---
title: "Building Consent vs Resource Consent: Height, Boundaries and Site Coverage"
description: "People often use “consent” to mean one thing. In New Zealand there are two, and they ask different questions. A **building consent** asks whether the building will be built safely and properly. A **resource consent** asks whether the building or…"
url: "https://steelspan.co.nz/advice/building-consent-vs-resource-consent-height-boundaries-and-site-coverage/"
updated: "2026-11-09"
category: "Consents & Rules"
---

# Building Consent vs Resource Consent: Height, Boundaries and Site Coverage

People often use “consent” to mean one thing. In New Zealand there are two, and they ask different questions. A **building consent** asks whether the building will be built safely and properly. A **resource consent** asks whether the building or activity is allowed where you want it, given the effects on neighbours and the environment. You might need neither, one, or both.

## Building consent: how it’s built

A building consent is issued under the Building Act 2004. The council (as building consent authority) checks your plans against the Building Code: structure, fire safety, weathertightness, durability, access and energy efficiency. Once it’s granted, the work is inspected as it goes, and you finish with a code compliance certificate.

## Resource consent: where and what

A resource consent is about your council’s district plan, made under the Resource Management Act (which the government is replacing with new planning laws). The plan sets rules for each zone. Common rules that catch sheds and commercial buildings are:

- **Height limits** for the zone
- **Height in relation to boundary**, an angled line from the boundary that the building must stay under
- **Yards or setbacks**, minimum distances from boundaries and roads
- **Site coverage**, the share of the section buildings can cover
- **Impervious surfaces**, such as roofs and concrete, which affect stormwater
- **Earthworks** over a set volume
- **The activity itself**, such as running a business from a rural or residential site
- **Hazards and overlays**, such as flood plains, coastal areas, heritage or waterways

If your building meets every rule, it’s a permitted activity and no resource consent is needed. If it breaks one, you’ll need resource consent for that part.

## Which comes first?

You can apply for both at the same time, but building work can’t start until any resource consent you need has been granted. A project information memorandum (PIM), which you can apply for with your building consent, tells you what the council already knows about your site, including district plan issues.

## A shed can need resource consent but not building consent

A small exempt shed still has to meet the district plan. A 30 m² shed that’s exempt from building consent, but sits in a yard where the plan doesn’t allow buildings, still needs resource consent.

## How Steelspan helps

Before we finalise a design, we check the zone and the main district plan rules for your site, and we design to stay inside them where we can. Keeping a building just under a height-to-boundary line, or moving it a few metres, is often cheaper than applying for resource consent. If resource consent is needed, it’s handled by an experienced local planner rather than by Steelspan. We can put you in touch with one in your region, and help by coordinating information and providing the drawings and site plans the planner needs.

## Talk to Steelspan

Send us your address and what you want to build, and we’ll flag any planning issues early. Use our Easy Shed Quote or call 0800 787 726.