Serpentine-Jarrahdale Draftsman

Serpentine Jarrahdale Draftsman for Plans and Council Approval

The Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale publishes something unusually clear: a table telling you exactly what size shed you can build, by zone, without needing development approval at all. On Rural land that figure is 500 square metres with 5 metre walls. On a Residential lot it drops to 100 square metres, and below 1,000 square metres the R-Codes take over entirely.

The Shire also has one of the most detailed sea container policies in the state, banded by lot size. This page sets out both, and what happens when you fall outside them.

What a Serpentine Jarrahdale draftsman or drafter does for you

Serpentine Jarrahdale is a rapidly growing Shire with an unusual mix, from the Byford and Whitby estates through to genuine rural holdings. Zone and lot size decide everything.

For a Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale project that means:

Confirming the zone and the lot area, because Local Planning Policy 4.19 bands both
Testing the design against Tables 1, 2 and 3 of the policy, which is what decides whether an application is needed
Checking whether the lot sits in the Urban Development zone under a Structure Plan, which changes which row applies
Checking whether a firebreak requirement affects the siting
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 “Serpentine Jarrahdale 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. Ask the council early whether they run one and whether they expect it before a building permit, because it changes your program and your budget.

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

Serpentine Jarrahdale building rules for sheds and outbuildings

Table 1 of Local Planning Policy 4.19 sets what is exempt from development approval. The floor area figure is accumulative, covering all outbuildings, sheds and stables on the site.

Zone	Floor area	Wall height	Ridge height	Street setback	Lot boundary setback
Rural	500m2 or less	5m	6m	20m	10m
Rural Smallholdings	300m2 or less	5m	6m	20m	10m
Rural Residential	200m2 or less	4.5m	5m	20m	10m
Residential, 1,000m2 or more	100m2 or less	3.2m	4.5m	Per the R-Codes and Scheme	Per Tables 2a and 2b of the R-Codes
Residential, under 1,000m2	As per the R-Codes
All other zones	Not exempt from development approval

That table includes stables on lots of 4,000m2 or greater, which matters in a Shire with as much equestrian land as this one.

Two figures stand out. The 500m2 Rural allowance is among the most generous in the state. And the Residential row for lots over 1,000m2 gives you 100m2 with a 3.2m wall height, which is well above the R-Codes deemed-to-comply default of 60m2 and 2.4m. On a larger Byford or Mundijong residential block, that is a meaningful advantage.

The trade off is the setbacks. A Rural shed has to sit 20 metres from the street and 10 metres from any lot boundary to stay exempt. On a narrow rural block that can be harder to achieve than the floor area.

Garden sheds in Serpentine Jarrahdale

Table 2 sets a separate and simpler exemption. In the Rural, Rural Smallholding, Rural Residential and Residential zones, you may have one garden shed per lot up to a maximum of 16m2, with a 2.4m wall height and a 3m ridge height, street setback per the R-Codes and Scheme, and a minimum nil boundary setback, or 4 metres where a firebreak is required.

The firebreak condition is the one to check. Across much of this Shire a statutory firebreak requirement applies, and where it does, the nil setback falls away and you need 4 metres.

A garden shed is defined narrowly here, as an outbuilding located on vacant land used for storing equipment associated with upkeep of the property.

The Serpentine Jarrahdale warehouse trap

There is a note in the policy that is easy to miss and expensive to discover late. A proposal for a shed on vacant land that is not associated with any land use, other than a garden shed, is considered a warehouse under the Shire’s Local Planning Scheme, and will not be supported.

So on a vacant block, your options are a garden shed under 16m2, or building the house first. A large shed on bare land is treated as a warehouse and refused.

Sea containers in Serpentine Jarrahdale

The Shire bands sea containers by lot size, and the rules are strict.

Exempt without development approval:

A container used only for loading or unloading goods, stored for up to a maximum of 7 days in any 12 month period
A container used only in conjunction with building construction or subdivision works occurring or approved on the subject or adjoining site, for up to 12 months
Placement anywhere on a lot for no longer than 48 hours

Otherwise, by lot size:

Lot area	What is permitted
Less than 2,000m2	No sea containers, except on a temporary basis
2,000m2 to 4,000m2	One 20ft container, screened or fenced from public view, at the rear of the property, painted to blend with the surroundings
4,001m2 to 40,000m2	One 40ft container or equivalent. May be stacked two high where amenity is addressed and containers are secured to the ground
40,001m2 and above	Two 40ft containers or equivalent, stacking to two high on the same conditions

Across all bands, containers must be maintained in good and orderly condition, be incidental to an approved land use, sit behind the building line or front setback, be screened or fenced from the road frontage, be painted to blend with the surrounding built or natural environment, meet the Scheme setbacks, and must not be located over septic tanks, leach drains or utilities.

That last condition catches people on rural blocks with older effluent disposal systems. Establish where the tank and leach drains sit before choosing a container location.

When you need development approval in Serpentine Jarrahdale

Where a proposal falls outside Tables 1, 2 or 3, or outside any other provision of the R-Codes or the Scheme, a development application is required. The Shire will consider:

Whether a size variation is required to satisfy the specific needs of the owner
Whether the variation is excessive given the character of the surrounding area
Whether it would reduce open space, outdoor living area or plot ratio required under the R-Codes or Scheme
Whether the development sits behind the front setback line and is visible from the street or neighbouring properties
Whether non-reflective materials are proposed
Whether adequate screening exists or is proposed
Comments from affected adjoining landowners

The policy also tells you exactly what a justification should contain: how the proposal will not adversely affect adjoining owners, including written non-objections from neighbours and photographs taken from the proposed location; how streetscape and local amenity will not be harmed; and how any visual impact can be reduced, through vegetative screening or matching colours and materials.

That is effectively a checklist for the supporting letter, and applications that address it directly do better than those that do not.

Patios and fire separation in Serpentine Jarrahdale

Patios are assessed under the R-Codes, and fire separation is decided 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.

Much of this Shire is bushfire prone. Where a Bushfire Attack Level assessment is triggered, it drives construction materials and needs establishing before the design is locked in.

Serpentine Jarrahdale plans we prepare

Project type	What we prepare
Rural sheds, workshops and stables	Plans to the zone table with the accumulative floor area and 20m/10m setbacks
New single houses	Concept design through to submission documentation
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
Ancillary dwellings	Plans and area calculations to the 70m2 limit
Carports, garages and front fences	Setback and truncation assessment
Variation applications	Documentation and written justification to the policy checklist

Serpentine Jarrahdale projects and what they teach you

Work across the Shire is a regular part of what we do, including second storey work through the Byford growth area and shed and outbuilding documentation on the rural blocks further south.

The lesson here is that the exemption tables are generous but the setbacks are demanding. On rural land you can have a 500m2 shed, but only if it sits 20 metres off the street and 10 metres off every boundary. Plenty of rural blocks in this Shire are long and narrow, and the setback is what forces the application rather than the size.

The second lesson is the vacant land rule. If there is no dwelling on the lot, a shed larger than a 16m2 garden shed is treated as a warehouse and will not be supported. Sequence the house first.

What Serpentine Jarrahdale 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.

On bushfire prone land, budget separately for a Bushfire Attack Level assessment from an accredited practitioner.

Our drafting fee is quoted per project rather than by a rate card, because an estate lot in Byford and a rural holding in Mardella are not the same job. As a rough guide only, a patio or garden shed submission sits at the lower end, an addition in the middle, and a new home or a large rural workshop 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 Serpentine Jarrahdale suburb

The Shire runs from the Byford growth corridor in the north down through Mundijong and Serpentine to the rural south, with Jarrahdale in the hills to the east.

Suburb	What tends to drive the design
Byford draftsman	Major growth corridor, estate lots with structure plans, additions and second storeys common
Whitby draftsman	Newer estate stock with local development plans over the R-Codes
Mundijong draftsman	Mixed residential and rural smallholding, confirm which table row applies
Serpentine draftsman	Rural and rural smallholding, the larger shed allowances apply with heavy setbacks
Oakford and Oldbury draftsman	Rural Residential and smallholding land, sheds and stables are common work
Cardup and Karrakup draftsman	Rural land, bushfire assessment usually triggered
Jarrahdale draftsman	Hills, heritage character in the townsite, vegetation and bushfire drive the design
Mardella, Hopeland and Keysbrook draftsman	Larger rural holdings, the 500m2 Rural shed band applies
Darling Downs draftsman	Rural residential lots, screening and materials matter for outbuildings

Serpentine Jarrahdale draftsman questions

How big a shed can I build in Serpentine Jarrahdale without approval?

On Rural land, up to 500m2 with 5m walls and a 6m ridge, set back 20m from the street and 10m from any boundary. Rural Smallholdings gets 300m2, Rural Residential 200m2 with a 4.5m wall. On a Residential lot of 1,000m2 or more you get 100m2 with a 3.2m wall. Under 1,000m2 the R-Codes apply instead. Floor area is accumulative across all outbuildings, sheds and stables on the site.

Do I need approval for a garden shed in Serpentine Jarrahdale?

Not for one garden shed per lot up to 16m2, with a 2.4m wall and 3m ridge. The boundary setback can be nil, or 4 metres where a firebreak is required, which applies across much of this Shire. A garden shed is defined as an outbuilding on vacant land used for storing property upkeep equipment.

Can I build a big shed on vacant land in Serpentine Jarrahdale?

No. The policy treats a shed on vacant land not associated with any land use, other than a garden shed, as a warehouse under the Local Planning Scheme, and states it will not be supported. Build the dwelling first, or limit yourself to a 16m2 garden shed.

How many shipping containers can I have in Serpentine Jarrahdale?

None on a lot under 2,000m2, other than temporarily. One 20ft container on 2,000m2 to 4,000m2. One 40ft container on 4,001m2 to 40,000m2, and two on anything larger, with stacking to two high permitted on the larger bands. All must be screened, behind the building line, painted to blend in, and not over septic tanks, leach drains or utilities.

What do I need to include in a variation application here?

The policy tells you. Show how the proposal will not adversely affect adjoining owners, ideally with written non-objections and photographs taken from the proposed location. Show that streetscape and local amenity will not be harmed. And show how any visual impact will be reduced, through vegetative screening or colours and materials matching what is already on site.