Waverley Council
Private building certifier in Tamarama
Tamarama is small, steep and right on the coast. CertifiBuild certifies the houses, semis, pools and retaining walls here, and coastal risk is usually the first question to answer.
NSW 2026
Class 1 homes and Class 10 structures
Local rules
Tamarama: steep coastal lots and simple height rules
Waverley's smallest suburb
Tamarama covers about 30 hectares. Nowhere else in Waverley does medium density zoning outweigh low density, at about 45% against 20%. Of 545 occupied homes in 2021, 338 were flats, 127 houses and 90 semis or townhouses. Because the beach reserve and parks fill so much land, fewer than half the suburb has any mapped height. Where heights are mapped, there are only two: 9.5 metres on most lots and 8.5 metres on the rest.
Coastal exposure
About 51% of Tamarama falls within the mapped coastal use area, more than any other Waverley suburb. The local plan includes no coastal hazard map. A council coastal risk policy identifies affected land instead, and the development control plan (DCP) then asks for a report on coastal or ground stability risk for new homes, large additions and pools.
Conservation and soils
Roughly 29% of Tamarama is conservation area, mainly through four landscape areas that include Marks Park and Tamarama Park. Maps show acid sulfate soils almost everywhere, but only in low classes that do not block a CDC.
Typical work
Common projects and how they get approved
What owners build here
Most homes are units, so house-scale jobs focus on the smaller stock of semis and houses. Our usual Class 1 and 10 jobs here are:
- Back and upstairs extensions to semis and detached houses.
- Pools, decking and retaining on sharply sloping coastal blocks.
- Knockdown rebuilds, where coastal and conservation mapping allow.
- Garages and carports cut into sloping frontages, often with retaining behind them.
Blocks of flats fall in Class 2, so unit renovations, shared property and fire upgrades need a certifier with that registration. We can promptly confirm which category your project belongs to.
How approval usually works
Order a planning certificate before any design work. If the council's coastal policy identifies your lot, complying development is excluded, even with nothing on a state map. Conservation land, including the landscape areas, also rules out most CDC work, leaving pools and detached outbuildings. Where neither applies, a CDC, a fast-track approval under state rules, may suit a simple addition. If not, a DA is required, followed by a construction certificate. When reading suburb figures, remember that mapped percentages describe only the mapped half of Tamarama. For your lot, the map value itself is what counts. CertifiBuild pulls the coastal notation and conservation mapping for your address first, so steep-site designs start from the real constraints.
Our services
From approval to sign-off.
One certifier for your whole Tamarama job, from the first plan check to the occupation certificate.
Local questions
Questions we hear about this suburb.
No two lots in Tamarama are the same. Give us your address and we will check every map that affects it.
See the council pageHow tall can a Tamarama home be?
A Tamarama home can reach 9.5 metres or 8.5 metres, depending on which of the two mapped height bands covers the lot. Most mapped lots sit in the 9.5 metre band, which comes with a 0.6:1 floor space ratio (FSR). The remaining lots are held to 8.5 metres, with an FSR of 0.5:1. No taller band exists anywhere in the suburb. With parks and the beach reserve taking so much land, fewer than half of Tamarama carries any mapped height. Check both maps for your address before the first sketch.
Will the Sculpture by the Sea event limit what I build?
No. The yearly Sculpture by the Sea show limits nothing you build. It is a temporary exhibition set up on the coastal walk, and the local environmental plan (LEP) gives it no planning status, so it places no restriction on nearby homes. The controls that really shape Tamarama projects are coastal risk and conservation mapping. Around 51% of Tamarama sits inside the mapped coastal use area, and council’s coastal risk policy can trigger a coastal or ground stability report for new homes, large additions and pools. A planning certificate shows if your lot is flagged.
Will acid sulfate soils stop a CDC in Tamarama?
No. Acid sulfate soils on their own will not stop a complying development certificate (CDC) in Tamarama. Maps show these soils across almost the whole suburb, but only in the two mildest classes, while CDCs are only shut out by the two most severe classes. The LEP’s acid sulfate soils clause can still come into play with deep digging, such as a pool shell or a hillside garage. Before choosing the CDC path, rule out the two bigger blockers here: a coastal risk notation on the planning certificate, and conservation area land.
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.