Sample · Neighbourhood report · $500 incl. GST
Neighbourhood report
What your site, your council and the sun allow
We take your answers from the free Before you call a designer checklist and apply the building codes, council regulations and environmental design principles to your site. It is how we start every engagement. Below is a full sample for a fictional home in Red Hill.
Zone and overlays explainedBushfire, sun and windYour neighboursA clear brief for Stage 1
18 Paperbark Ridge
Red Hill
What your site, your council and the sun allow
How to read this report
Our plans use a few terms from the planning rules. Here's what each one means, and where you'll find it in this report.
HW · Habitable window
A window to a room people spend time in: a living room, kitchen, dining room, bedroom or study. Planning rules protect these from being overlooked or losing their light.
See the neighbours plan, page 10.
NHW · Non-habitable window
A window to a bathroom, toilet, laundry, hallway, stair or garage. These need less protection, so we can design more freely near them.
See the neighbours plan, page 10.
POS · Private open space
A neighbour's garden, courtyard or deck used for outdoor living. Planning rules limit how much it can be overlooked or overshadowed by new building.
See the neighbours plan, page 10.
Easement
A strip of your land that someone else has a right to use, usually for drainage, sewer or power. It's listed on your title. You generally can't build over it without consent.
See the block plan, page 5, and page 10.
Setbacks and wall heights
The distance from a new wall to the boundary. The taller the wall, the further back the planning standards usually ask it to sit.
See the neighbours plan, page 10.
Fences and boundary trees
The existing fence or hedge on each boundary, and neighbours' trees near it. A tree's root zone can limit where footings and trenches go, even when the trunk is next door.
See the neighbours plan, page 10.
Plans in a Neighbourhood report are drawn from title plans, aerial photos and our site visit. They aren't a survey. We confirm boundaries, levels and easements with a feature and level survey before detailed design.
Overview
18 Paperbark Ridge sits on a 4,050 m² lot in the hills above Red Hill. The house is a three-bedroom, single-storey brick veneer home built in 1978. The street is low-density and leafy, so being a good neighbour here is about privacy, trees and landscape more than built form.
The Harpers want more light, a living space that opens to the garden, and a quiet room to work from home. The house faces the street to the south, so the back garden gets all-day north sun. That is the single biggest asset of this site.
Three things shape what is possible:
- The zone is Low Density Residential. A house extension does not usually need a planning permit in this zone.
- A Bushfire Management Overlay covers the rear third of the lot, next to the bushland reserve.
- A Vegetation Protection Overlay protects the established native trees.
Keeping the extension under half the size of the existing house, and away from the protected trees, keeps the permit path simple.
This report takes what you told us in your Before you call a designer checklist and checks it against the planning scheme, the building regulations and environmental design principles. It ends with a clear brief for Stage 1 of the design.
What you told us
| Checklist question | Your answer | What it means for the design |
|---|---|---|
| What's the project? | Renovation or extension | Extension to the rear (north), plus a home studio |
| Built before 1990? | Yes (1978) | Asbestos audit before any demolition of the rear wall or eaves |
| Earlier extensions, sheds or decks? | Yes, a carport and a deck | We check both were permitted before we build against them |
| Gas connected? | Yes | Plan for all-electric: heat pump hot water, induction cooking |
| Solar or battery? | Yes, 3 kW solar | Room on the new roof to expand to 8–10 kW and add a battery |
| Pool or spa? | No | No barrier re-inspection needed |
| Big trees on or next to the site? | Yes | Vegetation overlay; arborist advice before siting |
| Plans from another designer? | No | We design from the start |
The objective
Design a rear extension that:
Opens the kitchen and living area to the north garden, with all-day winter sun.
Adds a quiet studio for two people working from home, away from the living area's noise.
Keeps the established gums and the garden's bush character.
Cuts running costs and moves the house off gas.
The opportunity
The existing rear rooms (a laundry, a narrow family room and the deck) face north but turn their back on it. Replacing them with a single-storey, north-facing living wing turns the house around to the sun and the garden.
Living wing, about 55 m². Kitchen, dining and living with full-height north glazing under deep eaves, a polished concrete slab for thermal mass, and a covered outdoor room.
Studio, about 25 m². On the east end, with a separate garden door and high windows. It can work as a guest room later, without becoming a second dwelling.
Trees and landscape. Site the wing inside the cleared area around the house, outside the root zones of the two large manna gums.
Bushfire. Detail the wing to the bushfire attack level confirmed by assessment, assumed to be BAL-29 for now. Keep the roof simple and the gutters guarded.
Services. Heat pump hot water, induction cooking, reverse-cycle heating and cooling, expanded solar and a battery-ready switchboard. Allow for EV charging at the carport.
The existing house is about 180 m². Under the Bushfire Management Overlay, an extension that adds no more than 50% to the gross floor area (here, up to 90 m²) does not need a bushfire planning permit. The proposed 80 m² fits, with 10 m² to spare.
18 Paperbark Ridge
The dwelling
Single-storey brick veneer, 1978, about 180 m², on a concrete slab with a tiled hip roof. It is set 18 m back from the street, with the garden and the bushland reserve behind. The deck and carport were added in the 1990s.
- Lot and plan
- Lot 0 on PS 000000 (sample)
- Lot size
- 4,050 m²
- Council
- Mornington Peninsula Shire
- Planning scheme
- Mornington Peninsula
- Zone
- Low Density Residential (LDRZ)
- Overlays
- Bushfire Management (BMO), Vegetation Protection (VPO)
- Bushfire prone area
- Yes
- Aboriginal cultural heritage sensitivity
- No
- Easements
- E-1: drainage, 2.00 m wide, along the east boundary, in favour of the Shire
Nothing can be built over the easement without the Shire's consent, and footings should stay clear of the pipe. The studio sits 9.5 m from the edge of it.
Utilities
- Water
- South East Water, mains in road
- Sewer
- Not connected; septic system
- Power
- United Energy, overhead service
- Gas
- Mains gas connected
Your council
Zone: Low Density Residential
This zone provides for low-density housing on lots that may not be connected to sewer. For an extension, the zone mainly cares about one thing: wastewater. All wastewater must be treated and kept on the lot.
The new wing adds a powder room. We will check that the existing septic system has capacity, or allow for an upgrade. Altering a septic system needs a permit from the Shire's environmental health team.
A planning permit is not usually needed to extend a house in this zone. The overlays are what can trigger one, so we check those next.
It covers the rear of the lot, next to the reserve. The extension stays within the 50% gross floor area allowance, so no bushfire planning permit is needed.
If the design grows past 90 m², a permit application needs:
- a bushfire hazard site and landscape assessment
- a bushfire management statement
- a bushfire management plan showing defendable space, water supply and access
A permit is needed to remove, destroy or lop protected native vegetation. Both large manna gums are close to the proposed wing.
We recommend an arborist's tree protection zone plan before we site the extension. Then we keep the footprint and services trenches outside those zones, and no vegetation permit is needed.
A building permit is needed whatever the planning outcome. Because the whole lot is in a designated bushfire prone area, the building surveyor needs a bushfire attack level (BAL) assessment to AS 3959. The surveyor will also confirm the energy efficiency requirements for the extension. We will model the design to reach 7 stars or better.
The sun
Red Hill sits at about 38.4° south. At noon the sun is 28° above the horizon in midwinter and 75° in midsummer. A north-facing window with the right eave lets the winter sun in and keeps the summer sun out.
Put most of the glass on the north wall: about 25–30% of the new floor area. Keep east and west glass small, and shade it with a pergola or deciduous planting.
An exposed slab soaks up winter sun. Pair it with high-performance double glazing, R6 ceiling insulation, and wall insulation in the new wing.
Openable high windows on the south side of the studio pull cool air through on summer evenings. Seal the old house's gaps while the walls are open.
Our Follow the sun tool shows the same eave in every season and lets you turn the house.
Site analysis
Wind and fire weather
On the Peninsula's worst fire days, hot, dry north to north-west winds are followed by a strong south-westerly change. The reserve sits to the north of this lot, upwind on those days. That makes the north and west faces of the new wing the ones to protect most.
Slope and drainage
The lot falls about 2.5 m from the reserve down to the street, so it slopes gently towards the house. Plan a spoon drain or agricultural drain behind the new wing to keep the slab dry.
Views and outlook
The best outlook is north-east, across the garden to the gums. Frame it from the dining table. The west boundary is screened by No. 20's hedge, but that may change, so don't rely on borrowed planting.
Before you dig
| Asset owner | Result | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| South East Water | Water main in the road reserve. No sewer. | No assets under the extension |
| Mornington Peninsula Shire | Drainage easement, 2 m, along the east boundary | Keep the studio and footings out of it |
| United Energy | Overhead service to the front of the house | No change unless the switchboard moves |
| NBN Co | Lead-in along the driveway | Protect it during works |
Results for this sample are made up. In a real report we attach each owner's plans from the Before You Dig Australia enquiry.
Bushfire: BAL-29 assumed
The reserve's forest edge is about 35–45 m from the new wing, on ground sloping gently down towards it. On a first reading of AS 3959 that points to BAL-29: more ember attack and burning debris, with radiant heat between 19 and 29 kW/m². A BAL assessment confirms the level for the building permit. Until then, we design to BAL-29, so nothing needs redrawing if it's confirmed.
| Element | Design direction at BAL-29 |
|---|---|
| Slab and subfloor | Slab on ground, so there's no subfloor to protect. Seal all edges, penetrations and service entries against embers. |
| External walls | Masonry, fibre cement or metal cladding on the north and west. Timber only in a BAL-rated species or system, used as accents on the sheltered east side. |
| Roof | Metal roof, a simple skillion or low gable with no valleys to catch embers. Sarking and sealed ridges and junctions. |
| Eaves, soffits, vents | Lined, non-combustible eaves. Ember guards or mesh with a 2 mm maximum aperture on every vent and weep hole. |
| Windows and doors | BAL-29 rated frames and toughened glass on exposed sides. Mesh screens on openable sashes. Tight-sealing doors. |
| Gutters | Metal gutters and downpipes with non-combustible leaf guards, and access to clean them. |
| Decks and outdoor room | Non-combustible or BAL-rated decking, with the space under the deck enclosed or kept clear. |
| Landscape | Low-fuel planting and gravel within 10 m of the wing. No mulch, dense shrubs or firewood against the walls. |
Neighbours plan
The windows, gardens, fences and trees on each side of your block, and how far the new work sits from them. We mark every neighbour window that faces your site as habitable (HW) or non-habitable (NHW).
| Neighbour | Facing our site | Private open space | Boundary | What it means for the design |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 20, west | HW bed 2; NHW bath and laundry | Rear garden, north of the house, 24 m from the wing | Hedge about 2.5 m, on their side | Single-storey wing with a 22.4 m setback. Keep west windows high-sill so bed 2 isn't overlooked. |
| No. 16, east | HW living and bed 1; NHW WC | Courtyard and garden to the north-west | 1.8 m paling fence; their spotted gum's root zone crosses the boundary | Studio 11.5 m from the boundary, with a 3.4 m wall and high east windows. Footings and trenches stay outside the gum's root zone and the easement. |
Your neighbours
The house is 24 m from the new wing, behind a hedge. Its one habitable window facing us is bedroom 2. A single storey means no overlooking or overshadowing. Keep west windows high.
The studio sits 11.5 m from the boundary and clear of the drainage easement, 14.6 m from No. 16's living window. Its garden door faces north, not towards No. 16.
The rear fence and the reserve's edge stay untouched. Any fire access track along the boundary stays clear.
The neighbours plan on page 10 shows every window, garden, fence and tree we checked. We tell neighbours before works start, with a letterbox notice and a page they can check for site hours and contacts. In your client portal you'll see every notice we send and every conversation we log.
The look
The new wing should sit low behind the existing house, read as a quiet addition, and use materials that are safe in a bushfire and age well in the hills.
dark metal, matt
fibre cement, vertical board
BAL-rated timber
polished concrete slab
local gravel
low-fuel natives
BAL-29 aluminium
toughened, double glazed
Moving off gas lets you drop the gas supply charge altogether. With heat pump hot water, induction cooking, reverse-cycle heating and cooling, and solar expanded to 8–10 kW, the house can run mostly on its own power during the day. We'll give you a Home Energy Rating of the existing house as a baseline, then rate the design.
Next steps
Before we design
BAL assessment for the building permit.
Arborist's tree protection zone plan for the two manna gums.
Asbestos audit of the rear wall, eaves and laundry before demolition.
Feature and level survey, including the trees and the easement.
Check the septic system's capacity for the new powder room.
Permit history for the 1990s carport and deck.
How we'd go from here
Neighbourhood report. This document: what your site, your council and the sun allow.
Fee proposal. What each stage includes and costs, set out clearly before you commit.
Stage 1, preliminary design.
- Site inspection and confirmation of your brief
- Two concept layouts for the living wing and studio
- Council and permit advice on your preferred layout
- One round of revisions, with one significant change if you need it
- Existing site plan, demolition plan, proposed site plan and floor plans
- Quotes for the survey and the other reports above
Stages 2 to 5. Detailed design, building permit documents, the NatHERS energy assessment, and project management through the build. Every step, decision and document is in your client portal.
That's the price of a Neighbourhood report, ready in 5 business days. We start from your free checklist answers and apply the building codes, council regulations and environmental design principles to your site. If you go ahead with us, the $500 comes off your Stage 1 fee.
This is a sample report for a fictional property. The address, people, parcel details, measurements, utility results and maps are made up to show what a report covers. Planning and building advice in a real report is specific to your property, and is checked with council and your building surveyor before it is relied on.
Want one for your home? See what's included, start with the free checklist, then ask us for your report.
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