Most residential developments do not need a full Development Application. A lot fall under complying development or are exempt altogether. Whether yours does depends on your zoning, the size and height of what you are building, how close it sits to the boundary, and whether your lot carries a heritage, bushfire or flood overlay. We check all of that to determine the appropriate development path.
Extensions and additions, second-storey additions, granny flats and secondary dwellings, alfresco areas and pergolas, carports and garages, swimming pools, decks, dual occupancies, and subdivision of a residential lot. Also demolition, and knock-down-rebuild.
Small, low, well-set-back structures: a modest garden shed, a small deck close to ground level, some carports, most minor internal alterations that do not touch structure or fire separation. Exempt does not mean unregulated - every criterion has to be met.
Granny flats on lots that meet the minimum area, single and double-storey additions that comply with setbacks and height, new dwellings on standard lots, swimming pools, and internal alterations to a house. This is the pathway worth aiming for wherever it is available: two to three weeks instead of two to three months.
Anything that varies a control - a setback you cannot meet, a height you need to exceed, floor space ratio above the standard. Anything on a heritage-listed property or in a heritage conservation area. Bushfire-prone or flood-affected land in most cases. Dual occupancy and subdivision in many councils. And anything where a merit argument is needed, because CDC has no mechanism for discretion.
A Statement of Environmental Effects for a DA, which is the planning argument for why the proposal is appropriate. BASIX for new dwellings, additions over a threshold, and pools - plus NatHERS thermal modelling where BASIX requires it. A survey plan if there is not a current one. Stormwater design where drainage is affected. An arborist report where trees are being removed or built near. A bushfire assessment on bushfire-prone land. A heritage impact statement for heritage items and conservation areas.
Most residential jobs need two or three of these, not all of them. We tell you which in the scope.
Drawings before feasibility. Architects draw what you ask for. If what you asked for breaches a control nobody checked, you pay twice.
Assuming exempt because a neighbour did it. Their lot may not carry the same overlay, or their structure may not be approved either.
Missing the BASIX trigger. It applies more often than people expect and cannot be retrofitted after lodgement without a delay.
Treating a refusal as final. A refused DA has a Section 8.3 review path with a hard deadline, and a modified resubmission is frequently approvable. Do not walk away without checking.
Same or next business day
Send the address and a sketch or description. We check the controls and tell you what is achievable and by which pathway.
Within 2 business days
A written list of every document your application needs, our fixed fee, and council's fees shown separately.
2–4 weeks
We prepare the planning documentation and coordinate BASIX, survey, stormwater or arborist reports as needed.
CDC 2–3 weeks · DA 6–10 weeks
Lodged through the NSW Planning Portal, with all requests for further information handled by us.
Council requires a minimum of 700m² of land for a Torrens title subdivision of a dual occupancy in an R2 zone under Campbelltown City Council. The subject property comprises 655m², a shortfall of 45m². EHUP secured development approval despite this shortfall in land size.
The owner wished to retain one of the two existing dwellings on the property, demolish the other (which was dilapidated), and construct a new detached double-storey dwelling, followed by a Torrens title subdivision of the resulting dual occupancy. EHUP was engaged and secured DA approval despite several points of non-compliance with the Campbelltown Development Control Plan.
Council issued a notice to cease use of the studio as a granny flat. The owner had purchased the property under the impression that the studio could be legally rented out. EHUP was engaged and secured DA approval despite a shortfall in the required land size for a granny flat under the Campbelltown Local Environmental Plan.
Often not. A secondary dwelling can frequently be approved as complying development under the Codes SEPP, which is considerably faster than a DA - but only if the lot meets the minimum area, the dwelling meets the maximum floor area, and the setbacks and landscaped area comply. Heritage listing, bushfire-prone land or a flood overlay usually push it back to a DA.
Many are exempt, but the criteria are strict and unforgiving: floor area, height, distance from the boundary, and how much of the site is already covered. A shed 200mm too tall or half a metre too close to the fence stops being exempt. It takes us a few minutes to check against your actual lot.
That is fixable and it is extremely common. Depending on what was built, the route is either a building information certificate or a retrospective application. The important thing is to act before council issues an order - regularising early is far cheaper than responding to enforcement.
Six to ten weeks with council is typical for a straightforward residential DA once lodged, plus two to four weeks to prepare the package. Sites requiring referral to another agency, or affected by heritage or bushfire, take longer. A complying development certificate for the same project, where it qualifies, can be two to three weeks.
For a DA, generally yes - councils notify adjoining owners and consider submissions received. For complying development there is no merit assessment and no notification of that kind. If objections are lodged against your DA, we prepare the response.
A Complying Development Certificate is the fast-track approval pathway.
A Development Application is the merit-assessed approval pathway.
Building work or a use that went ahead without approval can usually be brought into the system - through a building information certificate, a retrospective development application, or both.
Low and medium density residential development - dual occupancies, manor houses, terraces, townhouses and multi-dwelling housing - sits in the most contested part of the NSW planning framework.
Tell us the address and what you want to do. We'll help identify the appropriate planning pathway, whether it is exempt development, complying development or a full DA. Your first conversation is free.