Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 23, 2009 10:03 pm Please explain to me about local council floor space ratio. I understand that if the ratio is 0.4:1, it means that the maximum size home you could build is 40% of land. But, how does that work when it's a double storey home? I get the impression that it's the total floor space of both floors instead of just one floor. In reality, the double storey house is sitting on half of the total floor space, if I make sense here. I thought the whole idea of building a two-storey house for many people is to fit more space in smaller land. Are councils encouraging people from building single storey houses?? Re: Local council floor space ratio 2Jan 23, 2009 10:09 pm 40% is small ours just must not cover more than 60% of the block! If ti was 40% we would have one hell of a small house. Ours must also be over 165sqm living as per our design guidelines! Where are you building? 2nd build here we come in Whittlesea! https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=92617 1st Build - Henley - Cooper in Doreen! (2009) https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=17354 Re: Local council floor space ratio 4Jan 23, 2009 10:18 pm Cheeky Please explain to me about local council floor space ratio. I understand that if the ratio is 0.4:1, it means that the maximum size home you could build is 40% of land. But, how does that work when it's a double storey home? I get the impression that it's the total floor space of both floors instead of just one floor. In reality, the double storey house is sitting on half of the total floor space, if I make sense here. I thought the whole idea of building a two-storey house for many people is to fit more space in smaller land. Are councils encouraging people from building single storey houses?? You count all your internal floor area (upstairs and downstairs). Most councils will not count the garage area. Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: Local council floor space ratio 5Jan 23, 2009 10:21 pm Depends on individual councils. My council requires 40% max floor area. It uses footprint as floor area (so double storey is an advantage). Some councils don't strictly enforce it (eg, 43%-44% is ok if all other development issues are met).
Chris Re: Local council floor space ratio 7Jan 23, 2009 10:28 pm ChrisL, I am lost about your comment about double storey being an advantage if they count upstairs and downstairs as 2 lots of areas. Say you have 1000sm of land and the double storey house is 300sm downstairs and 300sm upstairs, then according to Hornsby Council (0.4:1 ratio), it's not allowed, right? Re: Local council floor space ratio 8Jan 23, 2009 10:30 pm Pine Rivers Shire Council in Brisbane counts only the Footprint of the house and that can only be 50% of the land size. Re: Local council floor space ratio 9Jan 23, 2009 10:47 pm Hi Cheeky,
We are also looking at building in Hornsby Council and unfortunately they are a tough and strict Council. The floor space ratio relates to living areas (excludes garage, outdoor, porch, etc) and this needs to be 40% of the total size of the block. This includes the sq metres for both floors if it's a double story, so need to be careful of how big the house is. Site coverage should not exceeded 40% of the total size of the block (so for this requirement double stories are an advantage). Another requirement is that you need to have a minimum of 45% landscaped area (excluding driveways) and a minimum of 120sq metre private open space (for a dwelling bigger than 150 sq metres). So a lot of things to keep in mind but the builder will be able to tell you straight away if you meet these requirements when you tell them the size of the block and the size of the house you like. You also need to submit a Landscape plan with your DA submission... Haven't yet found out if you can actually do the plan yourself or if it needs to be done by a qualified landscape architect, the info I have found seems to contradict itself but the Council officer told us over the counter that it does not need to be by a qualified landscape architect... will let you know the outcome when we find out! Have you chosen a builder yet? Re: Local council floor space ratio 10Jan 23, 2009 10:56 pm Thanks, Jochicho. So what is the difference between floor space ratio and site coverage? Are they both 40% for Hornsby Council? How does it work in the scenario of 1000sm land, 300 sm downstairs and 300 sm upstairs (excluding garage etc)? Is that an outright no?
I don't have a block yet, just trying to figure out what to look for. My "dream" house is quite big. It's 46 squares, so I have to figure out the minimum block. Re: Local council floor space ratio 11Jan 23, 2009 11:17 pm Hi Cheeky,
Very confusing these requirements as it's quite silly to have both. Floor space ratio is the total floor for living (i.e. both floors) and site coverage is the footprint, how much of the land is covered by the house. Basically, you can have the scenario where you comply with the Site coverage (footprint) but not with the Space ratio but not the other way around unless is a tree house (very skinny at the bottom and fat at the top... or like a mushroom). Do I make sense? Your example would not meet Council requirements unfortunately. It would comply with the site coverage (footprint) as 300 sq m is 30% of the 1000 sq m block but you would not meet the floor space ratio as 600 sq m is 60% of the block and you are only allowed a max of 40%. I am not good at converting squares into square metres but sounds like 46 is a huge house and your block will have to be quite big. Speak to any builder and tell them the size house you like and they will tell you the minimum size block that you'll need for that. This is all explained on page 8 of this DCP doc (and other pages re Landscape plan, etc) but sometimes I find it quite hard to follow... http://www.hornsby.nsw.gov.au/uploads/d ... ingdcp.pdf Bedtime now as i have to be at the builders for a meeting (to discuss the draft architectural plans) early tomorrow morning. I am already in trouble with my husband as I can't get enough of this website! but I can't help it as it's full of helpful people and great info Re: Local council floor space ratio 12Jan 24, 2009 6:01 am Hi,
For example, this has come back from our builder and it meets our council requirement which is max 50% floor space to land ratio. Our Land is 587sqm, double storey house which we are building including garage, balcony, porch etc is 356 sqm (39sq). Living areas worked out to be around 287sqm. The floor space to land came back as 49% which is just under the max of 50%. Council is Parramatta (Sydney). MadCow Re: Local council floor space ratio 13Jan 24, 2009 8:55 am Cheeky,
They only count the FOOTPRINT. So, if land is 500 sqm, downstairs is 200sqm and upper storey is 150sqm, the ratio is 200/500 = 40%. Not sure what happens if (in the rare case that) the upper storey overhangs the ground floor. Chris Re: Local council floor space ratio 14Jan 25, 2009 12:18 am Quote: Cheeky, They only count the FOOTPRINT. So, if land is 500 sqm, downstairs is 200sqm and upper storey is 150sqm, the ratio is 200/500 = 40%. Not sure what happens if (in the rare case that) the upper storey overhangs the ground floor. Chris Hi ChrisL, I don't think your statement is correct in this instance, it might be for Adelaide but not for Hornsby Council (NSW). In Hornsby the Floor space ratio is the main issue and it's explained in this DCP document http://www.hornsby.nsw.gov.au/uploads/d ... ingdcp.pdf I guess that you guys are luckier down in Adelaide and have more flexible rules in regards to this. Cheeky, if you have a chat to Hornsby Council (normally turning up to their offices works out best, as they are always too busy over the phone, we have found that if you go around 4.30 to the planning department and ask for one of the town planners you don't normally have to wait too long) they can go over this with you, they are normally very helpfull. Any builders in Sydney will know the Council requirements anyway. Re: Local council floor space ratio 15Jan 25, 2009 6:25 am Actually, it's funny you said this.
[quote]Any builders in Sydney will know the Council requirements anyway.[/quote] We went to 2 builders and one said that 1:0.4 is the Hornsby's requirement, but another said that the NSW state government is changing (or bringing a new one in) to 1:0.5 as of March which means it will overight any local government's council guidelines. So a build that starts after March would be beneficial. Both builders said that Hornsby council is strict to deal with. We saw land (with an old house on it) which we were semi-interested in and under the 1:0.4 ratio, the build we like would not meet council requirements whereas it would be ok with 1:0.5. So, I'd like to know which floor space ratio applies before acquiring land. Re: Local council floor space ratio 16Jan 25, 2009 7:07 am Casa2 Cheeky Please explain to me about local council floor space ratio. I understand that if the ratio is 0.4:1, it means that the maximum size home you could build is 40% of land. But, how does that work when it's a double storey home? I get the impression that it's the total floor space of both floors instead of just one floor. In reality, the double storey house is sitting on half of the total floor space, if I make sense here. I thought the whole idea of building a two-storey house for many people is to fit more space in smaller land. Are councils encouraging people from building single storey houses?? You count all your internal floor area (upstairs and downstairs). Most councils will not count the garage area. Yes, that's correct, however in our case, garage area greater than 40m2 had to be included in the total living area. Built the Eden Brae Cambridge 34 Family with Boston Corner Facade Re: Local council floor space ratio 17Jan 25, 2009 10:30 am Quote: Actually, it's funny you said this. Any builders in Sydney will know the Council requirements anyway We went to 2 builders and one said that 1:0.4 is the Hornsby's requirement, but another said that the NSW state government is changing (or bringing a new one in) to 1:0.5 as of March which means it will overight any local government's council guidelines. So a build that starts after March would be beneficial. Both builders said that Hornsby council is strict to deal with. We saw land (with an old house on it) which we were semi-interested in and under the 1:0.4 ratio, the build we like would not meet council requirements whereas it would be ok with 1:0.5. So, I'd like to know which floor space ratio applies before acquiring land. Hi Cheeky, Well, obviously some builders are quicker to get onto new regulations than others. I didn't know about the release of these new regulations, is actually the new "NSW Housing Code" and will be effective from 27 Feb 09. It basically means that if you meet the SEPP standard, quite strict (have to comply with everything) requirements then you can apply for a "Complying Development Certificate" instead of having to go through the DA approval process, which means that the approval process will be much faster - you can start building 12 days from lodgement! which if you go through DA approval most of the time you can't start building until 100 days from lodgement. Have a look at this doc, it explains everything. http://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/planning ... opment.pdf The floorspace ratio has been included to 50% for small ish blocks but now they count the garage area... have a look and see if this will work out for your block. This is great news for a lot of people, specially those building in regular shape blocks (new estates), unfortunately I think we don't comply with the frontage requirement - minimum frontage to a primary road of at least 12m, as our block is a pretty irregular shaped block. Nevertheless, I am going to pass these guidelines to the builders and ask them to assess if we qualify for this and can save the hassle of going through the DA approval process, just in case...! that would be fantastic! Re: Local council floor space ratio 18Jan 27, 2009 10:05 am Hi, I'm building in the Hornsby Shire. I can confirm they are very strict about the 40% floorspace ratio policy.
I have a 693 sqm block and as soon as I mentioned HSC to the builder he responded "ohh you're stuck with the skinny 40%" The best advise I can offer you is to read through the HSC Development Control Plan. PDF downlaodable from the HSC Website. Apart from what has already been said in previous post in this thread HSC also have a rule on the total length of houses regardless of the size of land and also the max length an indivial wall must not exceed 10mtrs without a break. You need to make sure your builder completely understands the council rules for a particluar area othewise time will be wasted in resubmitting revised plans etc. Good luck. Leonard. Re: Local council floor space ratio 19Jan 27, 2009 2:31 pm KnockItDown You need to make sure your builder completely understands the council rules for a particluar area othewise time will be wasted in resubmitting revised plans etc. Well said Leonard - it cost us nearly 6 months (not in Hornsby btw) Still not in. Don't ask!? Re: Local council floor space ratio 20Jan 27, 2009 11:45 pm Quote: Bel wrote:Well said Leonard - it cost us nearly 6 months (not in Hornsby btw) Oh, really? You must have a lot of patience Bel, I am sure the wait will be worth it. What Council was it? I really hope ours (Hornsby) doesn't take longer than 3-4 months... I am not exaclty patient for things like these... You can really use anything you want the main consideration would be how it looks once painted/finished - or the look you want. Cabinetmakers use MDF because its cheap… 2 9959 Cupcake.girl This really depends on your local council. Each one has different definitions and ways to calculate contributions. This is called a contribution… 1 3582 dimensions on your original plan are inconsistent and with accurate dimensions (including site plan, upstairs and down) i could make a proper scale drawing with furniture… 3 7516 |