BAL29 or BAL19 bushfire rating

This afternoon i spent a couple of hours ringing numerous people to discuss the BAL rating our block has been given. I learnt a lot about what the rating means and how they determine what the rating should be. We are wondering if we should be a 3rd party assessor to rate our block for us. If they are able to drop it at least we will know what revised costs we are up for. I have been told that the BAL29 rating means a lot of extra expensive upgrades too windows and exterior wood used to name a few, it would be nice to get a credit of approx 8-10k if the rating was dropped.

Spoke to someone at RFS who was really helpful, she looked at the maps and aerial shots she had on file and believes we defiantly should be trying to find out what the true rating should be.

Spoke to The penrith council and was told that i shouldn't worry about the assessment, as they will double check the BAL29 rating when the DA is lodged. Also made comment that it should be the builders responsibility to get the certified rating. so will discuss this with EBH on Monday

With our tender on Wednesday i would like to have a good understanding of this process and our CSA told us we can get a summary of the BAL19 and 29 costs so we know potentially what the difference should be.

I just need to make sure that if we are in a fixed priced tender that we will get a credit back on the difference if the rating is changed.

Here is the view opposite our block, and this reserve is the reason we have the BAL29 rating at the moment.