Demolition Permits — Melbourne & Victoria

Knocking down a house to rebuild, clearing an old garage, or taking the back off a house for an extension — all of it is building work under the Building Act 1993, and most of it needs a building permit before the excavator arrives. We offer fast turnaround times on the permit itself; it’s the council consent, the services and the asbestos that have to be lined up first.

Cornerstone is a building surveying practice issuing demolition permits across Melbourne and Victoria, for homeowners doing a knock-down rebuild, builders and demolition contractors, and owners removing sheds and garages. One surveyor handles the permit from application to certificate of final inspection, for a fixed fee.

When you need a demolition permit

A demolition permit is a building permit for demolition work. Knocking down a house, a brick garage, a commercial building or a substantial part of any building needs one. The one common exemption is a freestanding shed, garage or carport that isn’t brick or block — the key threshold is 40 m² of floor area under Schedule 3 of the Building Regulations 2018 — provided taking it down won’t put the public at risk and the building isn’t on the Victorian Heritage Register.

Section 29A consent. Under section 29A of the Building Act 1993, council must report and consent before we can issue the permit if the demolition — counting any demolition on the building in the previous three years — takes out more than half the building’s volume, or any part of a street-facing façade. Council has 15 business days; silence is consent, unless a planning permit (typically a heritage overlay) is needed and not yet issued. We prepare the 29A referral, lodge it and chase it. The step-by-step timing is in our guide to the demolition permit process.

Knock-down rebuild. Demolition and the new home are usually two permits. We often issue the demolition permit first so the site is cleared while the new-home package is finished, or combine both where the paperwork is ready. Our new home permits page covers the rest.

Partial demolition. Taking the rear off a house for an extension is demolition too, usually covered by the extension’s building permit. Section 29A still applies past the half-volume line or on a street-facing façade — corner blocks catch people here, because both frontages count.

Not sure? Send the address and a photo from the street and we’ll tell you for free whether you need a demolition permit and whether council’s Section 29A consent applies.

What we need from you

The property address, a site plan or marked-up aerial photo showing what’s coming down, a photo from the street, and the demolition contractor’s details. The contractor must be registered with the Building and Plumbing Commission as a demolisher in a class that covers the building, or as a domestic builder (unlimited) for a house; owner-builders are rarely issued a demolition permit. For partial demolition, the drawings showing what stays and what goes. If there’s a planning permit for the demolition or the new dwelling, send it; if you’re not sure one is needed, we check the overlays first.

If your supplier, installer or contractor wants to send the drawings to us direct, they can — the permit is still issued in your name and we come back to both of you.

What it costs

Included in the fixed fee. The assessment, the Section 29A referral, the building permit, the inspections the job needs and the certificate of final inspection for the cleared site. No hourly rates.

Charged separately and passed through. Council’s fee for the Section 29A report and consent, the state building permit levy where it applies, the engineer’s design where part of the building stays up, and council’s asset protection permit for the crossover and nature strip. We tell you which apply when we quote.

What changes the fee. Whether 29A consent is needed, whether the whole building or part of it is coming down, its size and height, protection work for a neighbour, and whether the permit is issued on its own or with the new home’s.

Send the drawings and we quote a fixed fee, usually within one business day. Builders, suppliers and installers who send us regular work can ask for our fee schedule — see our page for builders and suppliers.

Where we do this work

Knock-down rebuilds follow the older housing. In the north it’s the interwar and post-war streets of Preston and the seventies blocks in the old town at Sunbury. In the west, the wide interwar blocks around Watton Street in Werribee and the satellite-city brick veneer of Melton. In the south-east, Dandenong, where a heritage overlay on the older streets often puts a planning permit in front of the 29A consent. In the east, Doncaster and Glen Waverley — see our eastern suburbs page. Garage and shed demolitions come from everywhere, and commercial demolition from the older industrial streets; wherever the site is, the same surveyor handles the permit and the inspections.

Things that catch people out

• Services. Electricity and gas must be abolished — service removed, not just switched off — before demolition starts, and distributor lead times can be long. Put those applications in the day you decide to demolish.
• Asbestos. Older houses, sheds and garages often have it. Anything beyond a small amount of non-friable material, and any friable material at all, needs a licensed removalist before the main demolition.