For architects, building designers and drafters

Design parameters for any site, in minutes

Got a job on a block? Skip the hours in the planning rules. GoSiteHunt's Design Brief gives you the site's setbacks, height, site cover, private open space, parking and more, for what you are designing, each with the clause it comes from, and the buildable envelope drawn on the real lot.

Create a free account See a sample brief

15 credits a brief.

Open it again free for 30 days, and make a fresh one for the same block and building type free in that time. Plans and credit packs are on the Pricing page.

Who it's for

Architects

Start a concept with the site's controls in one place, cited, before the first sketch. Hand it to the client with the fee proposal.

Building designers

Know the setbacks, height and open space for a house, a dual occupancy or townhouses on this block, without paying for design guidelines first.

Drafters

Set up the site plan with the envelope's numbers already worked out: ground and upper floor setbacks, the rear yard and the height limit.

What's in a brief

You choose what you're designing: a detached house, a dual occupancy or duplex, townhouses or row homes, apartments, a granny flat or ancillary dwelling, or a commercial or mixed use building. Add the storeys and homes if you know them.

The site: address, lot area and frontage, zone, overlays, and which rule set applies, with its version and the date it was read.
A controls table: one row a parameter, with the value or rule, the clause cited, a note (for example the upper floor's setback) and where it comes from: from the rules, from the site report, or not on file.
The buildable envelope: drawn on the surveyed lot in plan and in 3D, with the ground and upper floor setback lines, the height limit, the rear yard and the site cover.
Overlays and constraints from the site report, and in South Australia the likely approval pathway, worded as indicative.
What isn't on file, listed.
A printable PDF of the whole brief.

How it works

Run a site report
Look up the address in GoSiteHunt. The report reads the lot, its zone, controls and overlays.
Tap Design Brief
Choose what you're designing, and the storeys and homes if you know them. In Western Australia, choose the lot's R-Code.
Get the brief
It opens in a page you can print or save as a PDF. Nothing is charged if the address can't be read or the zone's rules aren't held.

Where it works

Every Australian state and territory, for the zones whose rules GoSiteHunt holds. Where a rule isn't held, the row says so.

Where	What the brief holds
South Australia	The Planning and Design Code's neighbourhood, corridor and centre zones: homes, apartments, and the commercial rules the Code sets for shops, offices and consulting rooms. The likely approval pathway, indicative.
New South Wales	The R1 to R3 zones' complying development numbers. A development application's council DCP numbers aren't on file.
Victoria	Clause 55 for two or more homes in the residential zones. A single house is sited under Clause 54 or the Building Regulations, which aren't held: those rows say so.
Queensland	The residential zones of Brisbane, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast and Moreton Bay.
Western Australia	The R-Codes for the lot's R-Code, which you choose.
Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory	The residential zones held: Tasmania's (not Kingborough yet), the ACT's RZ1 to RZ5, and the City of Darwin's.

Commercial and mixed use outside South Australia: the rows GoSiteHunt doesn't hold say not on file.

A sample brief

Made by the same code from a real block's site report: townhouses, 2 homes, in South Australia's General Neighbourhood Zone.

Sample Design Brief

Seaton SA: a real block, its street number left off

Townhouses or row homes · 2 homes · General Neighbourhood Zone · South Australia

Lot area: 649.4 m²
Frontage: about 21.26 m at the street, as the designs measure it
Zone: General Neighbourhood Zone (GN)
Council: City of Charles Sturt
Overlays: 9 on the planning map (below)
Rule set: South Australia: 2026.18, read 27 September 2026
Designing: Townhouses or row homes · 2 homes · 2 storeys asked
Read at: 2 storeys

26 from the rules0 from the site report1 not on file

This block isn't quite square, so the homes are placed in the 19.58 × 30.07 m rectangle that fits wholly inside it. Each lot's area and width along the street are measured on the real block.

Controls

Parameter	Value or rule	Clause	Note	Status
Site and homes
Minimum site area for each home	250 m²	`GNZ-2.1` General Neighbourhood Zone rule 2.1	This block is 649.4 m²: at most 2 homes by this rule alone; the other rules may allow fewer.	From the rules
Minimum frontage	7 m	`GNZ-2.1` General Neighbourhood Zone rule 2.1	This block's frontage is about 21.26 m at the street, as the designs measure it. At most 3 homes across it by this rule alone (averaged across the row).	From the rules
Assessment path (indicative)	Deemed-to-satisfy (code assessed) if every number is met	`GNZ-T2` General Neighbourhood Zone Table 2		From the rules
Height and site cover
Site coverage	60% at most	`GNZ-3.1` General Neighbourhood Zone rule 3.1	On this block: about 389.6 m² of roofed buildings at most.	From the rules
Building height in storeys	2 storeys at most	`GNZ-4.1` General Neighbourhood Zone rule 4.1		From the rules
Building height in metres	9 m at most	`GNZ-4.1` General Neighbourhood Zone rule 4.1		From the rules
Wall height	7 m at most	`GNZ-4.1` General Neighbourhood Zone rule 4.1		From the rules
Setbacks
Front setback	5 m at least	`GNZ-5.1` General Neighbourhood Zone rule 5.1	In line with the neighbours, or 5 m back if there are none.	From the rules
Porch or verandah in the front setback	up to 1.5 m forward	`GNZ-5.1` General Neighbourhood Zone rule 5.1	A porch, verandah or balcony may come up to 1.5 m in front of the front setback.	From the rules
Side street setback (corner blocks)	0.9 m at least	`GNZ-6.1` General Neighbourhood Zone rule 6.1		From the rules
Side setback, ground floor	0.9 m at least	`GNZ-7.2` General Neighbourhood Zone rule 7.2		From the rules
Side setback, upper floor	1.9 m for a 6 m wall; 2.9 m on a southern side (this block has one)	`GNZ-8.1` General Neighbourhood Zone rule 8.1		From the rules
Rear setback, ground floor	4 m at least	`GNZ-9.1` General Neighbourhood Zone rule 9.1	Read for a lot of about 324.7 m².	From the rules
Rear setback, upper floor	6 m at least	`GNZ-9.1` General Neighbourhood Zone rule 9.1	Read for a lot of about 324.7 m².	From the rules
Walls on a side boundary	at most 3 m high, 11.5 m long, 45% of the boundary	`GNZ-7.1` General Neighbourhood Zone rule 7.1		From the rules
Walls between the new homes	Not on file	`GNZ-7.1(a)` General Neighbourhood Zone rule 7.1(a)	Why: GoSiteHunt's reading of this rule isn't confirmed. Each home's own wall on the boundary, built against its twin's and read as abutting it. The design check has always read this zone rule this way.	Not on file
Open space and landscape
Private open space (each home)	60 m² at least	`DUA-21.1` Design in Urban Areas rule 21.1	16 m² of it in one piece, 3 m wide. Read for each home's share of about 324.7 m².	From the rules
Soft landscaping	25% of the site (162.4 m² here), and 30% of the front yard; at least 0.7 m wide	`DUA-22.1` Design in Urban Areas rule 22.1		From the rules
Parking and access
Car parking for each home	1 space with 1 bedroom; 2 spaces with 2 or more bedrooms	`TAP-T1` Transport, Access and Parking Table 1	Townhouses reached from a rear lane or shared driveway may differ (the same table). Visitor parks: 0.33 a home from 3 homes.	From the rules
Garage setback from the street	5.5 m at least	`DUA-20.1` Design in Urban Areas rule 20.1	On a single-storey home the door is at most half the lot frontage.	From the rules
Garage inside size	single 3.0 × 5.4 m; double 5.4 × 5.4 m, inside	`DUA-23.1` Design in Urban Areas rule 23.1	Concept engineering numbers: an engineer confirms them.	From the rules
Garage door width	2.4 m for each car at least	`DUA-23.1` Design in Urban Areas rule 23.1	Concept engineering numbers: an engineer confirms them.	From the rules
Driveway crossover	3.0 m wide; at most 3.2 m on a frontage up to 10 m, 5 m over 10 m	`DUA-23.3` Design in Urban Areas rule 23.3	At least 6 m from a corner.	From the rules
Two driveways (frontage over 10 m)	two of 3.0 to 3.2 m wide, at least 1 m apart	`DUA-23.3` Design in Urban Areas rule 23.3	This block's frontage is about 21.26 m: over 10 m, so one driveway up to 5 m wide or two like these. Concept engineering numbers: an engineer confirms them.	From the rules
Driveway clear of street trees and poles	2 m from a street tree; 0.5 m from poles and pits	`DUA-23.4` Design in Urban Areas rule 23.4	Street trees, poles and pits aren't mapped here. Concept engineering numbers: an engineer confirms them.	From the rules
Driveway slope	1 in 4 at most, on average	`DUA-23.5` Design in Urban Areas rule 23.5	Needs the site levels, which the site report doesn't hold. Concept engineering numbers: an engineer confirms them.	From the rules
Shared driveway	3 m wide at least; for more than 3 homes 5.5 m for the first 6 m	`DUA-33.3` Design in Urban Areas rule 33.3	Doors and ground floor windows 1.5 m from it.	From the rules

Buildable envelope

Plan

3D, from the street: 1 ground floor envelope; 2 upper floor envelope; 3 height limit 9 m (2 storeys). Walls drawn to 3 m a floor; concept envelope, not an approved plan.

Ground floor envelope about 375 m²; site cover allows about 389.6 m² of roofed building. Upper floor envelope about 282 m². Private open space: 60 m² at least. Drawn in the street-square rectangle the designs use, inside the surveyed boundary; side setbacks on the southern side use the southern number where the rule has one.

Overlays and constraints

Significant Retirement Facility and Supported Accommodation Sites O5712 Not on file
Its own rules may add to or change the numbers above.
Airport Building Heights (Regulated) O0303 Not on file
Its own rules may add to or change the numbers above.
Building Near Airfields O0601 Not on file
Its own rules may add to or change the numbers above.
Key Railway Crossings O3302 Not on file
Its own rules may add to or change the numbers above.
Traffic Generating Development O6001 Not on file
Its own rules may add to or change the numbers above.
Stormwater Management O5710 Not on file
Its own rules may add to or change the numbers above.
Urban Tree Canopy O6302 Not on file
Asks for a tree for each new home, or a payment into a tree fund instead.
Regulated and Significant Tree O5404 Not on file
Its own rules may add to or change the numbers above.
Prescribed Wells Area O4804 Not on file
Its own rules may add to or change the numbers above.

Likely approval pathway (indicative)

Indicative: in the General Neighbourhood Zone, a townhouses or row homes can be assessed as deemed-to-satisfy (code assessed, the tick-box path) if it meets every number in this brief and no overlay asks for more. Anything that departs from a number is performance assessed: the council weighs it on its merits, with public notification for some kinds of building. For the full SA pathway on this address, see the SA Planning Report.

Not on file here

Walls between the new homes: GoSiteHunt's reading of this rule isn't confirmed. Each home's own wall on the boundary, built against its twin's and read as abutting it. The design check has always read this zone rule this way.
Significant Retirement Facility and Supported Accommodation Sites (O5712): the overlay's own rules for this design.
Airport Building Heights (Regulated) (O0303): the overlay's own rules for this design.
Building Near Airfields (O0601): the overlay's own rules for this design.
Key Railway Crossings (O3302): the overlay's own rules for this design.
Traffic Generating Development (O6001): the overlay's own rules for this design.
Stormwater Management (O5710): the overlay's own rules for this design.
Urban Tree Canopy (O6302): the overlay's own rules for this design.
Regulated and Significant Tree (O5404): the overlay's own rules for this design.
Prescribed Wells Area (O4804): the overlay's own rules for this design.
The front setback against the neighbouring homes: most codes set it in line with them, which needs a survey.
The survey: boundaries, easements, levels and services, which the site report doesn't hold.
Overlooking, overshadowing, stormwater, waste and energy rules for the design itself.

Concept brief from public planning rules; not planning advice or an approval. Guide only. Confirm all results with a council planner before you rely on them.

Made by GoSiteHunt on 6 November 2026 from the South Australia rules GoSiteHunt holds (AU-SA: 2026.18, read 27 September 2026) and the site report for this address. Each clause is cited by GoSiteHunt's id for it and named in full. "From the site report": this site's own number on the planning map. "Not on file": GoSiteHunt doesn't hold it, or holds it without having confirmed it.

It never guesses

Every number comes from a rule GoSiteHunt holds, cited to its clause, or from the site's own number in the site report. A rule that isn't held, or is held without being confirmed, is a row that says not on file and why, and nothing is drawn from it.