OK, all you Aussies out there, now I know the rules differ from state to state and council to council, but any of you Aussies out there who are set up at home and have council approval, can you tell me the following please:
Do you get inspected?
How often?
Do they just drop in or do they need to make an appointment?
Do they just inspect the kitchen?
Do they inspect anywhere else in the house?
If there were any main issues in the kitchen that needed changing what were they? ie - new sink, new oven, specific type of fridge etc.
My council has told me I would need to lodge a development application or something like that is that what any of you had to do?
Thanks in advance!
I am interested in finding out all these things too. I know I need to ring my local council to get all this info. I don't see why you would need to lodge a development application if you aren't buildind anything.
I was asking around in the Cake Decorators Association of SA and I found out that you can take out insurance through them for around $40 a year if you are a member - this covers you if someone should decide to sue you. It's worth checking out about this from the association in your state.
I was also advised to contact the Office of Consumer and Business Affairs.
Hope that helps some.
Heidi
Hey heidi, I don't know why either, it's what my council told me I needed to do. Thanks for the info on the insurance with the CDA, I'll look into that here and see if it works the same way.
But it would still be great if anyone out there who has dealt with their councils can answer some of the questions in my initial post I know it works differently for everyone but it would be great to get a feel of people's experiences particularly with the inspection process.
Thanks 
Nicole there was a thread 3/10/06 called Urgent All Aussies it was under Cake Decorating Business. They were asking the same question and boonenati had a very detailed response which might be what your after even though she is in Melbourne. Sorry I don't know how to do a link to the thread 
.
My advice would be to ask someone at the Cake Dec Guild as some of them do a lot of work from home or run a business and would know the in's and out's.
Lyn
Thanks Lyn, I'll have a look, Nati's given me some great info before but it wasn't in relation to inspections. I was going to ask at the Guild to, I just thought there were a few more legal Aussies on there than there appear to be! I was hopeful someone in Sydney might pipe up! I'll keep searching. 
Hi Nicole
I bake just for fun, but have looked into what's required to run a baking business from home. One council - Mosman I think - had some very detailed information on their website.
The development application would cover issues like increased traffic around your home due to cake pick-ups and delivery of goods you have purchased. The DA process enables the council to assess whether running the business will have any impact on neighbours and allows your neighbours to make comment. Although I can't imagine anyone complaining about living next to a cake decorator - particularly if there was the occasional free cake on offer!
The NSW CDA also offers insurance for about $40 per year.
All the best,
Cris.
Thank you Cris,
I'll check out the Mosman Council website and then compare it to mine. This is exactly the info I'm looking for thank you! Great to hear from someone in Sydney about it too!
Cheers
Nicole
OOO there are aussies on here!
HI! I am thinking of starting up my own business, just a part time/home business. I'd love to hear from others who are in the same boat and what they've had to do to get started, council stuff, courses etc.
L x
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%