Dual Occupancy and Granny Flat Development in Australia

Two dwellings on one lot is the smallest real development most people ever do, and it is the one where the difference between a good result and a bad one turns almost entirely on a single question: can the second dwelling be sold separately. A dual occupancy that can be subdivided produces two sale prices. A secondary dwelling that cannot produces one sale price and a rent roll. The build cost is often similar. The exit is not.

That question is decided by planning law, and planning law on this topic has moved a long way in the last three years. New South Wales made dual occupancies permissible in the R2 Low Density Residential zone across the state, with a handful of local government areas excluded. Victoria removed the planning permit for small second homes. Western Australia dropped the minimum lot size for ancillary dwellings entirely. The Australian Capital Territory started allowing separate titles on suburban blocks. Tasmania is part-way through an amendment to lift its floor area cap. New Zealand switched on a building consent exemption in January 2026.

The figures, thresholds and commencement dates below were current at the date of writing and they change often. Every one is linked to the planning authority that publishes it, and that link is where to confirm the position for a specific site before it goes into a feasibility. Local environmental plans, planning schemes and overlays sit on top of the state position and routinely tighten it, so the state rule is the ceiling rather than the answer.

The people who actually hold the answers on a given site are a town planner who can read the local instrument against the property, and a surveyor who can tell you whether the subdivision geometry works. The quantity surveyor sets the cost plan. This guide is written to make those conversations shorter.

What is the difference between a dual occupancy and a granny flat?

A dual occupancy is two dwellings of broadly comparable standing on one lot. A granny flat is a smaller dwelling that is legally subordinate to a principal dwelling on the same lot. The subordinate one is generally capped by floor area, usually cannot be separately titled, and in most jurisdictions cannot exist without the principal dwelling.

The terminology shifts across borders, which matters when reading a planning instrument:

• New South Wales uses dual occupancy (attached) and dual occupancy (detached) for two comparable dwellings, and secondary dwelling for the granny flat.
• Victoria uses small second dwelling (the planning scheme term) or small second home (the plain-language term) for the granny flat. Two full dwellings on a lot are simply assessed as multi-dwelling development.
• Queensland uses secondary dwelling and, in some council schemes, auxiliary unit. Dual occupancy is the two-comparable-dwellings category.
• Western Australia uses ancillary dwelling for the granny flat and grouped dwelling for the two-or-more category.
• South Australia uses ancillary accommodation.
• Tasmania uses secondary residence.
• The Australian Capital Territory uses secondary residence for the subordinate dwelling and dual occupancy where the second dwelling stands on its own merits.
• The Northern Territory uses dwelling, independent, commonly called an independent unit.
• New Zealand uses minor residential unit, and the newer building legislation uses small standalone dwelling.

Queensland’s planning department puts the functional distinction plainly: a secondary dwelling is “used in conjunction with, and subordinate to, another dwelling on the same lot”, while a dual occupancy “may have two dwellings, of the same or similar size and scale as each other” (Planning Queensland).

Why does the distinction decide the exit value?

Because subordinate dwellings almost universally cannot carry their own title, and the title is the thing a buyer pays for.

New South Wales states it directly: “A lot on which a secondary dwelling is constructed cannot be subdivided” (NSW Planning). Victoria says a small second home “cannot be subdivided or separately sold off from the main home” (Planning Victoria). The Northern Territory says you cannot create a separate title for an independent unit through a unit title scheme (NT Government).

The practical consequence is that a granny flat is a yield play on a retained asset, and a dual occupancy is a development. They belong in different feasibility models and they suit different balance sheets. A developer who models a granny flat as if it produces a second sale price will typically be wrong by several hundred thousand dollars.

There is one notable exception, and it is in the Australian Capital Territory, covered below.

Where are dual occupancies permitted in New South Wales?

Dual occupancies are permitted with consent in the R2 Low Density Residential zone across the whole of New South Wales, and have been since 1 July 2024. That was Stage 1 of the Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy, which sits inside Chapter 6 of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021. The Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure describes the stage as having “permitted dual occupancies and semi-detached homes in the R2 low-density residential zone across all of NSW” (NSW Planning).

Stage 2 commenced on 28 February 2025 and added the part that generally matters more to the numbers: non-discretionary development standards. Inside the mapped low and mid-rise housing areas, being residential land within 800 metres walking distance of one of 171 nominated town centres and stations across Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, the Lower Hunter and Newcastle, and the Illawarra-Shoalhaven, the following standards apply to dual occupancies in R1, R2, R3 and R4 zones where the typology is permitted (NSW Planning summary of key provisions):

The department explains that a non-discretionary standard prevails over a more onerous equivalent in a local environmental plan or development control plan, and that where a proposal complies with it, “a consent authority cannot refuse the application on the grounds that the development does not comply with the standard”. That is the lever. A council development control plan that historically capped floor space ratio (FSR) at 0.5:1 in an inner-ring R2 street may no longer be the binding constraint on a site inside a mapped area.

The 225 m² subdivision standard is the line that turns a dual occupancy into two Torrens-titled products, and the subdivision process is what delivers them. On a 450 m² site it is exactly satisfiable in theory and frequently awkward in practice once driveways, private open space and setbacks are drawn. On a 700 m² to 900 m² site it is usually comfortable. The wider context, including how the policy interacts with the rest of the reform stack, sits in the NSW low and mid-rise housing reform guide.

The policy does not apply everywhere. Land at high risk from bushfire or flooding, land near dangerous goods pipelines or in high aircraft noise areas, land containing a heritage item, and the Bathurst, Hawkesbury, Blue Mountains and Wollondilly local government areas are excluded from the low and mid-rise provisions.

Is there a complying development pathway?

Yes. The Low-Rise Housing Diversity Code inside the State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008 allows dual occupancies, manor houses and terraces of up to two storeys to be approved as complying development, with the certificate issued by council or a private certifier rather than through a full merit assessment (NSW Planning).

The trade-off is rigidity. Complying development is all or nothing: the proposal has to meet every development standard in the code and every design criterion in the associated design guide, with no room to argue a variation. Where a site has an awkward fall, a difficult frontage or a mature tree that the design cannot avoid, the time saved by the faster pathway is often lost to a redesign. The Complying Development Certificate (CDC) route tends to suit regular, unconstrained blocks and repeatable designs. Irregular sites usually end up back in a Development Application (DA).

A Complying Development Certificate (CDC) only works where the typology is already permitted under the council’s local environmental plan, so the Stage 1 permissibility change materially widened where the pathway is available.

What are the rules for secondary dwellings in New South Wales?

Secondary dwellings are permitted in the R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5 residential zones, and may be permitted in other zones under a council’s local environmental plan. The development can only ever result in one principal dwelling and one secondary dwelling on the site, and the lot cannot be subdivided (NSW Planning).

Two thresholds do most of the work:

• The complying development pathway requires a lot of at least 450 m². Below that, the department is explicit that the development cannot proceed as complying development “regardless of whether it is attached to the principal dwelling”, with the sole exception of a secondary dwelling contained entirely within an existing dwelling house. A Development Application (DA) to council remains available.
• The maximum floor area calculation for complying development includes the floor area of the principal dwelling, the secondary dwelling, and any attached carport, garage, balcony, deck, patio, pergola, terrace or verandah. That amendment has caught out more than one proposal where the existing house already consumed most of the allowance.

No additional car parking is required by the Housing SEPP for a secondary dwelling, though an existing development consent may impose its own condition, and removing an existing on-site space can create a problem. In rural zones, optional clause 5.5 of the Standard Instrument Local Environmental Plan sets maximum floor area and separation controls where a council has adopted it, and the department confirms it cannot be varied under clause 4.6.

How does Victoria treat small second dwellings and multi-dwelling sites?

Victoria has gone furthest on removing the planning layer for the small dwelling, and has separately rebuilt the assessment framework for the bigger one. Where the second dwelling is intended to be sold separately, the Victorian subdivision process is the other half of the answer.

Small second dwellings

Since Amendment VC253 on 14 December 2023, a small second home of 60 m² or less no longer requires a planning permit in most cases where no flooding, environmental or other special planning control applies. The Building Amendment (Small Second Dwellings) Regulations 2023 amended the Building Regulations 2018 at the same time so the two approval processes line up (Planning Victoria).

The definition is tight. A small second dwelling must be a building with a gross floor area of 60 m² or less, on the same lot as an existing dwelling, used as a self-contained residence including a kitchen sink, food preparation facilities, a bath or shower, and a toilet and wash basin. It must not be connected to reticulated natural gas, and no car parking space is required. Anyone may live in it or rent it, and the residential tenancy requirements that apply to a house apply to it.

Two details change the economics:

• A building permit is always required, even where the planning permit is not.
• Where the lot is less than 300 m² and in a residential zone other than the Low Density Residential Zone, clause 54 of the planning scheme applies, a planning permit is required, and the clause 54 assessment forms part of that permit. The operation and standards of clause 54 changed on 8 September 2025 following Amendment VC282.

So the permit-free position is effectively a lot-size test as well as a floor-area test. On a lot above 300 m², the residential development provisions are assessed through the building permit process instead. Below it, the planning system is back in play.

The transitional arrangements for the old dependent person’s unit category are still running. Amendment VC253 removed the land use term, Amendment VC259 reopened applications for 12 months, and successive amendments have extended the clause 52.04 provisions, which now expire on 28 March 2027. Existing lawful dependent person’s units remain lawful.

Two or more dwellings on a lot

For a genuine dual occupancy in Victoria, the framework is the Townhouse and Low-Rise Code. The deemed to comply standards were approved on 6 March 2025 and commenced on 31 March 2025, applying at clause 55 to new applications for two or more dwellings on a lot and residential buildings of one to three storeys (Planning Victoria).

The significance for a feasibility is the certainty. Where a design meets every deemed to comply standard, the council is not applying additional policy or weighing objections, and third-party appeal rights fall away. That compresses the approval timeline and, more importantly, compresses the variance around it. A design that sits just outside the standards is back in a discretionary assessment with the objection and review risk that carries, which is why the marginal square metre is worth testing against the code before the drawings are finalised rather than after. Subdivision of the resulting dwellings is a separate application under the Subdivision Act 1988 (Vic) and runs on its own timeline.

What applies to secondary dwellings and dual occupancy in Queensland?

Queensland runs this at the council level, with one significant state intervention.

The state intervention came into effect on 26 September 2022, when an amendment to the Planning Regulation removed restrictions on who may live in a secondary dwelling across Queensland, enabling owners to rent a secondary dwelling to anyone rather than only a household member (Planning Queensland). The department frames the reasoning as recognising that “the relationships of occupants in a dwelling and how they interact with one another should not be considered in a planning assessment of how land is used”.

What the change did not do is remove the need for development approval or building approval. The department is explicit on that point. Existing approvals that carry an occupancy condition still bind, and changing one requires a change application under the Planning Act 2016.

There is a second trap that tends to surprise developers converting existing floor space. Where the use changes from a single dwelling with a granny flat to a single dwelling with a rented-out secondary dwelling, the department notes that “additional fire and sound transmission requirements of the building code will apply”. That is a real cost line, not a paperwork step, and a building certifier is the person who can scope it before the budget is set.

Floor area caps, setbacks and assessment categories sit in each council’s planning scheme rather than in a single state code, so there is no reliable statewide number to carry into a feasibility. Brisbane, Gold Coast, Moreton Bay and Logan each set their own. The practical approach is to pull the applicable scheme’s dwelling house and secondary dwelling codes for the specific zone before committing to a floor plan, because a proposal that fits the code is typically code assessable and comparatively quick, and one that does not can fall into impact assessment with public notification.

What are the ancillary dwelling rules in Western Australia?

Western Australia has the most permissive small-dwelling settings in the country. Since the revised Residential Design Codes took effect on 10 April 2024, an ancillary dwelling that complies with the codes can be built on a residential lot of any size without planning approval, provided it does not exceed 70 m² and meets the relevant setback requirements (Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage).

Three changes came together:

• The previous 350 m² minimum lot size for an ancillary dwelling was removed.
• Ancillary dwellings became permitted in grouped dwellings and strata lots across all density codes in Volume 1 of the codes.
• Car parking is generally not required for an ancillary dwelling, with exceptions in certain density codes and locations further from public transport.

The current codes, including the medium density provisions, sit in Residential Design Codes Volume 1. For a developer, the removal of the lot size floor is the material change: it brings small infill lots, and lots already carrying grouped dwellings, into scope for an additional rentable dwelling without a planning application. The dwelling remains ancillary, so the title question is unchanged.

For two comparable dwellings, the relevant category is grouped dwellings, which is governed by the density code applying to the land. Site area per dwelling under the R30 to R40 medium density codes is materially lower than under the lower codes, which is why the R-code on the certificate of title search is usually the first number a Western Australian feasibility tests.

What applies in South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory?

The four smaller jurisdictions are not simply lighter versions of the same rules. Two of them are mid-change, and one of them does something no other jurisdiction does.

South Australia

South Australia calls the granny flat ancillary accommodation under the Planning and Design Code. It must sit on the same allotment as an existing primary dwelling and be subordinate to it.

The material recent change is the Ancillary Accommodation and Student Accommodation Definitions Review Code Amendment, which the government opened for consultation on 4 March 2024 with councils able to apply the changes on an interim basis immediately. The stated problem was that the old definition required ancillary accommodation to share utilities with the main house, and self-contained proposals with small kitchenettes were being refused on the definition rather than on their merits. The amendment allows ancillary accommodation to be self-contained, so it “will no longer have to share kitchens, bathrooms and laundries with the house” (PlanSA).

Floor area and bedroom limits are set in the Code and vary by the assessment pathway chosen, so the specific figure for a site should be read from the online Planning and Design Code rather than assumed from a builder’s marketing page.

Tasmania

Tasmania’s State Planning Provisions currently allow a secondary residence of 60 m². A draft amendment, SPP Amendment 01/2026, proposes to increase that to 90 m² and clarify the requirements for secondary residences. The State Planning Office confirms the current cap and describes the amendment as enabling “more liveable, adaptable small homes consistent with other jurisdictions” (Planning in Tasmania).

The amendment was on public exhibition with the Tasmanian Planning Commission from 10 June to 22 July 2026, and the Commission’s assessment and the Minister’s decision had not been completed at the date of writing. The project commenced in February 2026 and the State Planning Office expects it to complete in the second half of 2026.

That is a live timing question for any Tasmanian scheme currently being designed to 60 m². A design that only works at 90 m² is exposed to an amendment that has not been decided. The State Planning Office notes that a secondary residence shares existing reticulated services with the primary dwelling, including electricity, water, sewer and gas, along with the driveway and car parking, and may have its own laundry or share one.

Australian Capital Territory

The Australian Capital Territory is the exception to the no-separate-title rule. Under the Territory Plan 2023, a dual occupancy on an RZ1 Suburban Zone block can be unit titled, and therefore individually sold, where the block is at least 800 m² and the second dwelling is 120 m² or smaller excluding the garage or carport. Where the second dwelling exceeds 120 m², the development may still be possible subject to site coverage and other requirements, but it cannot be unit titled (ACT Legislative Assembly).

A smaller secondary residence of no more than 90 m² remains a separate category, subordinate to the principal dwelling under the Residential Zones Policy.

The 120 m² line is therefore a genuine value boundary rather than a design preference, and one of the few places in Australia where the small-dwelling floor area cap and the title outcome are directly linked. The ACT Revenue Office also runs an RZ1 Unit Duty Exemption Scheme for the first transfer of eligible newly unit-titled RZ1 properties, which may affect what a buyer will pay and is worth confirming with a conveyancer for its current eligibility settings and end date.

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory calls it a dwelling, independent. On 1 December 2023, Amendment 94 to the NT Planning Scheme 2020 increased the maximum floor area to 75 m² for independent units in certain zones, with the government citing housing choice and alignment with Australian Standard 4299-1995 for adaptable housing (NT Government).

In most cases an independent unit can be built without planning approval if it meets the scheme requirements, including overlays, floor area, height, setbacks, parking, landscaping and servicing. Building approval through a registered building certifier is always required. A development permit becomes necessary where the use is merit or impact assessable in the zone, where an overlay applies, or where any scheme requirement is to be varied.

On title, the Northern Territory is explicit: you cannot create a separate title for an independent unit through a unit title scheme subdivision. Freehold subdivision is possible only where the proposal meets all subdivision requirements including minimum lot size, in which case it is no longer an independent unit development.

How does New Zealand compare?

New Zealand has just removed the building consent step for small standalone dwellings, which is a bigger change than it sounds.

The Building and Construction (Small Standalone Dwellings) Bill passed on 23 October 2025. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment confirmed that the regulations giving effect to the exemption for granny flats up to 70 m² would come into force early in 2026, “following the removal of resource consent requirements at the end of 2025” (MBIE). The exemption became law on 15 January 2026 (Building Performance).

The conditions are narrow and worth reading before assuming a site qualifies. The dwelling must be new, standalone, single storey and no larger than 70 m². The design must be simple and comply with the Building Code, with a maximum floor level of one metre above the supporting ground and a maximum building height of four metres above floor level. The work must be carried out or supervised by licensed building professionals, and the homeowner must notify the local council both before starting and on completion.

The practical effect for a New Zealand developer is that a compliant 70 m² unit moves from a consented project with council processing time and inspection scheduling into a notify-and-build process with licensed practitioner sign-off. That tends to shift the risk from timing to workmanship, since the council is no longer inspecting the work in the same way. It also raises a resale documentation question, because a future purchaser’s lawyer will want the notification records and records of work rather than a code compliance certificate. Whether that affects saleability is a question for a local valuer rather than a general guide.

For larger second dwellings and for anything outside the exemption conditions, the ordinary consenting path applies, and the New Zealand resource consent guide covers the planning side.

What does a dual occupancy feasibility actually look like?

Small does not mean simple. The structure of the model is the same as a larger project, and the property development feasibility spreadsheet guide sets out the standard shape. What changes on a two-dwelling site is that a handful of fixed costs carry across a very small revenue base, so the answer moves quickly.

Here is an illustrative Torrens-titled dual occupancy, using figures excluding GST and a target development margin on cost of 20 per cent. Every input is a placeholder for the reader’s own numbers rather than a market estimate.

Revenue

Costs excluding land

To hit a 20 per cent development margin on cost, total development cost has to land at $2,900,000 divided by 1.2, which is $2,416,667. Subtracting the $1,664,260 above leaves $752,407 for land plus acquisition costs. At acquisition costs of 4.5 per cent of the land price for transfer duty and legals, that solves to a land price of about $720,000.

Checking it back: land at $720,000 plus $32,400 of acquisition costs plus $1,664,260 of other costs gives a total development cost of $2,416,660. Revenue of $2,900,000 less that cost is a profit of $483,340, which is 20.0 per cent on cost. That back-solve is the residual land value calculation, and it is the number that tells a developer what they can pay rather than what they hope to make.

Scenario two: same site, secondary dwelling instead. Assume the existing house is retained and a 60 m² secondary dwelling is added. Changed inputs are the construction rate, which rises to $3,800/m² because small builds carry a fixed-cost penalty, and the removal of the demolition, subdivision and selling lines.

There is no second sale price. The site remains one title. If the additional dwelling lifts the property’s value by $250,000, the scheme is $139,400 underwater measured on resale, while still producing rent. That gap is the entire argument for and against a granny flat, and it is why the two schemes belong in different models rather than in the same one with a different revenue assumption.

Where do small-site feasibilities usually go wrong?

The failure modes repeat.

The construction rate is borrowed from a larger project. Rate per square metre is not linear. A 60 m² dwelling carries a full kitchen, a full bathroom, a full set of service connections and a full site establishment across a very small floor plate, so the rate per square metre tends to run well above a 200 m² house on the same street. The construction cost per square metre guide covers how the rate moves with scale and typology. A quantity surveyor’s cost plan on the actual drawings is the only reliable version.

Site and service costs are treated as a contingency item. Sewer relocation, a new water meter and connection, an electrical service upgrade, stormwater detention, a new crossover and tree protection can together exceed the cost of a bathroom. On a two-dwelling project they are frequently 8 to 12 per cent of the total spend and they are knowable in advance from a service authority search and a site survey.

Demolition is underpriced, or the existing house is worth keeping. The decision to demolish is a feasibility comparison, not a default. Retaining a sound dwelling and adding a second removes demolition cost and may shorten the programme, at the price of a compromised site layout and a weaker end product.

The holding period is modelled as the construction period. Approval, documentation, procurement, construction, subdivision registration and sale each consume time. On small projects the non-construction time often exceeds the construction time, and rates, land tax, insurance and interest accrue across all of it. The finance cost line in the model above is highly sensitive to that assumption.

Subdivision is assumed rather than tested. Meeting a minimum lot area does not mean the plan of subdivision will work. Access, private open space, solar access, service easements and the location of the existing sewer main all constrain the boundary. A surveyor can usually answer this in a preliminary sketch for a fraction of what a wrong assumption costs.

Contingency is set at a large-project percentage. A 5 per cent contingency on a $1.15 million build is about $57,000, which one unexpected retaining wall can consume. The percentage that is adequate on a $40 million project is not obviously adequate on this one, because the allowance is spread across far fewer cost lines and has nowhere to move when one of them blows out.

Both dwellings are assumed to sell at once. Two near-identical products released into the same small market at the same moment can compete with each other. Staggering the release, or selling one and retaining one, changes the finance and selling cost profile materially.

How does a secondary dwelling affect resale value?

This is the question most commonly asked and least commonly modelled properly.

A secondary dwelling adds an income stream to a single title. Whether the resale market pays for that income stream depends on who the buyer is. An owner-occupier buying a family home may treat a granny flat in the backyard as neutral or as a negative, because it consumes garden and introduces a tenant. An investor may capitalise the rent. The same property can be valued quite differently by the two buyer pools, and in most suburbs the owner-occupier pool is larger.

There is a second effect worth thinking about on development sites. A secondary dwelling occupies part of the site and, in some jurisdictions, forecloses the subdivision option while it exists. On a block that could otherwise support a dual occupancy with two Torrens titles, adding a granny flat may convert a development site into a rental property. Where a site has redevelopment potential, the granny flat decision is partly a decision to defer or forgo that potential, and the highest and best use guide covers how that comparison is usually framed.

For a build-to-hold position, the calculation runs the other way. The relevant questions become the net rent after the extra insurance, rates, maintenance and management, the depreciation position on the new structure, and what the combined income does to the property’s borrowing capacity. Those are questions for an accountant and a valuer on the specific asset.

How does GST land on a dual occupancy sale?

Selling a newly built dwelling is generally a taxable supply of new residential premises, and GST applies. The margin scheme may be available, and where it is, GST is calculated on one-eleventh of the margin rather than one-eleventh of the full sale price (ATO). Eligibility depends on how and when the land was acquired, and the ATO requires the margin scheme to be agreed in writing in the contract.

On a two-dwelling project the difference between the two treatments is often larger than the entire professional fee budget, so it is a question to settle with an accountant before the contract of sale is drafted rather than after. The GST at settlement withholding rules also apply to supplies of new residential premises, which affects cashflow at completion. The mechanics are set out in the GST on property development guide.

Whether the profit is taxed on revenue account or capital account is a separate question that turns on intention and the character of the activity. Neither question has a general answer that survives contact with a specific taxpayer’s circumstances.

What to ask your town planner, surveyor and quantity surveyor

The answers that decide this project are held by three people, and the questions are specific.

For the town planner

• Which instrument controls this site: the state policy, the local environmental plan or planning scheme, or both, and where do they conflict?
• Is a dual occupancy permissible in this zone, or only a subordinate dwelling, and what is the minimum lot size and frontage that applies here rather than statewide?
• Does any overlay or excluded-land provision switch off the pathway I am relying on, and which one?
• Can this proposal go through the code-assessed or complying development pathway, and what specifically in the design would knock it out?
• What is the realistic assessment timeframe for this council on this typology, based on their recent determinations?
• If the floor area or lot size threshold I am designing to is currently under amendment, what is the status and what happens to an application lodged before it commences?
• What contributions, levies or authority charges will this trigger, and at what rates?

For the surveyor

• Does the subdivision geometry actually work on this lot, allowing for access, private open space and setbacks?
• Where are the existing services and easements, and does anything need to be relocated or created?
• What is the realistic timeline from occupation certificate to registered plan of subdivision in this jurisdiction?
• Is there any adverse possession, encroachment or boundary discrepancy on the current title?

For the quantity surveyor

• What is the cost per square metre for this specific typology and size, rather than for a standard house?
• What do site establishment, demolition, service upgrades and external works come to on this particular site?
• What contingency allowance is appropriate for a project of this scale and this level of design development?
• How do the costs phase across the programme, given the way the building contract pays out?

For the accountant and the conveyancer or lawyer

• Is the margin scheme available on this land, and what needs to be in the contract?
• Will this profit be assessed on revenue or capital account given how the land was acquired and held?
• What duty applies on acquisition in this jurisdiction, and are there any concessions or surcharges that apply to the structure being used?
• What are the titling options here, and what does each do to the end value and the selling costs?

On a two-dwelling site, the answers to those questions generally decide the result before a single line is drawn.