood mapping?
32:16: So for, I think the ones you’re talking about, for example, more recently is around the Brecky Creek models, right?
32:22: So, for example, the Brecky Creek model was actually provided to the public, I guess, in, in a flood study, so no one is ever going to go and look into it, right?
32:32: But it was out there last year and then I think they, that got thrown into the flood awareness mapping first.
32:39: So Brisbane typically will go, put it into the flood awareness mapping first because then, To get it into a flood planning map, flood planning, sorry, the city plan mapping, the planning new mapping, there’s a, there’s a heavy process that goes behind this, it’s complex because essentially, you know, they’ve got to go with their strategic planners to, to to create these flood risk maps and then build build it in.
33:05: When they do that and and and every council has actually got a different mechanism as to how they do it.
33:10: So for example, Brisbane does it in updates and so like the next update I think is in is in October and so, so for example, that flood map for the Breaky Creek was already out there for for the public to look at.
33:24: And now, well, and now it’s getting baked into the the planning scheme mapping, but the media’s gone out and said, Oh, these, the council’s bringing out these new, it’s like, no, they’re just updating the planning scheme mapping them and not the actual flood studies or flood, they’ve been out there for for a while.
33:40: I actually did a LinkedIn post about that particular one because I, I think areas like say like Tenerife for example got impacted pretty badly by this new mapping, so for example,, from a flood planning perspective, you could build something in particular areas that are shown as flood-free, but there was new map, there was new flood awareness mapping that already showed that that area is now being impacted.
34:03: So for example, if a, if you went and built in that area, though the flood though the flood planning mapping is, is not showing it as flood affected, Flood awareness mapping did, so the insurers would have straight away as soon as you’ve built that place, the insurers would have come after you for premiums every year and I might make make mention that, even I’ve heard about recently that premiums are getting really crazy because.
34:30: Now they’re not letting flood cover be an optional item on, on the insurance.
34:36: So I’ve, I’ve had clients already tell me they’ve gone from like, say 5 or 80 a year to like 20,000 a year.
34:42: Prohibitive to hold, and, and it’s no longer an option with some insurers, right?
34:47: And that’s very important.
34:48: for listeners to understand.
34:50: Like that is a huge ongoing cost, especially if flood cover is no longer optional under a policy and you have no choice but to take it out.
34:57: It’ll be, I’m either insuring my property or I’m not having any insurance on my property, which is a huge risk for a buyer without a doubt,, I was, I, I may actually make a note as well, like he talks about we’re talking about Brisbane, but if you’re looking at other areas as well around, so say like Logan have an update every, at the moment they’ve got one every year with TLPI, Gold Coast has.
35:22: , has got a, they’ve got multiple maps as well.
35:25: They’ve got the insurance map, the risk map, and the flood planning map.
35:29: The Moreton Bay, Moreton Bay is gonna go through a planning scheme update soon.
35:33: Lockyer’s just gone through theirs.
35:35: Ipswich just got theirs in first of, was it July, so.
35:39: They’re changing, they’re these maps, they’re getting updated, so yeah, So yeah, don’t, don’t think that they, those maps won’t get, won’t change over time.
35:50: Yeah, yeah.
35:50: Look, you know, I know from our perspective, we’re constantly looking at the raw source, but multiple sources.
35:56: For example, if we are buying in the Brisbane City Council region, we are going to the PD Online, which is the council planning scheme.
36:03: We are then going to floodwise, and we actually also produce, sorry, we’re going to the flood awareness map and we’re also producing that flood.
36:10: report, which gives you three different layers, and, and we’re able to reconcile where there’s differences, and we always look at where is the worst risk and, and help our clients understand that because that becomes absolutely critical.
36:22: And I might just make a note, flood flood wise property reports don’t give you the overland levels that that component is out of all the things, all the flood sources, that’s the one that you have to go to an engineer.
36:34: Yeah, yeah.
36:35: So tell us if people do want to get in touch, how do they reach out?
36:39: And I would also love for you to explain what is the difference between you as an engineer and others out there that, that might also call themselves engineers.
36:48: So, I mean, you can find us on, at our website www.stormfloods.com.
36:56: I guess in terms of Yeah, differences between engineers, so at the moment.
37:02: Our, our industry in the flooding space is a bit like the wild west, right, because, all you really need in, in, To sign off as a you know, a flood report is actually a civil RPEQ right?
37:15: so we still in our industry we haven’t split off civil engineers from flood engineers, it’s still a work in progress.
37:24: It’s a very gray area, and so a lot of civil engineers will try and provide their services in hydraulic engineering or flood engineering, and a lot of them.
37:35: Probably not as qualified or don’t have, don’t have specific experience in flood modeling or so that it’s, it’s quite, yeah, they’re playing in the gray at the moment.
37:45: things I would be looking for in terms of a flood engineer, and There are, there are fantastic ones out there.
37:52: And to be honest with you, a lot of the, a lot of the good ones, we’re probably very busy, so it’s a bit hard to, when clients are saying a quick turnaround.
38:01: If you need one week turnaround, it’s like, well, we don’t really, it’s hard.
38:05: so, in that, in that sense, yeah, I’d be looking for, what’s the experience?
38:10: I’d be looking at their CVs for sure.
38:13: you’d be, you want someone in the flooding space who’s got at least 10 years’ experience.
38:16: Like, you don’t really want.
38:18: Someone who’s like 1 or 2 or 3 years out of uni doing that sort of stuff.
38:23: you also want to make sure that they’re not outsourcing it overseas.
38:27: So civil and flooding industry right now is rampant with outsourcing.
38:32: So a lot of stuff’s being sent, you know, to like, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, so just make sure you know who’s actually working on your project.
38:43: And the other one is.
38:44: , and there’s nothing wrong with graduates.
38:48: They need to be, you know, they gotta go through a development process, but when you’re talking about flooding and it’s your property, you want to make sure that the senior engineers are working on your site of course.
38:58: And, and with that comes with the cost as well.
39:02: So when you’re doing overland flood assessments, I’d say like if anything’s below 5.
39:06: 5K for an assessment.
39:09: You probably, it’s one of those other things that’s occurring in the background.
39:12: You’re not getting the right advice.
39:14: Good advice.
39:15: So, an investment of at least $5000 otherwise, there may be something happening that you’re not aware of and you may not be getting the, the full service that you’re expecting.
39:25: So that’s a, a fantastic tip.
39:27: At least you know you’re getting.
39:28: So if you invest the $5000 you’ll probably save on your insurance and providing another time I actually give you some horror stories podcasts, but yeah, there’s plenty of plenty of those, yeah.
39:44: So yeah, so beware of that subject to council approval, be aware of how it’s never flooded before, insurance will cover it, all these types of things we hear, yeah, if it’s, if it’s flooded, forget it, they say.
39:57: , and that’s definitely something or reach out to, someone like yourself, like at storm flood to to get that right, yeah, because some people are willing to take on that and that is acceptable for some people, but it is important to understand the extent of that risk that you are taking on if you’re willing to to buy in a flood zone.
40:14: Yeah, for sure.
40:15: Excellent.
40:17: We’ll wrap it up, Martin, thank you so much for joining us.
40:19: it’s been a lot for everyone to think about.
40:21: , I really appreciate helping and and sharing that information and knowledge to our, to our listeners as well.
40:29: as usual, I will let Melinda wrap it up until next week.
40:31: Thanks very much for listening and bye for now.
40:33: Yes, thanks once again for joining us on the Brisbane Property Podcast.
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40:40: Martin, for sharing all of your knowledge with our audience.
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40:54: Until next week, we hope you have a good one, and bye for now.