The room you need is in the backyard
Studios, workshops, home offices and garages across Canberra, by an A-Class licensed builder.
- ACT A-Class licence 2012B14A
- $20M public liability
- QBE Home Warranty
- MBA ACT member
- Building in Canberra since 2012
Cheaper than extending, and sometimes better
If what you need is one more room and that room doesn't have to be attached to the house, a separate building is usually the less disruptive way to get it. Nothing comes off the existing roof, nobody is living in a construction site, and the job doesn't touch the plumbing or the kitchen.
It suits some uses better than an extension ever could. A workshop is better away from the house. So is a studio with a drum kit in it. And a home office you physically walk to is a different thing from a desk in the spare room, which is why so many of these get built now.
An outbuilding is not a granny flat
The line is the kitchen. Put a cooktop and a bathroom in it and you have built a second dwelling, which the ACT treats as a secondary residence with its own approval path, its own size limits and its own rules about which blocks it can go on.
Keep it as a studio, workshop or office and it stays an outbuilding, which is a simpler build and a simpler approval. Plenty of people want something in between, a studio with a toilet and a sink but no kitchen, and that is usually possible. It is just worth knowing which side of the line you are on before the drawings get done, not after.
If what you actually want is a rentable flat, the granny flat page is the one you want. Dale has built one at his own place.
Common ones
Studios and home offices
Insulated, lined, powered and built to be comfortable in a Canberra July as well as a Canberra January. That last part is what separates a room you use all year from a shed you gave up on. Proper insulation, real glazing and a floor that isn't sitting on cold concrete.
Workshops
Three-phase power if you need it, the right floor, and enough height and door width to get things in and out.
Garages and carports
Attached or freestanding, matched to the house rather than bolted on in whatever colour the supplier had.
Storage and utility buildings
Built rather than assembled, which matters if it is going to be there in twenty years.
Do you need approval?
It depends on the size, the height, where it sits on the block and whether anyone is going to sleep in it. Small enough and simple enough and some outbuildings are exempt. Past that threshold you need building approval, and in some cases development approval as well.
PLACEHOLDER. Current ACT exemption threshold to be confirmed before publish.
Dale works out which applies to your block at the site visit, and handles whichever it turns out to be.
Outbuildings in Canberra, answered
What does an outbuilding cost?
PLACEHOLDER. Awaiting Dale's real range.
How long does it take?
PLACEHOLDER. Awaiting Dale's real timeframes.
Can I put a bathroom in it?
Usually yes. A toilet and a basin keep it an outbuilding. Add a kitchen and it becomes a secondary residence, with a different approval path and different rules.
Can someone live in it?
Not as an outbuilding. If you want somewhere that can legally be slept in and rented, that is a granny flat, and it needs to be built and approved as one from the start.
Is it cheaper than an extension?
Per square metre, usually, because it doesn't involve opening up the existing house. Whether it is the right answer depends on whether the room needs to be connected to the rest of the house.
Can you match it to the house?
Yes, and it is worth doing. Matching the roof profile and the materials is the difference between a building and a shed.
What areas do you cover?
Canberra only. Belconnen, Gungahlin, Tuggeranong, Woden Valley, Weston Creek, Molonglo and the inner suburbs.
Got somewhere in the yard it could go?
Have a look at it with Dale and find out what you can build there.
Tell Dale about the job
He'll come and look at it, and you'll get a real figure in writing. If it's not a job he should be doing, he'll say so.
Upright Building Services
0468 050 266Extensions, renovations, metal roofing, granny flats and outbuildings. Substantial building work across Canberra.
ACT A-Class builder's licence 2012B14A
NSW builder's licence 314125C
$20M public liability · QBE Home Warranty
Master Builders Association ACT member
What we build
Where we work
- Belconnen
- Gungahlin
- Tuggeranong
- Woden Valley
- Weston Creek
- Molonglo
- Inner Canberra