At Expression of Interest (EOI) stage, Mackay & Sons assesses whether your land has suitable access for a relocatable house, not whether the land or home will be granted Building Approval. Those are two different questions, and it’s important you understand the difference before you commit to a property or a house.
When you register interest in a relocatable house, one of the first things we look at is access: can the house physically get from the road to its position on your block, safely and without unreasonable extra cost. That’s a transport and logistics assessment, not a planning or building approval.
Generally, an access assessment looks at things like:
Driveway and access route: Is there a clear path wide enough for the truck to reach the site, including any turns, gates or narrow sections along the way? – we typically require at least 1 metre on each side of the home/section of the home ie. if the home is 7m wide, we ideally want 9m of access
Overhead power lines: Clearance height matters, power lines along the route or over the block can restrict what can pass underneath, or may need to be temporarily managed.
Trees and vegetation: Branches, hedges or trees close to the access route or the house’s final position will likely need to be cleared or trimmed before the move can happen.
Slope and ground conditions: Steep, soft or uneven ground can affect whether the house can be positioned as planned, and what additional site work might be needed.
Working space: Trucks need room to manoeuvre, not just to arrive. A technically “accessible” block can still be impractical if there’s nowhere for equipment to work.
Exactly what’s required varies from house to house and site to site, this is a general picture of the kind of things an access assessment considers, not a fixed checklist that applies to every property.
This is the important part: a positive access assessment from Mackay & Sons is not a guarantee that your land or your chosen house will receive a Building Approval.
Confirming that a specific home can legally be placed on a specific block, zoning, planning scheme requirements, overlays, setbacks, and every other part of the Building Approval process, is the property owner’s own responsibility. It’s a separate process, involving your council, a private certifier and (depending on the project) an engineer and architect. Our EOI-stage access check tells you whether the house can get to the site. It doesn’t tell you whether it’s allowed to stay there.
Before you commit to a block or a particular house, it’s worth doing your own due diligence alongside our access assessment:
See our guide on council approval for relocatable houses for more on that process.
We’re here to help you understand whether a house can physically get to your site and be positioned there, that’s our part of the equation. The land and building approval side sits with you, your council and your certifier. Getting both sorted before you commit saves a lot of trouble later.
Tell us a bit about your block and we can help assess access as part of your EOI.
Get a free quote → • Call (07) 3888 9399
Wondering about the council approval process too? Or download the complete guide for the full picture.
No. At EOI (Expression of Interest) stage, we assess whether your site has suitable access for delivering and positioning a relocatable home, not whether the land or house will be granted a Building Approval. Confirming Building Approval remains the property owner's own responsibility.
Generally things like the width and condition of the driveway or access route, overhead power lines and their clearance height, nearby trees and vegetation that may need clearing, the slope and ground conditions of the site, and how the truck and crane will physically get the house on and off the block. Exact requirements depend on the specific house and route.
Access suitability is about whether the house can physically be delivered to and positioned on your site. Land suitability in the fuller sense, including zoning, planning scheme requirements, and whether your particular house will be approved on that particular block, is a separate question that sits with council, your certifier, and your own due diligence.
You are. It's the property owner's responsibility to complete their own due diligence and confirm that both the land and the specific home you're considering will be able to obtain a Building Approval. An access assessment from Mackay & Sons at EOI stage is not a guarantee that approval will be granted.
Alongside our access check, it's worth confirming your council's planning requirements, checking any overlays that apply to your block (flood, bushfire, heritage and similar), and speaking with a private certifier or your council about the Building Approval pathway for your specific property and home before you commit to a house.
