What are the Best Granny Flat Designs?

You know you want a granny flat but what are the best granny flat designs? How do you know you are getting the best possible project?

In this video, Colin Fragar, our founder and CEO, discusses tips for getting the best design for your granny flat.

Click on the “Play” button below to watch now:



Or for those that prefer to read, here is a transcript of the video…

So what are the best granny flat designs? My name is Colin Fragar from Council Approval Group.

So we are an architecture firm and a town planning firm and we’ve done thousands of these for our clients. So we have a huge swipe file full of different projects that we’ve done and we’ve learned a few key things along the way. What I would recommend is if you are looking at a project to book in for a free consultation with one of our team. A free consultation will answer questions such as:
  • Do my plans maximise my floor space or how much floor space can I get?
  • Can we get approval in the first place for we want to achieve?
  • Is there a better path or approval?
  • Is there a better project, such as subdivision or dual occupancy?
Whatever sort of questions you have in mind, please book in for a free consultation to speak to one of our team.

Granny Flat Design Examples

Now I’m just going to have a quick look here at one of the projects that I worked on recently. This was an example of an attached granny flat within the existing house. Here is another one that was built, which we refinished, which is a granny flat in someone’s backyard. This one is a 60 square metre granny flat, but one of the things that I really like about this design actually is the veranda.

Design Tips for Granny Flats

When you consider your granny flat design think about Northern light, particularly because you’re in a small area. See how it’s got a veranda around it. Interestingly, the veranda is not included in the square metre floor area of the granny flat. So it means that you can actually create a functional living space outside of the granny flat. So yeah, consider lots of doors opening up to a veranda, lots of natural light, and a window next to the kitchen.

Whatever you’re trying to achieve with a granny flat I think it’s really important to make sure that you don’t get locked into a project home builder. If I could maybe give you a word of encouragement there because if you control the plans, if you control the council approval, then you can tender it out to multiple different builders.
If you control the plans, if you control the council approval, then you can tender it out to multiple different builders.
When you go to a builder and grab one of their plans you’re locked into that builder for the life of the project and it may not be the best outcome for you. Why? Because one, it may not be the best approval type for you, you may be able to get a different development. And two, you’ll be able to get a lower cost of construction by tendering it out to multiple builders instead of being locked into one.

Take the Next Step

If you haven’t already, please grab a copy of something that’s very special. That is Your Ultimate Guide to Council Approval. In here there are some thoughts about granny flat designs and how you can get some more information around that. So that’s my gift to you, if you would grab a copy of that from our website, councilapproval.com.au.

And of course if you do have a project in mind for a particular property, please book in to speak to one of our consultants, where we will go through what you want to achieve what the challenges are, and then create a real roadmap for you going forward. My name is Colin Fragar from Council Approval Group and I wish you every success.