If you’re building a duplex, a few townhouses, or a low-rise unit block, you’re probably going to need a Building Format Plan. This strata subdivision is a way of dividing up a building, not the land. It’s mostly used for unit blocks, townhouses or multi-storey complexes.
Each owner gets their own unit, and the rest of the property (like driveways or gardens) is shared by everyone as “common property.”
Our surveyors will work out where each unit starts and ends by using the actual structure of the building, walls, floors, ceilings, balconies and so on.
When this type of subdivision is set up, a body corporate is created. The body corporate looks after the common property and organises insurance. This usually means maintaining the outside of the building, the roof, foundations, driveways, gardens, and any shared areas or facilities like pools and BBQs.
At Survey My Block, we help you finalise the survey plans that make your development compliant, registerable, and settlement-ready. We focus on the essentials e.g Building Format Plans, Exclusive Use Plans, Identification Surveys and Services Layout Plans, so you’re not chasing surveyors, redrawing plans or explaining things to the Titles Office more than once.
This one’s about giving clarity. Sometimes parts of the property — like courtyards, gardens, or car parks — are technically shared, but in reality, they’re intended for just one lot to use. An Exclusive Use Plan maps these areas out so that, legally, each owner knows what’s theirs and what’s not. It links directly to your Community Management Statement (CMS) and forms part of the legal titling setup.
Basically, it stops neighbourly misunderstandings before they start.
Typically builders and developers if you’re building or developing the following:
…then these plans are likely required. They’re not just for big developers. We work with solo builders, family developers, and experienced crews doing repeat projects. We’ve even helped clients who didn’t realise they needed these plans until their conveyancer asked for them two weeks before settlement.
They’re not just boxes to tick. Done properly, they:
It’s the quiet part of the job that can either make handover a breeze or become the bottleneck that blows out your timeline.
