A building permit is normally required if you want to build a pergola, verandah, shed or a carport or place a shipping container on your property.
Shipping Containers
A planning permit may not always be needed when placing a shipping container on your land, but a building permit will be required to use a shipping container for:
- personal/domestic storage
- farm or machinery storage
- commercial purposes
- habitable purposes.
Use of the shipping container for storage or as a building
- There must be a dwelling on your property. A shipping container cannot be kept on vacant land.
- A shipping container used for storage or as a building such as a studio or rumpus room will be classified as a shed or outbuilding under the Golden Plains Planning Scheme.
- A planning permit for building and works to site a shipping container on your property may be required and will depend on your property’s planning zones and overlays.
- Shipping containers used for storage or as an outbuilding will require a building permit and must comply with the requirements of the building regulations and all the relevant parts of the National Construction Code.
Moving or on a building site
- Shipping containers placed on site temporarily to assist in moving house or for site building works during construction do not require a building or planning permit. It is recommended that the surrounding neighbours be notified of the proposed timelines.
Commercial use
- Shipping containers used on commercial properties for any purpose other than short term loading of goods for shipping purposes or in designated container storage facilities, require a building permit.
- A property used for the storage of empty shipping containers could be considered as a commercial use of the land. A planning permit would be required for the use of the land for shipping container storage. A building permit would not be required.
Council property
- If you intend to temporarily place a shipping container on Council land or in a public place, you must first obtain a Local Law permit.
Carports and garages
A building permit is required to construct a garage or a carport if it is attached to another building or has a floor area greater than 10m2 (i.e 3 x 3.3, 4 x 2.5).
Pergolas
A pergola is an unroofed open structure that is typically attached to a house.
A building permit is required if the pergola is
-
Greater than 20m2 in area
-
Further forward than 2.5m from the front wall of a building
-
More than 3.6m high.
Sheds
A building permit is required to construct a shed if it is:
-
More than 10m2 and more than 3 metres high (or 2.4 metres if located within 1 metre of a boundary)
Verandahs
A building permit is required to construct a verandah of any kind.
Note: You will need to contact a Building Surveyor to discuss your proposed project and ask what documentation is required for a building permit. The web search can be of assistance in finding a building surveyor.