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Important tips for building granny flats in Hobart

With property prices booming, and the tourist market reaching new heights, the idea of building a granny flat or ancillary building in the Hobart area is becoming an increasingly popular concept.

Posted On

  • November 03, 2019

At Tasbuilt, we love working with clients to develop innovative and creative, custom built backyard units. We have put together a few quick tips if you think this might be something you would like to explore

Firstly, identify what you want to achieve by building a granny flat. It is most likely one of three main reasons:

For short term tourist accommodation – With the rise of popular web-based accommodation platforms such as Airbnb, entering the tourism industry has become a new reality for many home owners. If you have surplus area in your backyard, designing and building an accommodation unit may be a great way of bringing in an extra income stream for your household, and increasing the eventual resale value of your property

To accommodate an extended family member – The original granny flat concept has been used for decades as a cost effective way of providing for extended family members, while keeping them close by for care and company. The council terminology for this style of building is an ‘ancillary unit’ and is normally limited to a maximum floor area of 60m2

As a long term rental – if running a bed and breakfast or tourist accommodation venture sounds like too much work, but you still want to generate some additional income from your spare land, you could build an additional dwelling for long term rental. There is a different set of council guide lines for this sort of development

Once you have established the purpose for your development, you can start working on the design to suit.


Important factors that will influence your design will be the area you have available, the style of your existing home and the surrounding area, access for sunlight…just to name a few.

Don’t forget to consider the privacy between the new unit and your existing home. If there is not a lot of separation you may wish to install a screen or hedge to provide greater privacy both for yourself and your guests

Parking is important, and probably something that council will ask about. When working on your design make sure you make provision for parking for your existing home as well as for the new unit

Depending on your budget, incorporating some unique design factors is a great way to encourage guests to fall in love with your accommodation offering. Maybe some extensive glazing to capture the views, an elevated deck with outdoor spa, or a cosy woodfire for the winter nights

Consider the market you are building for. Do you need to include ramps and wider doorways for access for elderly people? Do you need a children’s nook where the young ones can play while their parents relax?

At Tasbuilt Homes, custom design is what we do best, and we take care of the entire process form design and council approvals through to completion. We would love to work with you to design and build a granny flat that will not only look great and feel great to live in, but will add tremendous value to your property

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