Do I Need Council Approval for a Shed in SA?

Only if it is small. In South Australia a detached shed needs no approval only when it has a floor area of 15 m² or less, a roof span of no more than 3 m, no part higher than 2.5 m and it sits behind the front of the house, along with a few other conditions. That covers a garden or tool shed. A garage, workshop, machinery shed or a shed and carport combination is bigger than that and needs development approval.

We design, fabricate and erect steel sheds and carports across the Adelaide Hills, the Barossa and the Murraylands, and ship kits Australia-wide. Here is the rule, where it comes from, and what to do when your shed is bigger.

The small shed exemption, condition by condition

Schedule 4 of the Planning, Development and Infrastructure (General) Regulations 2017 lists work that is not "development". Clause 4(1)(a) covers an outbuilding in which human activity is secondary. It is excluded only if it:

• is detached from, and ancillary to, a building already on the site (or one that has consent)
• has a total floor area of no more than 15 m²
• has no roof span over 3 m, measured between the supporting walls, posts or columns
• has no part higher than 2.5 m above the natural ground
• has no part in front of the building line of the house that faces the main street
• on a corner block, is not within 900 mm of the secondary street boundary
• is not within 6 m of the corner where two road boundaries meet, unless a 4 x 4 m corner cut-off has already been provided

It also does not apply in a designated flood zone or overlay, or on a local heritage place, and Schedule 4 exclusions never apply to State heritage places. A 3 x 3 m garden shed, 2.4 m high, behind the house on an ordinary block normally fits. A 6 x 6 m garage is 36 m² and does not, even before you look at the height.

Bigger sheds: what approval looks like

Anything outside the exemption needs development approval, which is usually planning consent plus building consent. Planning consent checks where the shed sits, its height and how it looks. Building consent checks the structure.

Many standard sheds are simpler than that. The Legal Services Commission's Law Handbook says accepted development needs no planning consent and lists "a new shed or carport that only requires building consent" as an example. For farm sheds, the same page lists hay sheds of up to 500 m² floor area among the building work that can qualify for building consent as complying building work, with other conditions. Your zone decides which path applies, so look up your address on PlanSA's zoning for a property tool or ask your council.

Shed and caravan carport under one roof

A real enquiry we had recently: replace an old 12 x 6 m shed with a 6 x 6 m enclosed shed and a 6 x 6 m open carport next to it, tall enough for a caravan. It is a smart layout, and there are a few things to get right before it goes to council.

• It is one building, so it is one application. The shed bay and the carport bay share posts and a roof, so the drawings, site plan and engineering cover the whole 12 x 6 m structure.
• Set the height from the van, not the shed. Measure the caravan's travel height including the air conditioner and any antenna, then add clearance. Either the carport side gets taller eaves than the shed side, or the whole building goes up to caravan height. Height is one of the main things planning consent looks at, so settle it early.
• An open bay changes the loads. Wind behaves differently when one bay is enclosed and the next is open, so the frame is engineered for that layout rather than copied from a standard shed.
• Plan the old shed's removal. Ask your council whether removing the existing shed should go in the same application.
• Footprint and stormwater. A 12 x 6 m roof is 72 m². The site plan must show boundary distances and where the roof water goes.

If you would rather add a bay to a shed you already have, a lean-to carport attached to the existing shed is another option. It still needs approval, and the existing frame has to be able to carry it.

Before you lodge: a short checklist

1. Look up your zone and overlays on PlanSA.
2. Decide the size from what has to fit inside: header, hay, boat, caravan, ute and bench.
3. Mark the shed on a site plan with distances to every boundary and to the house.
4. Get the steel design and engineering sorted for that exact size and layout.
5. Lodge through PlanSA, or have your builder or certifier lodge for you.

You can size it first in our free 3D Shed & Carport Designer, which lets you check your ute, boat or caravan fits, then send the design to Sean for a quote. Sheds and kits are fabricated to order, typically in 2 to 6 weeks once the order is confirmed. Ask us what drawings and engineering come with your shed so you know what you have for the application.

Carports, verandahs and pergolas follow different rules. See council approval for a carport, verandah or pergola.