The mandatory building inspections explained

A building permit is the start of the surveyor’s job, not the end of it. Between the permit and the final sign-off sit the mandatory inspections: the points where work stops, the surveyor looks, and the job either goes on or gets fixed. This guide covers the stages for a house in Victoria, what we check, how to book, and what the two sign-off documents mean.

The stages for a house

The Building Regulations 2018 set the mandatory notification stages. For a Class 1 dwelling — a detached house, a townhouse, a unit on its own ground — the standard stages are:

1. Footings, once the excavation is done and before any footings are placed.
2. Reinforcement, before the slab or any other in-situ reinforced concrete member nominated by the surveyor is poured.
3. Framework, when the frame is complete and before it is lined.
4. Final, when all building work is finished.

Those are the legal minimum for a house. Other inspections depend on the job — they are confirmed when we quote. Sheds, verandahs, extensions, retaining walls and commercial and industrial work such as warehouses, offices and shop fit-outs follow the same principle: the surveyor nominates the stages on the permit, and stages that do not apply are left off.

What we check at each stage

Footings. The trenches or pier holes are where the engineer drew them, at the depth the soil classification calls for, on the founding material the report assumed, clean and free of water.

Reinforcement. Mesh, bars, chairs and laps match the engineer’s drawing. The vapour barrier, edge beams, wet-area set-downs and penetrations are in. Termite management is in place where the design relies on it. Once the concrete is in, none of this can be seen again — which is why the inspection happens before the pour.

Frame. Stud sizes and spacings, lintels, bracing, tie-down and fixings against the engineering and the frame layout. Roof framing and trusses as the manufacturer’s certificate describes them. Openings where the drawings put them.

Final. The finished building against the permit drawings: stairs and balustrades, smoke alarms, wet-area waterproofing, glazing, energy measures, stormwater to the legal point of discharge, and the trade certificates that back them up.

How to book

Email inspections@cstonebs.com at least one business day ahead with three things: the permit number, the site address and the stage you are booking. One line is enough. If the stage will not be ready, tell us before we drive out rather than after. A booking is confirmed in writing; a message left on the phone is not a booking.

If a stage fails

A failed inspection is the system working, not a disaster. Where an inspection finds work that does not comply, the Building Act 1993 requires the surveyor to give a direction to fix building work. We give it on site and confirm it in writing. You fix it, and you call the stage again. The usual reasons are ordinary: footings short of depth, steel laps too short, bracing missing, a lintel that does not match the schedule. Work does not go on past that stage until it passes.

Why building past a stage is a problem

The Building Act 1993 puts two duties on the builder named in the permit: notify the surveyor without delay when each mandatory stage is complete, and stop work at that stage when the surveyor directs it. A builder who ignores either duty is reported to the regulator. Pour the slab before the steel is inspected and nobody can confirm what is in it. The surveyor can require the work to be opened up or ask for engineer’s certification that may not exist, and the final sign-off can stall over a skipped stage. For an owner-builder that responsibility lands on you personally. A day’s wait for an inspection costs less than a core sample through a finished floor.

Occupancy permit vs certificate of final inspection

Both follow the final inspection. Which one you get depends on the permit.

• An occupancy permit is required for a new building people will live or work in — a new house, a new unit, a new dwelling behind an existing one. It certifies the building is suitable for occupation, and a new home cannot be occupied until it is issued. It waits on the trade certificates; the certificates required depend on the job, and we tell you what’s needed when we quote.
• A certificate of final inspection is issued where an occupancy permit is not required — typically alterations, extensions, sheds, verandahs and retaining walls, where the occupancy of the original building does not change.

Your building permit states which one applies. Neither is automatic: collect the trade certificates as the job goes, because the sign-off waits on them.

Starting a new home? Our new home building permits page covers the permit package and the inspections in one fixed fee, or send the drawings through the quote form and we will come back to you within one business day.