Construction certificate in NSW - what it is and when you need one

A construction certificate, or CC, is the sign-off that lets your builder start work. It confirms that your detailed construction plans meet the Building Code of Australia and the conditions in your development consent. A lot of people only hear about it when their builder asks for it, usually just after they've finished celebrating the DA approval.

Where the CC sits in the process

The order matters, because you can't skip a step.

1. Development application (DA). Council decides whether the project can go ahead. If it says yes, it issues a consent with conditions. Read our guide to development applications if you're at this stage.
2. Construction certificate. Once the consent is in place, your detailed plans are checked against the building code and the consent conditions. The certificate is issued before any work starts.
3. Building work and inspections. Your builder works to the certified plans, and inspections happen along the way.

Say your DA is approved in March. In April your builder tells you they can't start until the CC is issued, and the certifier says three of the consent conditions haven't been met. That's a common way to lose a month.

A complying development certificate is different. It combines the planning approval and the construction approval, which is one of the reasons it's quicker than the DA route.

Who issues a construction certificate

Either your council or an accredited private certifier can issue one. Plenty of people choose a private certifier because it's often faster. The rules they apply are the same.

Conditions that have to be met first

Many consents have conditions that say something has to be done "prior to the issue of a Construction Certificate". That means the certificate can't be issued until it's done. The usual ones are:

• a construction management plan, which council has to accept before work starts
• a stormwater drainage plan that matches the approved design
• structural design certification from your engineer
• a BASIX certificate with commitments that line up with the plans

Take a house with a basement on a narrow street. The consent says a construction management plan must be approved before the CC. If nobody starts that plan until the builder asks, the job sits idle waiting for council to review it. Starting it while the DA is still being assessed would have saved the wait.

What usually holds a construction certificate up

• Conditions nobody read until the builder was ready to start
• Plans that no longer match the approved DA because the design changed along the way
• Specialist reports that were ordered too late

If your plans have changed since the DA was approved, you may need to change the consent first. We explain how in our page on modifying a development consent.

What to do before you apply

1. Read your consent from start to finish and list every condition.
2. Mark the ones that say they have to be done before the construction certificate.
3. Order the reports and plans for those first, since they take the longest.
4. Check the plans your certifier will see still match what council approved.