Cambridge Draftsman

Cambridge Draftsman for Town of Cambridge Plans and Council Approval

There is a step in the Town of Cambridge approval process that most homeowners have never heard of, and it applies even when your design complies perfectly. It is called a deemed-to-comply check, it costs $295 for a new single house or $100 for additions, and it is what produces the written evidence that development approval is not required.

Without it, a building surveyor has nothing to rely on. This page explains how the check works, and what else governs building in Cambridge.

What a Cambridge draftsman or Cambridge drafter does for you

Cambridge covers Floreat, City Beach, Wembley and West Leederville, which is a mix of large post-war blocks, coastal frontage and character housing. The planning framework is not especially exotic, but the process has a step most councils do not enforce.

For a Town of Cambridge project that means:

Testing the design against the R-Codes deemed-to-comply provisions and the Town’s local planning framework
Preparing the design so it can go through a deemed-to-comply check cleanly, because a failed check costs both the fee and the time
Checking whether the property is heritage listed, in a heritage area, or affected by a local development plan, structure plan, special control area or restrictive covenant
Preparing the plan set the check requires, which is more than a rough sketch
Preparing documentation to the Town’s lodgement standard

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

What “Cambridge council approval” actually means

People use “council approval” to cover two or three separate things. They are assessed by different people under different legislation.

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 Town’s own local planning policies. 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. Where a proposal for a single house does not satisfy those provisions and relies instead on a design principle under Part 5 of R-Codes Volume 1, a development application must be made and determined before a building permit can be issued.

A deemed-to-comply check. This is the step Cambridge is known for, and it sits between the other two. It is a written assessment of whether your proposal satisfies the relevant deemed-to-comply requirements under the R-Codes and the Town’s local planning requirements. Where it does, the Town confirms in writing that development approval is not required. That letter is what lets the project proceed to a building permit.

Being exempt from development approval does not exempt you from a building permit. The Town states this directly: a deemed-to-comply check relates only to whether development approval is required, and most building work still needs a separate building permit before works can commence.

The Cambridge deemed-to-comply check, step by step

What it covers

You can request a deemed-to-comply check where the proposal is for:

A new single house on one lot, or
Additions or alterations to an existing single house

It applies to a single house only. It does not cover grouped dwellings, multiple dwellings, apartments, commercial development, mixed-use development or other forms of development. If you are unsure whether your proposal is eligible, the Town asks that you contact Statutory Planning before lodging.

What it costs and how long it takes

Application type	Fee
New single house	$295
Additions or alterations to an existing single house	$100

The Town responds within 14 days of receiving a complete application. An application is complete when all required information and the applicable fee have been provided. Incomplete applications may not be accepted, or may take longer to process.

What you need to submit

A current Certificate of Title
A site plan showing the lot, existing buildings and proposed works
Floor plans of the proposed works
Elevations showing the external appearance and height of the proposed works
Details of materials and finishes, where relevant
Any other information requested in the application form

Plans must be clear, legible and drawn to scale. This is the part people underestimate. A deemed-to-comply check is not a phone call or a counter enquiry, it is a plan set. If you are having the drawings prepared anyway, the marginal cost of doing it properly is small. If you are not, it is a reason to.

What comes back

The Town reviews the information and responds in writing, advising either:

Development approval is not required, because the proposal satisfies the applicable deemed-to-comply requirements, or
Development approval is required, because one or more aspects do not satisfy the applicable requirements

Two important limits on that advice:

The advice is based on the plans submitted. If the proposal changes afterwards, the advice may no longer apply, and you should contact the Town before amending
The Town cannot redesign your plans for you. It can advise whether what you submitted complies, but it will not prepare or redesign plans. That is the designer’s job

What it does not do

Getting a favourable deemed-to-comply check does not mean you can start building. In the Town’s own words, the response confirms only whether development approval is required. It does not replace the need for any other approval, permit or licence, and you will still need a building permit before any building work starts.

Why the deemed-to-comply check matters more than people think

The value of the check is certainty at the right moment.

Design a single house or an addition, get a written confirmation that development approval is not required, and the project moves to a building permit with the planning question closed. Skip it, and you are relying on your own reading of the R-Codes and the Town’s local framework holding up when the certifying surveyor asks.

The cost comparison is also worth understanding. A deemed-to-comply check on additions costs $100. A development application on a $150,000 addition costs $480 under the state fee scale, takes far longer, and may attract advertising. On a new house at $500,000 the development application fee is $1,600 against a $295 check. The check is the cheap outcome, and designing so you qualify for it is the objective.

Not every WA council runs this service, and those that do price it very differently. The Town of Victoria Park charges $73. The Town of Cambridge charges $295 and $100. The City of Vincent does not offer formal pre-lodgement assessment at all, and states that it cannot confirm whether a proposal would be supported unless a development application is lodged.

Heritage and special requirements in Cambridge

Additional requirements apply where the property is heritage listed, located in a heritage area, or affected by a local development plan, structure plan, special control area, restrictive covenant or other site-specific requirement.

That list is longer than it looks in Cambridge. Parts of Wembley and West Leederville carry character housing of genuine age, and City Beach has its own coastal and streetscape considerations. Where any of these apply, the deemed-to-comply route may not be available and a development application becomes the pathway. The Town asks that you contact them before lodging if you are unsure.

Patios, sheds and fire separation in Cambridge

Patios and outbuildings are assessed under the R-Codes, and fire separation is decided separately at building permit stage.

Western Australia adopted NCC 2025 on 1 May 2026, introducing WA Part 9.6 for roofed outdoor areas. It gives two routes to the boundary: 900mm measured to the outermost structural projection and excluding the eave overhang, or 500mm measured to the outermost projection and including the eave overhang.

The 500mm route carries conditions including 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 floor, no direct vertical support to the house, and a solid non-combustible screen at least 1500mm high along every side facing a boundary. Where that does not suit the build, use the 900mm route.

An enclosed shed is assessed under Part 9.2 instead, which is a different rule set.

Note that City Beach and the western parts of Floreat carry genuine coastal exposure, which feeds into wind classification and material selection at permit stage.

Cambridge plans we prepare

Project type	What we prepare
New single houses	Concept design through to the plan set a deemed-to-comply check requires
Additions and extensions	Existing and proposed plans, demolition plan
Second storey additions	Full working drawings, elevations, sections
Deemed-to-comply check submissions	Site plan, floor plans, elevations and materials schedule to the Town’s standard
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

Cambridge projects and what they teach you

Work across the Town of Cambridge is a regular part of what we do, taking in the large family blocks through Floreat and City Beach and the tighter character stock in Wembley and West Leederville.

The lesson Cambridge teaches is that the plan set has to be good enough to be assessed, not just good enough to build from. Because the deemed-to-comply check is a written assessment of submitted drawings, a vague or incomplete set gets you either a delay or an unfavourable answer. Site plan, floor plans, elevations with heights, and materials and finishes, all to scale.

The second lesson is that the check rewards designing to the numbers. Every metre of compliance you build in at design stage is a step away from a development application that costs several times more and takes several times longer.

What Town of Cambridge approval costs

The deemed-to-comply check is a Town fee of $295 or $100 as set out above. Development 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.

Building permit fees are separate again and calculated on construction value.

Our drafting fee is quoted per project rather than by a rate card, because a large Floreat block and a tight West Leederville lot are not the same job. As a rough guide only, a patio or shed submission sits at the lower end, a renovation or 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 Cambridge suburb

The Town of Cambridge runs from the coast at City Beach through to West Leederville on the city fringe.

Suburb	What tends to drive the design
City Beach draftsman	Large coastal blocks, wind classification and streetscape matter, high value new builds and second storeys
Floreat draftsman	Generous post-war lots, second storey additions and substantial renovations dominate
Wembley draftsman	Older character stock, check the Heritage List before assuming the deemed-to-comply route is open
West Leederville draftsman	Tighter lots near the city, character housing, site coverage and setbacks are the constraints
Jolimont draftsman	Mixed stock, standard R-Codes assessment in most cases
Mount Claremont draftsman	Shared with a neighbouring council in parts, confirm which local government your lot sits in

The Town’s Statutory Planning team can be reached on (08) 9347 6000, and the Administration Centre is at 1 Bold Park Drive, Floreat.

Cambridge draftsman questions

Do I need a deemed-to-comply check in Cambridge?

If you are building a new single house or altering an existing one and your design complies, the check is what produces written confirmation that development approval is not required. That written confirmation is what a building surveyor needs before the project can proceed to a building permit. It is available for single houses only, not grouped dwellings, apartments or commercial development.

How much does a deemed-to-comply check cost in Cambridge?

$295 for a new single house, or $100 for additions or alterations to an existing single house. The Town responds within 14 days of receiving a complete application, meaning all required information plus the fee.

What do I need to submit for a Cambridge deemed-to-comply check?

A current Certificate of Title, a site plan showing the lot and existing and proposed buildings, floor plans, elevations showing external appearance and height, and details of materials and finishes where relevant. Plans must be clear, legible and drawn to scale.

Can I start building once Cambridge says development approval is not required?

No. The Town is explicit about this. The response confirms only whether development approval is required, and it does not replace any other approval, permit or licence. You still need a building permit before any building work starts.

What happens if my Cambridge design does not comply?

The Town advises in writing that development approval is required, and you lodge a development application before commencing works. Where a single house does not satisfy the deemed-to-comply provisions and relies on a design principle under Part 5 of the R-Codes, that application must be determined before a building permit can be issued. The Town cannot redesign your plans for you, so amended drawings are the designer’s job.