Queensland Building Certifier: Who Actually Approves Your Build

WHO APPROVES WHAT ON YOUR QUEENSLAND BUILD?Understand certifier and planning-authority responsibilities.

One of the most common causes of a stalled Queensland project is a misunderstanding about who approves what. A builder tells the owner the council has approved the building, the owner assumes that means everything is approved, and then a planning permit turns out to be missing. The fix is simple: understand that building work in Queensland sits behind two different approvals, issued by two different people, in a fixed order.

Two approvals, in a fixed order

The first is the planning side. Under Queensland's Planning Act 2016, development is categorised, and development that is assessable requires a development permit assessed against the local government's planning scheme and other assessment benchmarks, as the Queensland Government's development applications guidance sets out. Reconfiguring a lot and a material change of use are planning matters, not building matters.

The second is the building side: a building development approval for the building work itself. That approval is normally assessed and decided by a licensed building certifier, sometimes working for a local government and sometimes in private practice.

The order is not negotiable. Section 83 of the Building Act 1975 states that a private certifier must not grant the building development approval applied for until, under the Planning Act, all necessary development permits and PDA development permits are effective for development other than building work that may affect the form or location of the building work, the use of the building, or the assessment of the application. If your project involves reconfiguring the lot under the building, the certifier cannot grant the building approval until that planning permit is effective.

What the certifier actually does

The regulator's own description is the clearest guide. The Queensland Building and Construction Commission states that licensed building certifiers assess building applications, decide whether to issue building approvals and inspect and certify building works (QBCC). The certifier's functions include carrying out building assessment work, giving a compliance certificate that the work complies with the building assessment provisions, inspecting the work under a building development approval to decide whether to certify it, giving a certificate for a stage of the work, and issuing the final certificate.

The final document depends on the building class. For a single detached Class 1a building or a Class 10 building or structure, the Building Act provides for a final inspection certificate for the final stage; for a building or structure of another class it is a certificate of occupancy.

The QBCC is equally clear about the limits. Certifiers do not design the building, do not carry out the work, do not ensure the builder complies with their contract, do not take responsibility for quality control and material finishes, and do not supervise the job site. That last point matters commercially: a building approval is a compliance instrument, not a substitute for your own contract administration and quality control.

Who engages the certifier, and what the owner is entitled to

The QBCC records that in most cases your builder will engage the private certifier on your behalf, but that you can directly appoint one, and that whoever engages the certifier should be documented in your contract. Either way, the owner has rights:

• The certifier must give the owner their contact details and details of their responsibilities, on the approved form, within a set period of engagement.
• An owner can request a copy of the inspection documentation for the stages before the final stage; the QBCC states the building certifier is obligated to provide the requested inspection documentation within 5 business days, and that a penalty may apply if they do not comply.
• An owner can request additional inspections and certifying functions beyond the standard stage inspections, in the approved form and within the stated period, at the owner's reasonable cost.
• Certifiers must keep copies of all building inspection documents for at least 7 years after the building work is completed — useful when a defect appears years later.

The common trap

The trap is sequence. Owners read the building approval as the green light and start site works, while a planning permit that the building work depends on is still being negotiated, amended or cleared. Because the certifier must not grant the building approval until the necessary planning permits are effective, the delay lands on the building approval, and therefore on your start date. The other half of the trap is expecting the certifier to police the builder. They do not: contract compliance, quality control and finishes sit with you and your builder, and that is where your own inspection and progress-payment discipline has to come from.

A practical pre-start test

1. List every approval the project needs, and mark each as planning or building.
2. Confirm, in writing, that every planning permit the building work depends on will be effective before the building approval is sought.
3. Have the certifier state the approval type, the assessment provisions that apply and the stage inspection schedule for your building class.
4. Confirm who is engaging the certifier, that it is documented, and that the owner notices have been given.
5. Put the stage inspection dates in the construction programme and hold the builder to them.
6. Register for the owner's right to inspection documentation before you need it, not after a defect appears.

What a capable student does next

You are not expected to interpret the Building Act yourself. Brief a licensed building certifier to confirm the approval pathway, the assessment provisions and the stage inspections for your building class, and brief a town planner to confirm the planning permits your building work depends on and when they will be effective. Then hold the sequence in one document: what must be effective, in what order, and who owns each step. The specialist does the technical assessment; your value is recognising that two approvals exist and refusing to start work until the order is right.

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Photo: 'Construction of Sorano House, 8 Hamilton Street, Kangaroo Point, Queensland, May 2023, 02' by Kgbo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.