A garden studio is a self-contained second home at the back of the block: a rental, a place for parents or adult children, a studio to work from. On most Sydney house blocks of 450 m2 or more it is approved as complying development in a few weeks and built in a few months.
The Housing SEPP allows a 60 m2 secondary dwelling on a 450 m2 lot as complying development across NSW; some councils allow more in their own plans. Block Checker tells you which applies to your block.
Pick what you are building, the size and the finish and get a Sydney range in ten seconds. No email needed to see the result.
All levels, garages and balconies excluded. Filled in for the type you pick; change it to suit.
Run the address through Block Checker. It tells you what the block can carry under your council's plan and the state housing policies, before anyone draws a line.
Our calculator gives a Sydney range for the type of home, the size and the finish. If the numbers work, we visit the block.
Your architect or designer draws it. We take the drawings through complying development or a development application, with the planner, surveyor and consultants it needs.
One fixed price, one site manager, weekly photo reports, and the occupation certificate on the date we agreed.
Usually not. A secondary dwelling that meets the Housing SEPP standards is complying development, approved by a private certifier in a few weeks. Bushfire-prone, flood or heritage land can change that; we check first.
Yes. A secondary dwelling can be let separately, though it stays on the same title as the house and cannot be sold on its own.
The calculator on this page gives the Sydney range for the size and finish you want.
Send us the block and what you have in mind. We check what it can carry and what it will cost before you brief an architect.
Also: Duplexes · Terraces and manor houses · New homes and knock-down rebuilds · Renovations and additions