How to Assess a Block Before You Buy It

Assess a block in four passes, in this order: what the title allows, what the planning scheme and its overlays allow, what the ground will cost you to build on, and how services reach the site. The view, the aspect and the street are preferences. Those four are the things that change your build cost after you have already paid for the land — and on the Sunshine Coast and in Noosa Shire they move it more than most buyers expect, because we build on beach sand, reactive clay, steep coastal ridges, flood plains and salt-laden air, sometimes within a few streets of each other. Nearly every nasty surprise I see on a first build was visible on a map or a title search before the contract was signed.

Start with the title, not the view

A title search through Titles Queensland is the first thing to order. It shows the registered interests on the lot — easements, statutory covenants, leases and other encumbrances. Titles Queensland runs online title and image searches, so you can also pull the registered plan image and check the status of a dealing, which tells you what is actually registered rather than what the agent remembers.

Two things on a title routinely reshape a design. The first is an easement. Unitywater, which supplies water and sewerage across the Sunshine Coast and Noosa, is blunt about this: it recommends that building works be designed to remain outside the easement, and says it will consider written requests for approval for building works to encroach on an easement protecting its infrastructure, “but these are rarely granted”. The second is a building covenant, common on newer estates, which can dictate roof form, external materials, minimum floor area and fencing. A covenant does not appear on a council map. You have to read the title.

Also compare the registered survey plan with what is on the ground. Fences on older Sunshine Coast lots are frequently not on the boundary, and a 300 mm error on a narrow lot can move a wall out of compliance.

The 20-point pre-purchase block checklist

Work through this before you sign, or make the contract conditional on it. Each line is something you can obtain from a public register, a council search or a consultant.

One practical note: Sunshine Coast Council advises that it is currently experiencing a high volume of file retrieval and search requests, and that your request may take 15 to 20 business days. If your contract has a short due diligence period, order the searches on day one.

What the ground will cost you

The most expensive unknown on any block is what is under it. Residential footings in Australia are designed to AS 2870 Residential slabs and footings, which classifies a site by how much the ground moves with moisture: Class A for most sand and rock sites with little or no movement, S for slightly reactive clay, M for moderately reactive clay or silt, H1 and H2 for highly reactive sites, E for extremely reactive sites, and Class P for problem sites — soft soils, landslip, collapsing soils, soils subject to erosion, or reactive sites subject to abnormal moisture conditions. Uncontrolled fill typically pushes a site the same way. The gap between an A-class slab on Coolum sand and a P-class solution on a filled or unstable site is not a rounding error, and it is decided by a geotechnical investigation, not by looking at the block.

Get bores done before you go unconditional, or make the contract conditional on the result. On sloping land, add a contour survey at the same time — the geotech and the survey together are what let a builder price the earthworks and retaining honestly rather than guessing. We cover the specific mechanics of grade, benching and suspended floors in building on a sloping block in Queensland.

Low-lying coastal blocks carry a second ground issue. The Queensland Government advises that coastal areas lower than 5 m AHD are likely to have acid sulfate soils present, that they can also be found buried beneath newer soils at elevations below 20 m AHD, and that around 23,000 km² of the Queensland coast is likely to contain them. Disturb them and the pyrite oxidises: the state notes the soil pH drops from nearly neutral to extremely acidic, often below pH 2, producing sulfuric acid which “can cause damage to the environment and to buildings, roads and other structures”. Practically, that means a soil management plan, controlled excavation and controlled dewatering on a lot of the flat land between Marcoola and Cotton Tree.

Reading the overlays for the Sunshine Coast and Noosa

Two planning schemes cover our patch: the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014 and the Noosa Plan 2020. Both publish property-level mapping. On the Sunshine Coast, the Development.i site report “makes it easy and convenient to access general town planning information for individual properties”, and council’s MyMaps website provides access to the region’s digital geographic data as maps and associated information. In Noosa, the Noosa Plan 2020 is available to view online through ePlan, and Noosa Shire Council states that property specific information, including zoning, overlays and other planning layers, can also be accessed through its online mapping system.

For flood, Noosa Shire Council maps a Flood Overlay identifying areas affected by flooding with a 1% Annual Exceedance Probability for the year 2100, and its Flood Search Certificate provides the latest flood level information for a specific property, the minimum finished floor level required for new habitable rooms, and flood velocity data. That certificate is the number your designer needs. Council also notes the maps are indicative only and do not capture all possible flood scenarios. Construction in a flood hazard area is then governed by Queensland Development Code MP 3.5, Construction of buildings in flood hazard areas.

For coastal hazard, Noosa publishes three layers — Erosion Prone Area, Storm tide inundation 1% AEP, and Sea Level Rise HAT inundation — across current, 2040, 2070 and 2100 horizons. Noosa Shire Council states that the Queensland Government State Planning Policy mandates the adoption of a projected 0.8 m sea level rise to 2100 for coastal hazard assessment in planning and development, in the Natural Hazards State Interest Policy. If a block near the water shows clean now but is inside a 2100 layer, that is a design and resale conversation, not a reason to walk away on its own.

For bushfire, note that Queensland Development Code MP 2.4, which used to cover construction in bushfire prone areas, was repealed on 14 April 2015. Requirements now flow from the National Construction Code and AS 3959 Construction of buildings in bushfire-prone areas, via a bushfire attack level assessment. On Sunshine Coast hinterland and vegetated coastal blocks this is common, and it affects windows, screens, decking, subfloor enclosure and eaves — not just a bit of sarking.

Services: the costs nobody quotes for

Before you assume the block is serviced, request a Detailed Infrastructure Plan from Unitywater and find out exactly where the water and sewer run. Building over or near that infrastructure is regulated by Queensland Development Code MP 1.4, Building over or near relevant infrastructure. Unitywater requires a site plan showing existing and proposed structures plus the infrastructure, elevation views of the proposed building work showing the water and sewerage infrastructure, and structural engineering design drawings of the footings and foundations accompanied by a Form 15 Design Certificate from the engineer. It also warns that if you proceed with building works over or near water and sewerage infrastructure without the required consent, you may be issued with a penalty infringement notice and be liable to pay fines, and can be directed to remove the structure at your cost.

Then find the lawful point of discharge for stormwater. A council stormwater as-constructed search will show what council-owned infrastructure exists nearby. A block with no legal discharge point can need inter-allotment drainage, a charged system or on-site detention, and that is engineering work you would rather price before you buy than after.

What you are actually allowed to build

Siting for a single detached house is set by the Queensland Development Code — MP 1.1, design and siting standards for single detached housing on lots under 450 m², and MP 1.2, the same for lots 450 m² and over — layered with the zone provisions and any character, height or coastal overlay in the local scheme. Work out your realistic building envelope before you fall in love with a floor plan. If the block needs a development application rather than just building approval, the timeline and cost change, which we explain in building approvals on the Sunshine Coast and Noosa.

Orientation deserves the same attention. North-facing living areas, controlled west glazing and a genuine cross-breeze do more for comfort in this climate than any product you can bolt on later, and they are what let your design meet the energy provisions of the National Construction Code without over-engineering the glazing. Within a few hundred metres of the surf you also need to plan for salt: exposure category drives fixings, flashings, balustrades and finishes, and the wind classification for the house is determined under AS 4055 Wind loads for housing. Termite management to AS 3660.1 is a given.

Walk the block with a builder before you sign

Maps do not tell you that the only crane position is over the neighbour’s carport, or that the kerb crossover has to move. Half an hour on site with someone who builds in the area is worth more than another report. Our own award-winning work at Grandview Drive, Coolum Beach — which took Home Renovation/Remodelling Project over $1 million, Best Residential Swimming Pool and Best Use of Innovation at the Master Builders Queensland 2025 Sunshine Coast Housing & Construction Awards — started with the constraints of the site, not a plan dropped onto it.

Check the builder as carefully as the block. QBCC maintains a public licensee register so you can check the history of your builder before you sign the contract, and QBCC states that home warranty insurance under the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme is compulsory for all residential construction work valued at more than $3,300 including materials, labour and GST, pays up to a maximum of $200,000 on claims, and lasts for 6 years and 6 months from the earliest of the contract date, the premium being paid or work commencing. Our guide to checking a QBCC licence walks through it. If you want a realistic build figure to test a block against, start with the cost to build a house on the Sunshine Coast.

If you have a block under contract and a due diligence clock running, book a consult and we will walk it with you. You can also see how we approach ground-up work on new home builds across the Sunshine Coast.