What is a Building Certifier?

Everyone knows that legally they need to get an approval to build, however it is unreasonable to expect everyone to know the Local, State, and Federal rules governing new building work, and how the process works. Building Surveyors, also known as Building Certifiers, are the professionals that undertake this role.

The 1997 Integrated Planning Act (Qld) enabled Building Surveyors to move from being solely employed by Council’s into private practices, enabling private Certifiers to enter the marketplace. A private certifier can approve and inspect building work in the same manner as the local council.

A Building Certifier gathers relevant information to enable assessment of plans against Local Council Planning Schemes and Local laws; State legislation, such as The Building Act and Regulations and federal legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act. The legislation may adopt other codes, such as the Building Code of Australia, and the Residential Timber Framing Code. Your plans will be assessed against the relevant codes to ensure proposed building work complies with acceptable health and safety standards.

After assessment of the plans, a Decision Notice is issued, usually with conditions, one of which will require progress inspections to be conducted. The Certifier conducts progress inspections, which are organised by the applicant or owner, finalises the application and forwards a copy of all documents to the relevant Council for record storage.

If an inspection reveals work not conducted in accordance with the approval, the Private Certifier can take any necessary action to ensure the building work complies with the legislation.

A private certifier is engaged under a written contract with the person who made the application. When you sign an Engagement Agreement, you agree to accept the terms of that contract.

All Building Certifiers are licensed by the Queensland Building Services Authority. Levels of Accreditation enable different building types to be approved. Blue Tongue Building Approvals has staff accredited to assess and inspect all domestic building work; and has a limit of up to 2000m² and a height of 3 storeys for commercial / industrial buildings.