Retaining walls on residential sites: approvals and engineering
A retaining wall holds back more than soil. Here is when it needs approval or an engineer, and why drainage and surcharge cause most of the failures.
11 min read
Topic
Approvals
Articles and news about Approvals for Australian builders.
Retaining walls on residential sites: approvals and engineering
A retaining wall holds back more than soil. Here is when it needs approval or an engineer, and why drainage and surcharge cause most of the failures.
11 min read
Heritage and conservation areas: what changes for residential builders
A heritage or conservation area listing changes the scope of a residential job before a single tool is picked up. Here is how the controls reach materials, approvals and programme, and how to price and sequence the work so the client is not caught out.
11 min read
Protecting trees on a building site and when removal needs approval
A retained tree is often a condition of the approval, and it dies quietly if its root zone is cut or compacted. This article sets out how to protect it during footings and excavation, and when removal needs approval.
11 min read
Council stop work orders on residential sites: what to do first
A stop work order is a regulator’s notice, not a commercial dispute. The first steps are to stop the work, read the notice closely, establish the facts and respond in writing.
11 min read
Unauthorised building work: options when a past job was never approved
Work built without approval does not disappear when the job is finished. The route forward is an assessment, an honest disclosure and a certificate process, and the builder’s own exposure depends on how the matter is handled.
11 min read
Exempt development in NSW: what builders can skip, and what they cannot
Exempt development needs no approval, but it is not a licence to skip the rules. Here is where the boundary sits, which conditions still bind the work and why the builder carries the liability whatever the council did or did not see.
12 min read
Complying development certificates: what NSW builders must check
A complying development certificate lets work start without a full development application, but it is a set of conditions the builder has to meet. Here is the builder’s side of it.
11 min read
Developer obligations on NSW residential projects: what builders need to know
On a NSW residential project the developer carries statutory duties that flow straight into your contract, your programme and your handover. Read the developer’s side of the framework before you price the job.
11 min read
When the build doesn’t match the DA: statutory modification pathways in NSW
A contract variation changes what you are paid for. A modification changes what you are legally allowed to build. Confusing the two is how a job ends up with work that no consent covers.
10 min read
Working with conditions on your NSW construction certificate
A construction certificate is only half the approval. The conditions attached to it are the part that gets audited on site, and they are the part most often lost between the approval file and the trades.
12 min read
BASIX certificate NSW: what builders need before you start
A BASIX certificate is a commitment about the finished house, not a design report. If the built outcome does not match it, the problem lands on you.
12 min read