Dardanup Draftsman

Dardanup Draftsman for Shire of Dardanup Plans and Council Approval

The Shire of Dardanup sits immediately east and south of Bunbury, and it splits into two quite different halves. Eaton is a substantial suburban centre. The Ferguson Valley and the land around Dardanup and Burekup is rural, hilly and treed.

What applies to your project depends almost entirely on which half you are in.

What a Dardanup draftsman or Dardanup drafter does for you

Dardanup runs from the suburban stock at Eaton through the Dardanup and Burekup townsites and out into the Ferguson Valley.

For a Shire of Dardanup project that means:

Confirming the zone, because Eaton’s suburban lots and the Ferguson Valley’s rural land are assessed very differently
Checking whether the lot is in a designated bushfire prone area, which much of the rural half is
Checking flood considerations where the lot sits near the Collie or Ferguson rivers
Testing the design against the Shire’s Local Planning Scheme and the R-Codes deemed-to-comply provisions
Checking for landscape and visual amenity considerations in the Ferguson Valley
Preparing documentation to the Shire’s lodgement standard

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

What “Dardanup 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, or the equivalent standards in a local planning policy. Draw a shed, patio 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. Clause 61A of the deemed provisions lets you ask the council to confirm it in writing. Fees vary widely: the Town of Victoria Park charges $73, the Town of Cambridge charges $295 for a new single house and $100 for additions with a 14 day response, and some councils do not offer it at all. Ask the Shire of Dardanup directly whether they run one and whether your building surveyor will want it before lodging.

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

Building in the Shire of Dardanup

Residential development is assessed against the R-Codes as applied by the Shire’s Local Planning Scheme and its local planning policies. Where a design meets the deemed-to-comply provisions, development approval is generally not required and the project proceeds to a building permit.

The two halves of the Shire behave differently:

Eaton and the suburban areas. Standard R-Codes assessment applies to most work. Patios, sheds, carports and additions that meet the deemed-to-comply provisions generally go straight to a building permit. Lot sizes are typical suburban, so open space, outdoor living area and boundary setbacks are the usual constraints.

Dardanup, Burekup and the Ferguson Valley. Rural and rural residential land, with larger lots and correspondingly larger shed allowances, but heavier setbacks. Bushfire prone status is common, and the valley’s landscape character means visual amenity is a genuine assessment consideration on a prominent site.

Under Schedule 4 of the Building Regulations 2012, a building permit is not required for a freestanding Class 10a building with a floor area not exceeding 10m2 and a height no more than 2.4m. Above either figure, a permit is required.

As in most WA shires, a shed on a lot with no dwelling is generally treated as a storage or warehouse use rather than something incidental to a house, so sequence the dwelling first.

Patios and fire separation in Dardanup

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.

Dardanup plans we prepare

Project type	What we prepare
New homes	Concept design through to submission documentation
Sheds, workshops and garages	Plans tested against the Scheme and the R-Codes
Additions and extensions	Existing and proposed plans, demolition plan
Patios and alfrescos	Plans with the fire separation route identified
Ancillary dwellings	Plans and area calculations to the 70m2 limit
Carports and garages	Setback and siting assessment
Retaining walls and front fences	Plans including sight line truncation
Development applications	Documentation with supporting justification

What Shire of Dardanup approval costs

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.

Our drafting fee is quoted per project rather than by a rate card, because every lot and every brief differs. As a rough guide only, a patio or shed submission sits at the lower end, an addition in the middle, and a new home 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 Dardanup locality

Locality	What tends to drive the design
Eaton draftsman	The Shire’s largest population centre, suburban lots, standard R-Codes assessment
Dardanup draftsman	Townsite and surrounding rural, larger sheds achievable on deeper lots
Burekup draftsman	Rural townsite, bushfire assessment commonly triggered
Ferguson Valley draftsman	Rural and hilly, landscape and visual amenity matter, bushfire prone throughout
Waterloo and Picton draftsman	Mixed rural and industrial interface, confirm zoning first
Crooked Brook and Paradise draftsman	Rural holdings, siting and vegetation drive the design

Dardanup draftsman questions

Do I need approval for a patio in Dardanup?

Where it meets the deemed-to-comply provisions of the R-Codes and the Shire’s local planning framework, development approval is generally not required. A building permit is a separate matter and will still be needed unless the structure falls within the Schedule 4 exemption of a freestanding Class 10a building no larger than 10m2 and no higher than 2.4m.

How big a shed can I build in Dardanup?

It depends on your zone. On the suburban lots at Eaton the R-Codes deemed-to-comply provisions apply, giving 60m2 or 10 per cent of the site area whichever is lesser, with a 2.4m wall height. On rural land the allowances are typically larger but the setbacks are substantially heavier. Confirm the zone and the applicable local policy with the Shire before sizing the shed.

Does bushfire affect my Ferguson Valley project?

Very likely. Much of the rural half of the Shire is in a designated bushfire prone area. Where a Bushfire Attack Level assessment is triggered, the rating determines the construction standard under AS 3959 for walls, windows, decking, roof and subfloor, and that flows straight through to cost.

Does the Ferguson Valley landscape affect what I can build?

It can. The valley’s landscape character means visual amenity is a genuine consideration on a prominent or elevated site. Siting a large shed behind the dwelling line, in a cleared area and away from ridgelines does more for approvability than written justification.