Before You Start
Council & certifier
A Principal Certifier must be appointed before construction commences — not after you've started, which is a mistake that stalls jobs.
Your exact list of mandatory inspections isn't generic — it's in the schedule attached to your Construction Certificate or Complying Development Certificate. Pull that schedule and read it before Stage 1.
Standards & basic building principles
The NCC and AS/NZS standards (e.g. AS/NZS 3500 for plumbing/drainage) are the national floor — your council can and often does add more via its Development Control Plan (DCP). Assuming the national standard is the whole picture is a common, avoidable mistake.
Treat your Principal Certifier as a resource, not just the person who turns up to fail you. Ask them directly, before you start: for each major stage, what evidence will they actually want to see it was done correctly? Building first and asking "how do I get this signed off?" afterwards is the expensive way to find out.
Documentation is part of the building, not paperwork bolted on afterwards. Keep itemised quotes, written variations, trade licence and insurance details, and photos of anything that's about to be covered up — from day one, not from when something goes wrong.
Tools Worth Knowing About
Genuinely useful, no affiliation — just pointing you at things that make this stage easier to understand.
- Tools™ — buildingtools.co →
Turns the NCC and Australian Standards into interactive diagrams instead of dense text — a genuinely useful way to actually picture what a clause is asking for. Free tier available. We're not affiliated with it and don't earn anything if you use it — just a good find.
Official WHS Forms — This Stage
From SafeWork NSW's free Housing Industry Site Safety Pack — we link to the official forms rather than reproduce them.
- WHS Form 01: Organisation details
- WHS Form 02: Roles and responsibilities
- WHS Form 03: Work health and safety policy