Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 27, 2010 11:32 am We've just signed the contract for our new block of land The thing is, I'm concerned about our front yard. We have a 3 metre easement on the back boundary that we can't build on, and allowing a 1 metre earthworks perimeter around our house, and then obeying the covenants to build our garage at least 1 metre behind the longest wall at the front of the house means that we have to extend the front of the house. This now leaves only 3.5 - 4 metres between the road and the front wall of the house. Is this too small? Our house plan is perfect for us so we don't want to have to change it. Re: What's a reasonable sized front yard? 2Jan 27, 2010 11:57 am I am guessing it is 3-4 meters to footpath and not road. WHile i tend to think this is to close this happens very offen these days and i pressume your neigbours are in a simialr position. I dont know if you garage is set back further but it would be a good idea to allow enough room to park a car on your own property in front of the garage. Re: What's a reasonable sized front yard? 3Jan 27, 2010 12:32 pm And what are your council's requirements? We had to have a setback of 5 meters, if we built on a busy road it is 6 meters. Cheers Cozmo ______________________________ Building a PD Heywood 29 http://fromevetoeternity.blogspot.com/ Re: What's a reasonable sized front yard? 4Jan 27, 2010 12:39 pm It's sounds small compared to what I'm used to but yes, it's common these days and your neighbours will probably be the same. I imagine many people would push the house to the front to allow for maximum private space at the back. Maybe you could just clarify if you meant road or footpath or front boundary? I presume the house fits within both the back easement and the front setback? Also what is your concern with the front, eg, do you have a front bedroom where noise issues might be relevant or do you have your heart set on a large tree in the front yard? I agree it's good to have room for a vehicle to park in the driveway without blocking the footpath. Re: What's a reasonable sized front yard? 5Jan 27, 2010 1:38 pm Cozmo And what are your council's requirements? We had to have a setback of 5 meters, if we built on a busy road it is 6 meters. Our standard setback in a residential street was 6.5m. Different councils different regulations. Re: What's a reasonable sized front yard? 6Jan 27, 2010 2:33 pm Quote: This now leaves only 3.5 - 4 metres between the road and the front wall of the house. As previous posters said 3.5-4 metres sounds like it wouldn't comply with setback rules. That being said, is that distance to the front of the house, or the front of the porch ? The front of the porch is not considered part of the house, so it can encroach setback. Blog is now up - http://www.jbdave.blogspot.com/ Re: What's a reasonable sized front yard? 7Jan 27, 2010 2:54 pm Ay ay ay! All these things to consider! I am new to the building game (as of yesterday when we signed the land contract) and there are so many rules to abide by and terms to learn! To clarify, I meant that there will be 3-4 metres from the front wall (not porch) to the front boundary. Does this not mean the road? Cos that'd be nice if there was that little extra. We bought off the plan so the land is not yet developed. Do you think it's likely that there'll be extra space? Eg: the developer will be planting two trees at the front of our house (which won't interfere with our plans), so is it likely that there'll be 'council' space along the front of our boundary? No Macy, not worried about noise issues or tree planting or anything like that, just don't want my house to look stupid poking all the way out the front like that. As the estate is currently undeveloped, I have no neighbours to ask or compare it to. Fingers crossed about the 'council' space at the front so we can at least get the car in there. As for council regulations, I'll have a look to see what it says. There was council information in the contract but the developer is yet to send us our copy. I've never done this sort of thing before so please forgive my ignorance on the simple things and obviously the bigger things too. Re: What's a reasonable sized front yard? 8Jan 27, 2010 3:24 pm cammypunk To clarify, I meant that there will be 3-4 metres from the front wall (not porch) to the front boundary. Does this not mean the road? Cos that'd be nice if there was that little extra. We bought off the plan so the land is not yet developed. Do you think it's likely that there'll be extra space? Eg: the developer will be planting two trees at the front of our house (which won't interfere with our plans), so is it likely that there'll be 'council' space along the front of our boundary? Your block is normally only to within about 3m of the road - there may or may not be a footpath on that side of the road and the rest is nature strip. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Built a Tribeca 44 with the Big M Sales Accept 15/06/09, Contract Signed 24/09/09, Site Start 23/11/09, Slab 11/12/09, Frame 12/01/10, Roof 20/01/10, Lock-up 30/03/10, Fixing 30/04/10, Handover 27/08/10. Re: What's a reasonable sized front yard? 9Jan 27, 2010 3:46 pm cammypunk Ay ay ay! All these things to consider! I am new to the building game (as of yesterday when we signed the land contract) and there are so many rules to abide by and terms to learn! No Macy, not worried about noise issues or tree planting or anything like that, just don't want my house to look stupid poking all the way out the front like that. As the estate is currently undeveloped, I have no neighbours to ask or compare it to. No worries, it's a big learning curve. Always good to clarify anything you're not sure about. Unless most of your neighbours happen to choose to build further back than the building line I don't imagine you'd end up sticking out. I don't know about your estate but here there's a nature strip, you look after it but you don't actually own it, and then there's your boundary and then there's a setback or building line where you can build from. There might be a footpath approximately on the boundary or beside the road or no footpath at all. Have you been given a copy of the site plan yet, or is it available online? Aha, like Jimmalenko's pic! ↑ Re: What's a reasonable sized front yard? 11Jan 27, 2010 4:38 pm cammypunk We've just signed the contract for our new block of land The thing is, I'm concerned about our front yard. We have a 3 metre easement on the back boundary that we can't build on, and allowing a 1 metre earthworks perimeter around our house, and then obeying the covenants to build our garage at least 1 metre behind the longest wall at the front of the house means that we have to extend the front of the house. This now leaves only 3.5 - 4 metres between the road and the front wall of the house. Is this too small? Our house plan is perfect for us so we don't want to have to change it. Check with your council regarding the easement - I was advised by ours today, that we can build a veranda over the easemen, as long as the poles were positioned according to a foluma to ensure they didn't interfere with stormwater or sewer pipes. This would enable you to use at least some of the easement for an Alfresco type area, possibly taking some of the pressure off your building envelope Re: What's a reasonable sized front yard? 12Jan 27, 2010 5:16 pm Our house is set back 4m from the footpath. Like the others explained, that doesn't include the footpath and the nature strip. I think you should go for it. Setbacks of 4-6m are what a lot of the estates in my area seem to have these days. Re: What's a reasonable sized front yard? 13Jan 27, 2010 5:31 pm Our setback (in an established area in Sydney) is 7m and I think that's insufficient. I would have loved to have gone to about 9m but the Council wouldn't allow it. Pix Built a (highly) modified Allcastle Maxworth 38.7 in Sydney. Re: What's a reasonable sized front yard? 14Jan 27, 2010 6:39 pm Look at it this way, whatever you add to your front yard you take away from your back yard. I would prefer the minimum front yard (say 4 m) and as much as possible for the back yard. Who uses their front yard? Anything more than 4 m, to me, is a waste. I would however go for a bit more in from the front where the garage so that a car can be parked just outside the garage. Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: What's a reasonable sized front yard? 15Jan 27, 2010 10:36 pm Yeah I'm the same as above. We've gotta have a 5.5m setback from the front and it's eating into my backyard damn it! ... Well it wasn't too bad until we decided to go up a size in house the other day. Ah well. Backyard is for the dogs anyway Land Deposit - 18/12/2009 Became a land Baron - 21/12/2010 Site Start - 27/1/2011 All moved in!! Re: What's a reasonable sized front yard? 16Jan 27, 2010 11:04 pm Ah cr@p I thought 40mtrs wasn't enough so went 60 instead glad I don't live in the city Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: What's a reasonable sized front yard? 18Jan 27, 2010 11:24 pm And a bit of space out back for the dog, chooks, sheep, pigs, horses etc Yes I had a fun day at work But now I know why what do you do with 30,000+ sq mtrs Leave it be Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: What's a reasonable sized front yard? 19Jan 28, 2010 8:20 am aww Onc you could be "in the city" and be 13 m back like us. ok I know I'm not really in the city just compared to you I am. We had to be 6 m from minor street side, 12 from main street( front of house) and 3 from neighbours. I feel a bit freaked out now when I do drive to the city and see how close everyone is to everyone else. Re: What's a reasonable sized front yard? 20Jan 28, 2010 9:32 am Felistopher Our house is set back 4m from the footpath. Like the others explained, that doesn't include the footpath and the nature strip. I think you should go for it. Setbacks of 4-6m are what a lot of the estates in my area seem to have these days. Excellent! We want to have a smaller front yard and a bigger backyard so we will go the minimal amount. I wish we could have afforded a larger block of land because then I wouldn't have had to ask to start with. Oh well. Thanks! there should be ss cable so you can pull up bore pump for service 1 3163 Seems good to me. I've been told $4-5k/sqm is reasonable in Perth. 2 11185 can someone with more experience give me their insight? land is pretty much flat its pretty much at the top of a hill. left and right neighbours are flat in line with my… 0 7469 |