Rockingham Draftsman for City of Rockingham Plans and Council Approval

The City of Rockingham asks for less planning paperwork than almost any council in Perth. Single houses, two grouped dwellings, patios, sheds, garages and swimming pools have generally not required a planning application here. They are dealt with by building permit instead.

That sounds like less work. In practice it moves the work rather than removing it, because when the planning assessment falls away the building permit carries the whole load. This page explains how that works and what it means for your plans.

What a Rockingham draftsman or Rockingham drafter does for you

Where a council relies on the building permit rather than a development application, the drawings have to be right the first time. There is no planning officer looking at siting before the surveyor looks at construction.

For a City of Rockingham project that means:

• Confirming compliance with the R-Codes deemed-to-comply provisions, because that compliance is what keeps you out of a planning application
• Checking Town Planning Scheme No. 2 and whether any structure plan or local development plan applies
• Deciding whether a certified or uncertified building permit route suits the project
• Getting setbacks, open space, outdoor living area and boundary walls right at drawing stage
• Preparing documentation to the City’s lodgement standard

We draw architectural and planning documentation. We do not produce structural engineering drawings or electrical design.

What “Rockingham council approval” actually means

People use “council approval” to cover two or three separate things. They are assessed by different people under different legislation, and most projects do not need all of them.

A building permit. The construction approval under the Building Act 2011, covering structural adequacy, fire separation, energy efficiency and compliance with the National Construction Code. You will almost always need this one.

Development approval, also called planning approval or a DA. The planning assessment against the R-Codes, the local planning scheme and the council’s own local planning policies, covering siting, setbacks, height, bulk, open space and streetscape.

Here is the part that saves people time and money. On most smaller residential jobs, development approval is only needed where the design does not meet the deemed-to-comply provisions of the R-Codes. Draw a patio, shed or carport inside the numbers and you generally go straight to a building permit. Step outside them and you are asking for a variation, and the variation is what triggers the planning application.

A deemed-to-comply check. This is the step most people have never heard of. Where no development approval is needed, your building surveyor still needs evidence of that before issuing a certificate of design compliance. A number of WA councils run a formal written check for exactly this purpose, and some expect it before a building permit will proceed even where the design fully complies. Fees and turnarounds vary widely: the Town of Victoria Park charges $73, while the Town of Cambridge charges $295 for a new single house and $100 for additions, with a 14 day response. In the City of Rockingham the equivalent is the Residential Codes Approval Application, used where a design varies from the deemed-to-comply provisions.

One rule holds everywhere. Being exempt from development approval does not exempt you from a building permit.

Rockingham council approval: when you need it and when you do not

The City’s approach has been not to require planning applications for minor development, including:

• Single houses
• Two grouped dwellings
• Patios
• Sheds and outbuildings
• Garages
• Swimming pools

These are dealt with by building permit only, which the City describes as reducing red tape and approval times.

The condition attached is compliance. Where a design meets the deemed-to-comply provisions of the R-Codes and the requirements of Town Planning Scheme No. 2, the building permit route is available. Where it does not, a planning assessment is required and the City provides a Residential Codes Approval Application for exactly that purpose, allowing a variation to be assessed against the design principles.

That form is the practical fork in the road on a Rockingham job. Design inside the deemed-to-comply provisions and you go straight to a building permit. Step outside them, even slightly, and you are lodging a Residential Codes Approval Application first.

When you do not need a building permit at all

Because Rockingham leans on the building permit, it is worth knowing where that stops too. Under Schedule 4 of the Building Regulations 2012, a building permit is not required for:

Work	Threshold
A freestanding **Class 10a building**, meaning a shed, carport or similar	Floor area not exceeding **10m2**, no more than **2.4m** high, and not in wind region C or D
A **pergola** associated with a Class 1 building	No more than **2.4m** high, covering an area not exceeding **20m2**, and not in wind region C or D. A pergola here means an open structure with no roof, which may have a covering of open weave permeable material
A **retaining wall**	Retaining ground no more than **0.5m** in height, and not associated with other building work or the protection of adjoining land
A **fence or screen**, other than a pool fence	Where no local law applies: masonry no more than **0.75m**, other materials no more than **1.8m**, and not in wind region C or D
A **rainwater tank**	Capacity of **5,000 litres** or less
**Solar panels or solar hot water**	Attached to the roof of a Class 1 or Class 10a building, not in wind region C or D
A **mast or antenna**	No more than **2m** above the highest point of attachment where fixed to a building, or no more than **3m** where freestanding, and not in wind region C or D
**Repairs and maintenance**	Where it does not change floor area or height, does not affect structural soundness, uses like-for-like materials, does not change the building’s use or classification, and is not subject to a heritage order

 

Note the definition trap on pergolas. In the building regulations, a pergola has no roof. Put a solid roof on it and it is a patio, the 20m2 and 2.4m exemption no longer applies, and you need a building permit.

City of Rockingham building rules for patios and fire separation

Because Rockingham resolves most patios through the building permit, the National Construction Code provisions carry more weight here than the planning rules do.

Western Australia adopted NCC 2025 on 1 May 2026, which introduced WA Part 9.6 covering roofed outdoor areas including patios, verandahs, alfrescos and balconies. It gives two routes to the boundary:

• 900mm, measured to the outermost structural projection and excluding the eave overhang, with no special material requirements
• 500mm, measured to the outermost projection and including the eave overhang, but with a package of conditions attached

The 500mm route requires two or more sides open with at least one third of the perimeter open, a non-combustible supporting structure, a polycarbonate or non-combustible roof covering, a non-combustible ceiling lining and floor, no direct vertical support to the house, and a solid non-combustible screen at least 1500mm high running the full length of every side facing a boundary.

For an enclosed shed the rules are different again. Roofed outdoor areas go to WA Part 9.6, enclosed Class 10a buildings go to Part 9.2, and conflating them is the most common fire separation error on a job that has both.

Coastal exposure in Rockingham

Rockingham has a long coastline, and wind classification is a real design input here rather than a formality. Exposure category, terrain and shielding all feed into the wind class, which drives structural requirements, tie downs and fixings. On a beachfront lot at Shoalwater, Safety Bay or Secret Harbour, expect a higher wind classification than on a sheltered inland block at Baldivis, and expect it to affect cost.

This is a building permit matter rather than a planning one, which is exactly the kind of thing that gets missed when people assume no planning application means no assessment.

Rockingham plans we prepare

Project type	What we prepare
New single houses	Concept design through to building permit documentation
Two grouped dwellings	Full documentation for both dwellings
Additions and extensions	Existing and proposed plans, demolition plan
Second storey additions	Full working drawings, elevations, sections
Patios and alfrescos	Plans with the fire separation route identified
Sheds and outbuildings	Plans tested against the R-Codes deemed-to-comply provisions
Carports and garages	Setback and frontage width assessment
Ancillary dwellings	Plans and area calculations to the 70m2 limit
Residential Codes Approval Applications	Documentation and justification where a variation is sought

 

Rockingham projects and what they teach you

Work across the City of Rockingham is a regular part of what we do, covering the coastal suburbs, the Baldivis growth corridor and the established areas around Rockingham and Cooloongup.

The lesson Rockingham teaches is that light-touch planning raises the stakes on the drawings. In a council that assesses everything through a development application, a siting problem gets caught by a planning officer and you amend. In Rockingham, where the design goes straight to a building permit, a non-compliance is either discovered by the building surveyor, which costs you time, or it is not discovered at all, which is worse. Unauthorised work found later attracts a retrospective application at three times the normal fee.

The second lesson is that “no planning application needed” is a compliance statement, not a description of the project. It holds only while the design stays inside the deemed-to-comply provisions. The moment you want a boundary wall a bit longer or a setback a bit tighter, you are into a Residential Codes Approval Application.

What City of Rockingham approval costs

Planning application fees are set by state regulation and are the same at every WA council, calculated on the estimated cost of development:

Estimated cost of development	Application fee
Not more than $50,000	$147
$50,001 to $500,000	0.32% of the estimated cost
$500,001 to $2.5 million	$1,700 plus 0.257% of the amount above $500,000
Written planning advice	$73
Amending or cancelling an approval	$295

 

If the work has already been built, the fee is that figure plus a penalty of twice the fee, so three times the normal amount.

The Rockingham advantage is that a compliant design often avoids the planning fee entirely. Building permit fees still apply and are calculated on construction value, and the certified route carries a private building surveyor’s fee on top.

Our drafting fee is quoted per project rather than by a rate card, because a flat estate block in Baldivis and an exposed coastal lot in Shoalwater are not the same job. As a rough guide only, a patio or shed submission sits at the lower end, an addition in the middle, and a new house or second storey at the upper end. You get a fixed figure before we start.

How long the drawings take

We are one of the quicker drafting practices in Perth, and we would rather tell you that plainly than quote a number we cannot stand behind.

Turnaround depends on what is being drawn. A patio or a shed is not a second storey addition, and a straightforward flat block is not a sloping site with an existing dwelling to survey and match into. Anyone quoting you a fixed timeframe before seeing the scope is guessing.

What we do is give you a realistic date once we have seen the project, and then keep to it. If we cannot hit something you need, we say so before you commit rather than after.

It is also worth knowing that on most jobs the drafting is not the long pole. The parts that usually set the overall timeline are:

• The council clock, which is set by regulation rather than by us
• Third party reports, such as a Bushfire Attack Level assessment, an arborist report or engineering certification, each of which has its own lead time
• Decisions, meaning how quickly changes come back once you have the first draft in front of you

Those are the things worth planning around, and we will tell you which of them apply to your project at the start.

Draftsman services by Rockingham suburb

The City of Rockingham runs down the coast from Rockingham through to Singleton and Golden Bay, with the Baldivis corridor inland.

Suburb	What tends to drive the design
Rockingham and East Rockingham draftsman	Established stock and mixed density around the city centre, R-code confirmation matters
Shoalwater and Safety Bay draftsman	Direct coastal exposure, wind classification drives structural requirements
Secret Harbour, Golden Bay and Singleton draftsman	Coastal estates with local development plans and design guidelines over the R-Codes
Baldivis draftsman	Major growth corridor, estate lots with structure plans, smaller frontages, garage width matters
Waikiki and Warnbro draftsman	Established family blocks, additions, patios and outbuilding work dominates
Cooloongup and Hillman draftsman	Older larger blocks, ancillary dwellings and shed work common
Port Kennedy draftsman	Estate stock with structure plan provisions, coastal exposure in parts
Karnup draftsman	Semi rural, confirm zoning before assuming residential provisions apply

 

Rockingham draftsman questions

Do I need council approval for a patio in Rockingham?

You generally do not need a planning application, because the City deals with patios through the building permit. You do still need the building permit itself, unless the structure is a genuine pergola with no roof, no more than 2.4m high and covering no more than 20m2. Do not read “no planning application” as “no approval required”.

Do I need a building permit for a small shed in Rockingham?

Not for a freestanding Class 10a building with a floor area no greater than 10m2 and a height no greater than 2.4m, provided it is not in wind region C or D. Above either figure a building permit is required. Exemption from a building permit does not remove your obligation to comply with the National Construction Code and the R-Codes.

What is a Residential Codes Approval Application in Rockingham?

It is the application you lodge when a design does not meet the deemed-to-comply provisions of the R-Codes and you want the variation assessed against the design principles instead. It is the fork in the road on a Rockingham job. Comply and you go straight to a building permit. Vary, and this comes first.

Why does Rockingham need fewer applications than other councils?

The City has taken the position that minor development, including single houses, two grouped dwellings, patios, sheds, garages and pools, does not need a planning application where it complies, and can be handled by building permit. It is a deliberate red tape reduction. The trade off is that compliance has to be right on the drawings, because there is no planning assessment step to catch a problem first.

Does living near the beach change my Rockingham plans?

It changes the building permit side rather than the planning side. Wind classification takes account of exposure, terrain and shielding, and a beachfront lot at Shoalwater or Secret Harbour will generally carry a higher wind class than a sheltered block inland. That flows through to structural requirements, tie downs and fixings, and it affects cost.