What size shed can I put up without planning?

Size is rarely what decides it. A shed can need a planning approval as well as a building approval, and size mostly drives the building one. Building approval is about the structure: its floor area, its heights and how close it sits to a boundary. Planning approval is about the land, meaning the zone the lot is in, the overlays over it and what the shed will be used for. A small garden shed can still need planning approval on a lot in a heritage overlay, while a large farm shed in a rural zone may go ahead on the building approval alone.

What brings a planning question?

The zone is the starting point. Residential zones usually let a domestic shed of ordinary size go ahead without a planning approval, within limits on its height and its distance from the street, while some zones treat any new building as something the council assesses. Overlays come next. Heritage, character, flood, bushfire and vegetation overlays can each bring a planning approval for work that would otherwise need only a building approval. Then the use, because a shed for a business, or one somebody sleeps in, is a different question from a shed for the mower.

Where does size come in?

In the building approval. A small, low shed set back from the boundaries can often go up without building approval where it meets every condition the state sets, and a bigger, taller or closer one needs it. The floor area, the wall height and the mean roof height are each tested, and a gable can pass one height and fail the other. The post on council approval for a shed covers that side in full.

Who decides?

The council decides the planning approval. The certifier, or the council where it assesses building work, decides the building approval. A slab over a sewer main needs the asset owner’s consent before it needs either, on a timeline of its own.

What goes on the site plan?

The plan shows the shed at the size quoted, its distance to every boundary and to the house, its heights and the slab, with the site cover counted and any easement or main nearby. Where the shed needs planning approval, the council reads the same sheet against its zone and overlay rules, so one drawing does both jobs.

Reading it for your own lot

RapidSiteplan reads the lot from its address in a minute: the boundaries, the buildings already there, the zone where it is mapped, the overlays over the block, and the easements and mains. Place the shed at kit size and the sheet shows its distance to every boundary and the site cover across every building on the lot. The sheds and carports page shows the sheet, and the council pages for every state show what each council maps. The post on heritage overlays covers what a heritage listing changes. The post on shipping containers covers containers and the zone. Start with the address. The post on shed approval in NSW covers the exempt and complying pathways.

Common questions

What size shed can I put up without planning? Size is rarely what brings a planning approval. The zone, the overlays and what the shed is used for decide that, while its size, its heights and its distance to each boundary decide whether it needs building approval. The council decides the planning side and the certifier the building side.