Planning - CDC & DA advice
Most people only deal with the planning system once or twice in their lives, and usually they meet it at the worst possible moment. They've settled on what they want to achieve, worked through a design process, only to be told that they might not be allowed to have it.
The useful part isn't knowing that the rules exist, it's knowing which of them are actually going to need deeper consideration on your particular site, and which ones look alarming in the document and turn out to be of lesser importance.
Planning Process - DA, CDC or exempt?
There are three pathways, and which one you're on affects nearly everything that follows: what it costs, how long it takes, and how much room council has to form a view about it.
- Exempt development means no approval is needed at all. The range is narrow, but it's always worth checking before you assume otherwise.
- Complying development, or CDC, is assessed against a fixed set of standards by a certifier rather than by council. It's faster and far more predictable, but only if your proposal fits inside every one of those standards, and heritage items and conservation areas are generally excluded from it.
- Development Application, or DA, is assessed by council on its merits. It takes longer and there's more discretion involved, but it's also the pathway where a well-made argument can win you something the standards would never have allowed.
- Construction Certificate (CC). Once the Development Application (DA) is approved, a Construction Certificate (CC) is applied for, covering how the building will actually be built.
Working out which one applies to you is usually a short conversation. Assuming the wrong one and finding out six months later is considerably more expensive.
What we help with
- Working out which pathway your property is actually on
- Reading the council controls that govern your site, as opposed to the general ones
- Change of use applications, mainly for Commercial and Industrial applications
- Preparing the design and the documentation an application needs to stand up
- Coordinating the other consultants a proposal requires — engineers, planners, surveyors — so you aren't the one chasing them
- Answering council's questions as they come in, which is usually what keeps an application moving rather than sitting in a queue.
"From our initial meeting Greg 'got' the concept of what we were visualising… any queries that were raised along the way re DA were answered quickly and promptly."
When the site complicates things
Heritage items and conservation areas, foreshore controls, biodiversity constraints, steep or irregular blocks, and every so often a pair of controls that appear to contradict one another. These are the situations worth getting advice on early, because on a site like that the constraints end up shaping the design rather than simply trimming it at the edges.
What we can tell you, and what we can't
What we report on is permissibility — what the zoning allows, whether complying development is available to you, and what the controls actually require. That part is factual and we'll give it to you straight, including when the answer isn't what you were hoping for.
What we won't do is tell you an approval is guaranteed. We're not the approval body and nobody can promise that. What you'll have is a clear view of where you stand and the strongest version of your proposal that the controls will support.
"Greg's very switched on and knows how things work. He helped with a development application with change of use… and got diagrams and paperwork underway seamlessly. He has always been willing to assist with general queries, and nothing seems to ever be a hassle."
FAQs - DA, CDC and approvals
Q01How long does a DA take?
It depends on the council and on how complicated your site is. A straightforward application in a council that is running well is a matter of a couple of months (12 weeks); a heritage job that goes to a heritage officer and then a panel can take longer as most councils don't employ a Heritage Officer full-time. The part within your control is what you lodge, because most of the worst delays come from submitting something council was never going to accept and then negotiating backwards.
Q02What does a DA cost?
There are two separate costs and it is worth keeping them apart. Council charges its own application fees, which are set by them and scale with the value of the work. Our fee is for the design and the documentation that goes with the application. There may also be specialist reports depending on the site — surveyor, heritage, stormwater, bushfire, traffic, engineers, etc — and we will advise which you are likely to need.
Q03What is the difference between a DA and a CDC, in practice?
A Development Application is assessed by council, which means they can form a view about it and the neighbours get notified. A Complying Development Certificate is a tick-the-boxes pathway — if your proposal meets every standard exactly, a certifier can approve it without council forming a view at all. CDC is faster, when submitted, and more certain when you qualify. The catch is that you have to meet every criterion, and one failure puts you back on the DA path.
Once you take into account the level of documentation required, with CDC needing fuller documentation, then the approval timeframe is much closer.
Q04Can you help if my DA prepared by others has been refused?
Often, yes. The first job is working out precisely why it was refused, which is usually more specific than the refusal letter makes it sound. Once that is clear it normally points straight at what has to change. Sometimes that is a modest amendment and a fresh application; sometimes the proposal needs rethinking. We will tell you honestly which one you are looking at.
Copyright can confuse this issue though.
Q05Will my neighbours be notified, and can they stop it?
On a DA, usually yes — council notifies adjoining owners and they can make a submission. Objections do not stop an application by themselves. Council has to weigh them against the planning controls, so a submission that raises a genuine planning issue carries weight and one that simply objects does not. Anticipating the obvious concerns at design stage is generally cheaper than answering them later.
CDC — the neighbours are notified prior to works commencing, but they do not get a say on your proposal.
Q06What is a change of use application, and do I need one?
If a building is going to be used for something different from what it was approved for — a shop becoming a café, a warehouse becoming a workspace — council generally needs to approve the new use, even when you are not touching the structure. It catches people out constantly, usually after a lease has been signed. It is worth checking before you commit to a premises rather than after.
Q07Do I need a DA, or just a CDC, for a granny flat or secondary dwelling?
Not always. Secondary dwellings can sometimes go through as complying development if the block and the proposal meet every standard, which is a much faster route. Plenty of sites do not qualify — heritage, size, setbacks, existing structures — and then it is a DA. Which one applies to your property is exactly the sort of thing worth establishing before you get attached to a plan.
DA controls on secondary dwellings are far more complex and difficult to achieve than CDC.
Q08Can I start work as soon as the DA is approved?
Not yet. A DA approves the development in principle, but you generally need a Construction Certificate, a Principal Certifier needs to be assigned, and a Notice of Commencement processed before anything starts on site, and approvals usually come with conditions attached that have to be satisfied first. Reading those conditions properly at the point of approval saves a lot of trouble, because some of them affect the construction drawings.
Q09Can you tell me what my property will allow before I spend anything?
Yes. The Exploration Package is a fixed-fee $795 report on exactly that — the zoning, the controls that apply to your block, which approval pathway is available, and what is realistically achievable. It is a low-cost way to find out whether the thing you have in mind is even on the table.