Guide 6 · site
A carport, its drainage and the council rules
A carport application is judged on a handful of numbers: how far back it sits, how big it is, how high its posts are, how much of the boundary it takes, and where its water goes. Plotlay draws the carport from those numbers and checks each one, so you see what passes, what is close to a limit and what still has to be measured.
Before you start
Draw the house (rooms, or a scan from Plotlay Scan) and the site boundary, then open Export → Site details: the address, the zone, the overlays, and which boundary is the street. Leave anything you have not measured empty. It is reported as UNKNOWN rather than guessed.
Add the carport
- Type CARPORT in the command line (or pick it from the command menu, under Site).
- Pick the side boundary and the setback from the street boundary, in millimetres.
- Choose a size. Standard kit sizes run from a single 3.0 × 6.0 m to a double 6.0 × 9.0 m, or enter your own length. Kit or made to order, the layout is the same.
- Leave the width empty to fix it to the house. It reaches across to the house wall and is fixed under the house gutter: the house carries that side, so posts go only on the boundary side, and the roof falls to a gutter on the boundary. Give a width and it stands free, with posts all round.
- Leave the post height empty until it is measured. Fixed under the gutter, the house eaves set the height. Plotlay tells you the post height that implies and warns if it would go over 3.0 m.
Where the water goes
The carport comes with its gutter along the low side, a downpipe at each end, an arrow showing the roof’s fall, and a stormwater line to a kerb outlet, routed clear of your crossover. The route is indicative: your plumber and council confirm it. For a verandah, shed or pergola, select it and use Add roof drainage in the side panel. Delete the roof and its drainage goes with it.
Check it
Export → Compliance check lists every rule as PASS, WARN, FAIL or UNKNOWN, with the value, the limit and the Code reference. FAIL comes first. The drawing set adds a compliance summary sheet, a site plan at 1:100 or 1:200 with the required dimensions, and the carport’s elevations.
Your own requirements
Open Rules and tolerances from the compliance check to add more than the Code:
- Common practice packs for carports, roof drainage, driveways and tree protection, each naming the standard its figures come from.
- Your own rules, from a council guideline, a covenant or a builder’s spec: import a file or paste them in. Each rule names what is measured, the limit, and how close to the limit counts as a warning.
- Warnings on the Code rules: for example, flag anything within 100 mm of its limit.
An AI agent connected to Plotlay can do all of this too (add_carport, add_roof_drainage, import_rules, check_compliance), including turning a requirements document into a rule pack. See AI agents.