Do I need a planning permit as well as a building permit for a shed?

Sometimes. The building permit comes from a building surveyor and is what we issue. A planning permit comes from council and depends on the zone and any overlays on the land — heritage, bushfire or flood overlays, green wedge and some rural zones. Where one is needed, the building permit can't be issued until it is in place. Send us the address and we check the overlays before we quote.

My shed is going near the fence — is that a problem?

Boundary setbacks are the most common issue we see. Sometimes it's fine, sometimes the shed needs to move half a metre, sometimes it needs a report and consent from council. We'll tell you which before you order.

The shed company said I don't need a permit — do I?

Maybe. The exemption has more conditions than the brochure version, and the supplier sees the kit, not your block. The better suppliers send their customers to a surveyor to check. Send us the specs and a site plan and we confirm it for free — before the slab, not after.

How long does it take to get a shed permit?

Once the application is complete, the Building Regulations 2018 give the surveyor 10 business days to decide it, and we offer fast turnaround times. Two things stretch it: drawings or a site plan with something missing, and a siting issue that needs council's report and consent, which runs on council's own statutory period. Send everything at once and the job moves.

Does a farm shed need a building permit?

Most do. A small freestanding shed can be exempt. The farm-building exemption that shed suppliers quote is not automatic: under the Building Regulations 2018 it is the council that can exempt a Class 10 building on farm land used for farming, and councils decide that case by case, usually on a written application with their own limits on size, use and siting. Without that council exemption in writing, the shed needs a permit. Send us the supplier's drawings and the property address and we will confirm either way at no cost.

My shed company is organising the permit. Is that OK?

Yes. The supplier can send us the drawings and site plan and deal with us day to day. The owner still signs the appointment — under the Building Act the owner appoints the private building surveyor — and the permit is issued in the owner's name, so you hear from us directly as well.

Shed & Garage Building Permits Melbourne & Victoria

Ordering a shed is the easy part. The part that catches people out is discovering — after the slab is poured — that the shed needed a building permit, or that it’s sitting too close to a boundary. We sort that out before you spend a dollar.

Cornerstone is a building surveying practice issuing permits across Melbourne and all of Victoria. We handle building permits for garden sheds, workshops, farm sheds, single and double garages — usually for a fixed fee, quoted up front.

People often call it council approval. In Victoria the building permit for a shed comes from a building surveyor, not the council — that is what we issue. A planning permit from council is a separate question of zone and overlays, and we tell you when you send the address.

When a shed needs a permit

Some small freestanding sheds are exempt from needing a building permit, but the exemption is narrower than most shed sellers suggest and every condition has to be met at once. An exempt shed sits outside the siting provisions, but it can still need a planning permit, the service authority’s consent over an easement, and the estate’s design approval.

Floor area

Schedule 3 of the Building Regulations 2018 exempts a small freestanding Class 10a building. 10 m² is the key threshold and it is a hard line: over it, the shed needs a permit whatever else is true.

Height

The key thresholds are 3 m overall, and 2.4 m for a shed within 1 m of a boundary.A gable shed beside the fence often runs over the lower figure at the ridge.

On or near the boundary

Once a shed needs a permit, Part 5 of the Regulations sets the siting. A shed wall can normally sit on the boundary (or within 200 mm of it) inside the length and height limits for boundary walls, or at least 1 m off it for a wall up to 3.6 m high — more for a taller wall, or where the planning scheme sets its own setback. The strip in between normally needs a report and consent from council first.

Attached to the house

Fix the shed to the house or garage and it is an addition to the house, needing a permit whatever its size — the rule that also catches attached carports and verandahs, which have their own page.

Garage, carport or shed

A carport with a roller door or an enclosed side is treated as a garage. A garage small enough for the exemption would not fit a car, so garages need a permit, and a slab with power run to it usually means the same.

Planning overlays and planning permits

An exempt-sized shed can still need council’s planning permit — a heritage, bushfire or flood overlay, green wedge land, some rural zones — and the building permit waits on it. We check the overlays from the address.

Free check. Attach the supplier’s drawings and a site plan on the quote form and we will tell you whether you need a permit — no charge.

Farm sheds

The farm-building exemption suppliers quote is not automatic, and the small-shed exemption turns on floor area and height, not lot size. Under regulation 280 of the Building Regulations 2018 the council can exempt a Class 10 building on farm land used for farming from all or any of the Regulations — case by case, usually on a written application, with council’s own limits on size, use and siting. Without that exemption in writing, the shed needs a permit.

Sheds in new estates

Developer estates come with building envelopes and design guidelines registered on title. A shed on an estate lot has to sit inside the envelope as well as meet the siting provisions; outside it, council’s report and consent is usually needed first. Estate design approval is separate from the building permit — we don’t issue it, but we’ll tell you what to get signed off first.

What we need from you

The supplier’s engineering drawings (every kit shed comes with them), a site plan showing where the shed sits relative to boundaries and the house, and the property address. No site plan? A marked-up aerial photo is enough to start. If your supplier, installer or contractor wants to send the drawings to us direct, they can — the permit is still issued in your name and we come back to both of you.

What it costs

Included in the fixed fee. The assessment, the building permit, the inspections the job needs, and the certificate of final inspection or occupancy permit, whichever applies.

Charged separately and passed through. Council’s report-and-consent fee, the state building permit levy where it applies, site-specific engineering where the kit’s standard design doesn’t cover your site, and any easement consent — itemised on the quote.

What changes the fee. A report and consent, an easement consent, or two structures on one permit. Builders, suppliers and installers who send us regular work can ask for our fee schedule — see our page for builders and suppliers.

Send the drawings and we quote a fixed fee, usually within one business day.

Where we do this work

A few corridors send more sheds and garages than their share. The acreage and rural-living blocks around Wallan and Hidden Valley, and along Mount Ridley Road in Mickleham, are machinery sheds and double garages. The market gardens of Werribee South — see our Werribee page — are farm and packing sheds on green wedge land, and the acreage pockets of the western suburbs are not far behind. Cardinia’s larger blocks past Pakenham, in the south-east, are workshops and second garages. Across regional Victoria it is the rural-living edges of Mitchell and the Macedon Ranges and the farm sheds of Gippsland.

Things that catch people out

Slab poured before the siting check. Half a metre too close to the boundary and the choice is a report and consent or a new slab.
“The brochure says exempt.” The brochure describes the kit, not your block. Area, height, boundary distance, the front wall of the house and what the shed is built from all count, at once.
Easements. Building over a sewer or drainage easement needs the consent of the authority it is vested in before a permit can issue — and the water authority’s consent is needed even where no building permit is.
Stormwater. Roof water has to drain to the property’s stormwater system, not over the fence; on a larger shed it is part of the assessment.
Enclosing a carport. A roller door or walls on an existing carport make it a garage — a new permit, and the siting is checked again because a wall near the boundary is assessed differently from an open side.

Shed and Garage Building Permits — Melbourne & Victoria