Perth landscaping, staked out rule by rule
Five places where a Perth garden meets Western Australian law: who must be registered to build, the patio or shed, the sprinkler roster, the plants a landholder must control, and the barrier around a pool. Each stake on this plan marks one of them, read from the agency that keeps the rule.
A guide to the Western Australian rules behind a Perth garden, published by Dotto from the official sources listed at the foot of each page.
Five guides to a Perth block
- When a WA builder must be registered
The building permit comes first, then the value of the work. Why a fence, a retaining wall, a pool or timber decking sits outside the registration rules.
- Patios, sheds and garden structures in WA
The Class 10a buildings, the $50,000 line that began on 1 July 2026, the building permit and its fees.
- Watering days in Perth
How Water Corporation’s roster finds your days, the hours sprinklers may run, bores, fines and faulty controllers.
- Declared weeds in Western Australia
What it means when a plant is declared, who must control it, how to look one up, and when clearing a native plant needs a permit.
- Pool barriers in WA
The 30cm rule, building approval, the inspections after the pool is finished, and the gate.
The permit before the price
The question most people ask first about a landscaper is whether they must be registered, and in Western Australia the answer starts with the building permit, not the price. Building and Energy’s own Q&As put it plainly: where building work does not need a building permit, it does not need a registered builder either.
Value comes second. Building work of any kind valued under $20,000 does not need a registered builder, and since 1 July 2026 neither does a Class 10a building, such as a shed, carport or patio, valued under $50,000. Most other building work valued at $20,000 or more that needs a building permit must still be done by a registered builder.
Building and Energy also lists types of building work for which registration as a building contractor is not required at all. They include building an incidental structure, meaning one attached or incidental to a building, such as a swimming pool, a fence, a free-standing wall or a retaining wall, and installing timber decking. That is a selection: the guide to registration prints the full list. The registration rules apply in an area the state prescribes, which takes in 122 of Western Australia’s local governments; in some areas of low population only the major town sites are included.
An exemption from registration is not an exemption from a permit. Every swimming pool and spa needs building approval, for one, and whether a permit is needed for anything else is a question for your local government.
The bodies behind the five stakes
Each rule on this site belongs to someone. Knowing which body keeps it tells you whose page to read for your own block.
| Body | What it looks after here | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Building Services Board, supported by Building and Energy | Registering building practitioners and building contractors | Builder registration |
| Your local government | Granting building permits in its area, and inspecting pool safety barriers | Patios and sheds, pool barriers |
| Building Commissioner | Complaints about unsatisfactory or defective building work | Patios and sheds |
| Water Corporation | Enforcing the sprinkler rosters, under regulations the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation administers | Watering days |
| Department of Water and Environmental Regulation | The clearing provisions that protect native vegetation | Weeds and clearing |
| Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development | Its declared plants pages, and a Pest and Disease Information Service that can help with identification and advice | Declared weeds |
The guides follow the plan from the back fence to the street: the wall and the question of who may build it, the patio, the lawn and its sprinklers, the plants along the side, and the pool.