Toodyay Draftsman for Shire of Toodyay Plans and Council Approval
In the Shire of Toodyay a shed can trigger a bushfire assessment on cost alone. Where development exceeds $20,000 and the structure sits within 6 metres of a dwelling, you need a Bushfire Attack Level assessment, and the Shire wants two copies.
Toodyay also has a Special Control Area covering landscape protection, where visual impact has to be seriously considered rather than assumed. This page covers both.
What a Toodyay draftsman or Toodyay drafter does for you
Toodyay is an Avon Valley heritage town surrounded by rural and rural residential land, much of it treed and bushfire prone.
For a Shire of Toodyay project that means:
- Establishing the bushfire position early, because it drives construction materials and therefore cost
- Checking whether the lot sits in Special Control Area 5 Landscape Protection, where visual impact is a formal consideration
- Testing the design against Local Planning Scheme No. 5 and the Shire’s local planning policies
- Checking heritage status, particularly around the Toodyay townsite
- Siting the shed with substantial setbacks so it is not visually dominant from the public realm
- Preparing documentation to the Shire’s lodgement standard
We draw architectural and planning documentation. We do not produce structural engineering drawings, electrical design, or Bushfire Attack Level assessments, which must come from an accredited practitioner.
What “Toodyay 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 Toodyay 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.
Bushfire requirements in the Shire of Toodyay
The trigger here is specific and worth committing to memory.
Two copies of a Bushfire Attack Level assessment are required where the development is over $20,000 and the proposed structure is within 6 metres of a dwelling. The assessment must be prepared by an accredited Bushfire Planning Practitioner or BAL assessor.
Both conditions have to be met for that particular trigger, but bushfire prone status brings its own requirements regardless. Where the lot is in a designated bushfire prone area, the BAL rating determines the construction standard under AS 3959 for walls, windows, decking, roof and subfloor.
The practical sequencing lesson is the same across the hills and valley shires. Establish the bushfire position early enough that it informs the design, because the rating changes what the building is made of, and material changes flow straight into cost. Designing first and assessing later usually means redrawing.
Landscape protection in Toodyay
Special Control Area 5 Landscape Protection requires that the visual impact of development be seriously considered. That is not boilerplate. In an area subject to landscape protection, a large shed on a visible slope is a genuine assessment issue.
The Shire’s guidance on shed siting reflects this directly. A shed should be positioned well within the property boundaries with substantial setbacks to all sides, so that the generous setback distance ensures it will not be visually dominant when viewed from the public realm or from neighbouring properties.
That is a siting principle rather than a fixed number, which means the design has to make the argument. On a Toodyay rural block, tucking the shed into a cleared area behind the dwelling line and away from ridgelines does more for approvability than any amount of written justification.
One useful practical point: a site feature survey is not required for ancillary structures such as patios or outbuildings, which keeps the documentation cost down on smaller Toodyay jobs.
Patios and fire separation in Toodyay
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.
Where the lot is bushfire prone, the AS 3959 construction requirements sit over the top of all of this and are frequently the binding constraint on materials.
Toodyay plans we prepare
| Project type | What we prepare |
| New homes on rural blocks | Concept design through to submission documentation, worked around site constraints |
| Sheds, workshops and garages | Plans with siting worked for landscape protection and setbacks |
| Additions and extensions | Existing and proposed plans, demolition plan |
| Patios and alfrescos | Plans with the fire separation route identified |
| Renovations to heritage townsite properties | Plans plus any heritage documentation required |
| Ancillary dwellings | Plans and area calculations to the 70m2 limit |
| Carports and garages | Setback and siting assessment |
| Development applications | Documentation with visual impact justification where SCA 5 applies |
Toodyay projects and what they teach you
Work across the Shire of Toodyay is part of our Avon Valley workload, including new single storey homes designed to a client’s brief on rural blocks.
A Toodyay client described that experience:
> Kyle and his team designed exactly the house I wanted that I am building in Toodyay. They followed my criteria closely for my one-storey dwelling and replied to my needs efficiently. Would highly recommend Kyle and his team.
> Ben Ferguson, Google review
The lesson Toodyay teaches is that the bushfire trigger is cheaper to plan for than to discover. A $20,000 shed within 6 metres of the house pulls in a BAL assessment from an accredited practitioner, and the resulting rating can change the cladding, the decking and the subfloor. Building that into the budget at the start avoids an unpleasant conversation later.
The second lesson is that in a landscape protection area, siting is the argument. Substantial setbacks on all sides and a position that is not visually dominant from the road or neighbouring land will do more than any written submission.
What Shire of Toodyay 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.
Budget separately for the Bushfire Attack Level assessment, which is specialist work from an accredited practitioner and does not form part of a drafting fee.
Our drafting fee is quoted per project rather than by a rate card, because a townsite lot and a treed rural block 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 home on a constrained rural lot 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 Toodyay locality
The Shire of Toodyay covers the heritage townsite and the surrounding Avon Valley rural land.
| Locality | What tends to drive the design |
| Toodyay draftsman | Heritage townsite, character stock, confirm heritage status before designing |
| West Toodyay draftsman | Rural residential, bushfire assessment commonly triggered |
| Coondle and Nunile draftsman | Rural land, landscape protection and siting drive the design |
| Julimar draftsman | Treed rural blocks, bushfire and vegetation are the constraints |
| Bejoording and Dumbarton draftsman | Rural holdings, larger sheds with substantial setbacks |
| Hoddys Well draftsman | Rural residential, visual impact assessment matters |
Toodyay draftsman questions
When do I need a BAL assessment in Toodyay?
Two copies of a Bushfire Attack Level assessment are required where the development is over $20,000 and the proposed structure is within 6 metres of a dwelling. It must be prepared by an accredited Bushfire Planning Practitioner or BAL assessor. Bushfire prone status brings its own requirements independently of that trigger.
What is Special Control Area 5 in Toodyay?
It is a landscape protection area where the visual impact of development must be seriously considered as part of the assessment. In practice it means a shed needs to be sited well within the boundaries with substantial setbacks on all sides, so it is not visually dominant from the road or from neighbouring properties.
Do I need a site feature survey for a shed in Toodyay?
Not for ancillary structures such as patios or outbuildings. The Shire does not require a site feature survey for those, which keeps documentation costs down on smaller jobs.
Does heritage affect my Toodyay project?
It can. The Toodyay townsite has genuine heritage character and listed places, and where a property is listed or in a heritage area, a development application is generally required. Confirm the status with the Shire before designing.
