Wingecarribee Shire Council
Private building certifier in Burradoo
Burradoo is known for country homes set in big gardens. CertifiBuild certifies additions, pools, garages and outbuildings here, and an early question is often whether the garden itself has heritage value.
NSW 2576
Class 1 homes and Class 10 structures
Local rules
Burradoo: country houses and their gardens
A garden-estate district
Once trains came to Moss Vale in the 1870s, prominent Sydney families built country retreats here. The council's DCP history names houses such as Fairholme, Laurel Park and Anglewood. Even so, not all lots today still hold an estate garden or a heritage listing. In 2021, stand-alone houses were 95.2% of occupied homes, attached homes 4.0% and flats just 0.4%. Burradoo is a place of houses and outbuildings.
Heritage and landscape
Here, council uses the development control plan (DCP) written for Bowral and Burradoo. That plan shows a single heritage conservation area within Burradoo, plus a wider landscape conservation area, part of which spills into the DCP area. As a result, trees and gardens may matter just as much as building size. An addition that leaves the old house alone may still remove important planting.
Draft listings and hazards
A community study of heritage went on exhibition and is now with the state Department, waiting to be finalised. Its proposed listings are not yet law. Bushfire prone land covers around 42% of Burradoo, nearly all grassland rather than forest. Your lot's own mapping decides.
Typical work
Common projects and how they get approved
What owners build here
In Burradoo, our jobs revolve around houses and the buildings that surround them. Typical Class 1 and 10 jobs include:
- Rear additions and internal reworking of established country houses.
- Access improvements like wider doors and step-free entries, for owners planning to stay long term.
- Swimming pools, sited with care around significant planting and old trees.
- Garages, garden stores and pool equipment sheds, counted together for floor area.
- Granny flats or replacement houses, after an early feasibility check.
A large title is no proof that every outbuilding an owner wants will fit.
How approval usually works
Where heritage is in play, such as a draft listing or a site close to a listed item, the DCP can ask for a landscape plan prepared by a qualified person. Do this before you settle a pool or extension footprint, and record existing planting early. The DCP also sets a ceiling on the total floor space of garages, stores and similar buildings. A block of 2,000 square metres or less gets 120 square metres in total, a block of 4,000 or less gets 150, and anything larger is assessed on merit. Include existing garages in the sum. Your lot, your plans and the code together decide if a CDC (fast-track approval under state rules) is open to you. A heritage item and a conservation area are different restrictions, so check each one. CertifiBuild looks at the house, garden and outbuildings as one picture, so landscape issues come up before the plans are locked.
Our services
From approval to sign-off.
One certifier for your whole Burradoo job, from the first plan check to the occupation certificate.
Local questions
Questions we hear about this suburb.
No two lots in Burradoo are the same. Give us your address and we will check every map that affects it.
See the council pageDoes a new pool in Burradoo need heritage checks?
It can, even if the house is left alone. In Burradoo the garden is often part of what matters, and digging, pool fencing or a pump shed can alter a significant setting. Where a draft listing or a nearby listed item is involved, the development control plan (DCP) for Bowral and Burradoo can call for a landscape plan by a qualified person. Before you fix the pool position, record the existing trees and planting, then draw the pool against both the house and the garden so the full change is assessed together.
My Burradoo block is big. Is there room for a second garage?
Possibly, but lot size alone will not answer it. Where the Bowral and Burradoo development control plan (DCP) applies, garages, stores and similar buildings share one floor space ceiling. That ceiling is 120 square metres in total where the block is 2,000 square metres or under, and 150 where it is up to 4,000. Larger blocks are assessed on merit. Your existing garage counts toward the total. Many Burradoo lots were once garden estates, so siting near old trees also matters. Measure what is already built before anyone draws the new one.
Are the proposed Burradoo heritage listings in force yet?
No, not yet. A heritage study prepared with the community went on public exhibition and now waits with the state Department to be finalised, so the local environmental plan (LEP) has not changed. Even so, a draft listing can still be weighed when a proposal is assessed. If your Burradoo property is named in that study, say so in your application and explain how the design responds to it. Look at today’s LEP maps as well, since the existing heritage conservation area and any listed item nearby are separate questions.
Building in this suburb?
Send us the address first.
We check the local maps for your lot, confirm the approval path and quote in writing.