Same WA rules, local reminders. Builders in the City of Busselton are registered and insured under the same state rules as Perth builders; our Perth builders page lists them with sources. The regulator has acted over a Busselton job before. In 2021 the nominated supervisor on a house built in Busselton in 2016 accepted a $7,500 fine at the State Administrative Tribunal after inspectors found roof sheeting missing some tie-downs, a structural column installed the wrong way round and two slab reinforcement bars left out. Building and Energy said registered building contractors are required by law to have a nominated supervisor, and that supervisors should carry out their duties diligently.
A low coast. The City's June 2026 advocacy sheet on coastal protection says the Department of Transport has recognised Busselton as a high-risk location for coastal inundation. The final version of the City's Coastal Hazard Risk Management and Adaptation Plan, dated October 2022, studied the sandy coast from Wonnerup to Dunsborough and the settlements at Yallingup, Eagle Bay, Smiths Beach and Bunker Bay, and the City began preparing a Coastal Adaptation Strategy from it. Some sites already have a floor level set: a local development plan for a mixed-use lot on Spinnaker Boulevard, Port Geographe, requires every habitable floor to reach at least 3.1 m AHD to meet the inundation clearance in State Planning Policy 2.6. The level for a particular lot is for the City to confirm.
Growth, and estate rules on top of the City's. The City's estimated population was 45,003 in 2024, after a decade of growth averaging 2.3 per cent a year, against 1.6 per cent across the South West. Between the 2016 and 2021 censuses, Dunsborough added the most residents, 1,108, and Kealy grew fastest. Buyers in the newer estates also work under the developer's rules. Vasse's building guidelines, in their sixth edition (February 2026), say plans must be approved by the estate before they go to the City, and compliant plans come back within 14 days. They require garages that open onto a residential street to be fully enclosed and, on most lots, to fit two cars side by side, set traditional roof pitches between 24.5 and 45 degrees, cap the finished floor at 300 mm above the lot's mean site level, and rule out second-hand, relocated or transportable homes unless the estate agrees. Owners are also responsible for their builder keeping rubbish within the lot and for repairing any damage the builder does to estate roads, kerbs and fencing.
A new planning scheme out for comment. Local Planning Scheme No. 21 is the City's scheme in force. A draft Scheme No. 22, which Council approved for advertising in May 2025, is open for public comment from 26 October 2026 to 31 January 2027; after that, Council considers changes and the Minister for Planning decides on final approval. The City says some zone names, land use definitions and zoning will change, so if your site or brochures quote scheme clauses, keep them to a link so one edit keeps them right. Clearing is the other thing to handle carefully. The western ringtail possum is listed as critically endangered under state and federal law, is found mainly around Busselton and relies on the coastal peppermint trees here, so a builder's site should point owners to the City and the state's clearing permit rules rather than answer that question itself.
Working with us. We're an Adelaide team and work with South West builders by phone and email. We haven't yet built for a WA builder; our builder client is in South Australia. Busselton keeps Perth time, so we're 1.5 hours ahead of you, or 2.5 hours during South Australian daylight saving.