Draftsman Services Sydney | Building Design

A Construction Certificate is the sign off that says your approved plans meet the Building Code of Australia and the relevant Australian Standards. Nothing can be built until you hold one. We prepare the technical detail behind it, structural coordination, waterproofing, fire separation, energy compliance and stormwater, then lodge with your council or a private certifier. For Sydney projects, going straight from DA to CC with the same drafting team is what stops the two sets of drawings disagreeing with each other.

If you are building a new home, a granny flat, a pool or renovating heavily, yes. BASIX is the NSW measure of water use, thermal performance and energy, and a DA or CC cannot proceed without the certificate. We run the assessment on your actual design, glazing, insulation, orientation and fittings, then tell you the cheapest way to hit the targets before anything is locked in. Sydney blocks with poor orientation or heavy glazing are where this saves real money.

Yes. Second storey additions, rear extensions, kitchen and bathroom reworks and full internal refits are a large part of what we draw across Sydney. We document the existing house first, then the new layout, elevations, structural changes, BASIX where it applies and the approval path, whether that is complying development or a full DA. Older Sydney housing stock throws up surprises, so we measure and note what is actually there rather than working from an old set of plans.

New home drafting in Sydney runs from the first concept sketch through to the certificate. Concept layouts, floor plans, elevations, sections, site and stormwater planning, BASIX, engineering coordination, the DA and then the CC. We design to the block, its fall, its orientation, the flood or bushfire mapping if it applies and your budget, then handle the approvals so your builder starts with a complete set instead of a sketch and a phone call.

Planning a studio, shed or garden room in the backyard? In New South Wales a small structure up to twenty square metres can often go ahead as exempt development, with no application at all. The catch is that it still has to satisfy height, boundary setback and location rules, and those change with your zoning and the size of your lot.

Go bigger than twenty square metres, or miss one of those limits, and your Sydney council needs to approve it first. We prepare the site plan, floor layout and elevations, work out whether complying development or a DA is the faster road, and take the lodgement off your hands. Home office, workshop, teenage retreat or storage, the outdoor building gets designed to be approved and built without a rework.

We start with the design details that drive the numbers, orientation, glazing, insulation, hot water, cooling and fixtures, then run the assessment through the NSW planning portal. The report covers water, thermal comfort and energy. Once it passes, the certificate and its commitments go into your DA or CC package for the Sydney council or certifier assessing the job, and the commitments are noted on the drawings so nothing is missed on site.

For most houses, granny flats, extensions and outdoor projects, a draftsman gives you the same buildable outcome for a good deal less. We spend our time on council controls, structure and detail rather than on a long design process, and we prepare the DA, CDC, CC and BASIX ourselves. On a Sydney block where the real questions are setbacks, height planes, overshadowing and drainage, that focus is what gets the job approved and built. Larger or highly bespoke architectural work is where an architect earns their fee.