Site plans for Gold Coast, Queensland: drawn in minutes
Need a site plan for a shed, patio, carport, deck, pool or granny flat in Gold Coast? Site plans and assessments in minutes, drawn over the real lot.
Towns and suburbs in Gold Coast include Southport, Surfers Paradise, Robina, Coomera and Burleigh Heads.
Building in Gold Coast
Gold Coast's City Plan treats a front-setback carport case by case, with height and width limits, not as of right, and detached outbuildings trigger an amenity assessment above a floor area threshold that grows with lot size, or above a height limit. Canal-front lots carry build-over restrictions near revetment walls.
A secondary dwelling has a floor area cap, must sit close to the house, a little further in the rural zone and much closer in the conservation zone, and shares the driveway and crossover, built in matching materials. Where upper-level windows, decks or balconies look into a neighbour's private open space, they need privacy treatment. Variations go to the City of Gold Coast as a referral.
The City is its own sewer authority and maps bushfire, flood, heritage, landslide and vegetation itself, covering Southport, Surfers Paradise, Robina and Coomera. Applications can be searched online.
What we hold for Gold Coast
For Gold Coast we hold the council’s own rules for:
- sheds, garden sheds, garages and carports
- patios, pergolas, louvred roofs, decks and shade sails
- pools, fences and retaining walls
- granny flats
- driveways, water tanks and shipping containers
We also hold its current fee schedule.
Build-over of sewer and water assets is decided by the council itself.
At each lot we check the council’s own mapping for flood, bushfire, landslide, heritage and native vegetation, and the state’s mapping for flood, bushfire, landslide, heritage and native vegetation. We also read the council’s application register for past applications on the lot.
Last checked
How approval works in Queensland
In Queensland a building certifier, usually a private one, gives the building approval for work on a house lot, and the council comes in for the parts it controls. The smallest structures are accepted development and need no building approval when they meet the state's standards. Anything larger needs building approval, and a structure that sits closer to a boundary or the street than the siting rules allow also needs the council's agreement to a siting variation; an overlay or the zone in the council's planning scheme can add a planning approval on top. The certifier and the council read the site plan for where the structure sits against each boundary, the house and any easement. Its size, its height and its distance to each boundary decide which way it goes, as per the Queensland Housing Code and the Building Regulation 2021.
Drawing the plan
Type the property address, the lot’s real boundaries load from official land records in Queensland, and you place the structure over the aerial view. The plan prints to scale with boundary lengths, setback distances, a north arrow, a legend, a site coverage table and a title block, as the site plan for a building approval or a DA.
What a certifier in Gold Coast will ask you
How high can a retaining wall and a fence go?
Each takes its own height test, and a retaining wall carrying a fence has its own approval. Both heights go on the sheet for the certifier to read together.
How big can a granny flat be, and how far from the house?
The council caps a granny flat’s floor area, and some councils also limit how far from the house it may stand. The sheet prints the floor area and dimensions the distance to the house.
Is the lot in an overlay, and what is the zoning?
A flood, bushfire, heritage or character overlay can bring a planning approval on top of the building approval, and the zone decides which of the council’s rules apply. The mapped overlays are read at the lot as the structure goes on the plan.
Are there easements, sewer mains or other services?
Work near a sewer or water main goes to the asset owner before the certifier can sign it off, on a timeline of its own. Mapped easements and mains show on the lot as it loads.
The figures for your own lot are read in a minute, from its address.
Every question a certifier asks is on the Queensland page.
Approval for the job in Gold Coast
- Granny flat approval in Gold Coast
- Shed approval in Gold Coast
- Carport approval in Gold Coast
- Patio approval in Gold Coast
Changes on the way
Rule changes announced for Gold Coast, for Queensland and for the whole country, the state and national lines in full on the Queensland page, each with the page that says so and the day we read it.
In the next 90 days
Nothing due in the next 90 days that we know of.
Later
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National Construction Code 2025
Source qbcc.qld.gov.au, read
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ABCB Housing Provisions 2025 (with NCC 2025)
Source abcb.gov.au, read
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AS 1926.1:2024 Swimming pool safety barriers
Source ncc.abcb.gov.au, read
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NCC 2025 Housing Provisions Part 10.8
Source ncc.abcb.gov.au, read
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NCC 2025 Housing Provisions Part 9.2
Source ncc.abcb.gov.au, read
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NCC 2025 Volume Two Part H6, Specification 42 and Housing Provisions Section 13
Source ncc.abcb.gov.au, read
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NCC 2025 Volume Two Part H8
Source ncc.abcb.gov.au, read
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State Planning Policy (draft)
Source statements.qld.gov.au, read
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National Construction Code, residential pause
Source treasury.gov.au, read
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Queensland Housing Code
Source business.qld.gov.au, read
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National Construction Code, next edition
Source abcb.gov.au, read
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No date yet
State-wide Bushfire Hazard Area (Bushfire Prone Area) mapping, published 2026
Source tiles.arcgis.com, read
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No date yet
AS 3959:2018 Construction of buildings in bushfire prone areas
Source store.standards.org.au, read
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No date yet
AS 4678-2002 Earth retaining structures
Source store.standards.org.au, read
What we changed for Gold Coast
The rules we hold for Gold Coast, each brought up to date from the page it names, newest first. The summary above reads from them.
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Rules
Read from goldcoast.qld.gov.au
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Rules
Read from Gold Coast City Plan secondary dwelling code 9.3.19
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Rules
Read from Gold Coast City Plan secondary dwelling code 9.3.19
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Planning scheme edition
Read from Gold Coast City Plan revision list, v13 revised 2 Dec 2025, operative 9 Dec 2025
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Fees
Council notices
No story for Gold Coast yet.
The sources we read for Gold Coast
8 sources read for Gold Coast, the newest on , each below with the day it was last read.
Planning schemes and codes
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Gold Coast: Referral agency assessment
No change
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No change
Fees
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Gold Coast register of fees and charges
No change
Follow Gold Coast in a feed reader: www.rapidsiteplan.au/site-plan/gold-coast/feed.xml. Every council and state has one, listed on rule changes by council and state.
RapidSiteplan is design software: you confirm details, measure on site and your certifier or council makes the approval decision. The rule above is general information, not building or legal advice. Boundaries shown are indicative, a surveyor is recommended where exact positions matter.
Serving postcodes 4215, 4217 and surrounds.
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