Members of
We can repair farmhouses, add decks and steps to park homes, and build sheds around Swan Bay, between St Leonards and Queenscliff. The wetland here is protected, so the landscape and flood rules come first.
Swan Bay is farmland, saltmarsh and a large holiday park around the shores of Swan Bay, a Ramsar-listed wetland.
At the 2021 census, more than half of occupied homes in Swan Bay (55%) were counted as cabins. Swan Bay Holiday Park has homes for sale and offers annual homes. Steps, small decks, screens and repairs are the kind of jobs these homes need, worked out with the park’s own rules.
The rest of Swan Bay is farm and saltmarsh, where the median farm property is about 30 hectares. Since 9 October 2026, the landscape overlay around the bay lets an extension go ahead without a permit under it if it’s no more than 7.5 metres high, has a footprint of no more than 50 square metres, and uses muted, non-reflective tones. Fences need a permit unless they’re post-and-rail or post-and-wire up to 1.8 metres, or solid up to 1.2 metres. We have done 12 jobs in Point Lonsdale and 10 in Queenscliff nearby.
On the saltmarsh flats, a conservation zone allows a dwelling extension or outbuilding of up to 100 square metres without a zone permit, but a permit is still needed within 100 metres of a waterway, wetland or flood plain. A coastal flood overlay covers 22 addresses, and most addresses are bushfire prone, so we check the address first.
Looking after a business on the Bellarine Highway or in the holiday park? That side of our work is on our commercial carpentry page.
What Swan Bay’s farmhouses and park homes need most.
Small decks and landings for park homes.
Repairs for park homes and farmhouses.
Low, muted verandahs that suit the landscape rules.
Extensions within the landscape and wetland limits.
Farm and house-yard fences.
Boards on older farmhouses in salt air.
Doors and windows that swell in the bay weather.
Tell us whether it’s a park home or a farm property.
Landscape, wetland and flood rules, or the park’s requirements.
In writing, itemised.
Neat work and a clean site when we leave.
Beyond our expectations, and it was great to work with people who could turn our ideas into something better than we imagined. Couldn’t recommend them highly enough.
Michael worked with our budget and we were so impressed by their diligence and workmanship. They did not cut corners but went the extra mile. So impressed we engaged them again at another property.
Prompt, great communication and a terrific job. Have used JF Maintenance for lots of work over the years and would recommend.
The locality runs from the Portarlington–Queenscliff Road out across the water of Swan Bay, and takes in Duck Island, part of Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park. The bay’s south-eastern shores are flat silts and saltmarsh used by migratory birds.
The 2021 census counted 103 residents with a median age of 61. Park homes, farmhouses and a protected wetland are why the work here is small, careful and checked first.
St Leonards • Queenscliff • Point Lonsdale • Mannerim • Bellarine
Swan Bay borders St Leonards, Queenscliff, Swan Island, Mannerim and Point Lonsdale.
Let us know where it is and what you need, and we will come back with a free estimate.