What building inspections are required when building a house?

Building inspections are a major aspect of building a new home

Building your dream home in Queensland can be a challenging and stressful experience but also exciting and rewarding at the same time.

Starting with choosing a builder, then your desired new home design, layout, and the finishing touches for the interior fixtures. But do you know what building inspections are required to ensure that the construction of your home meets all the required building codes?

Certain inspections are mandatory and carried out to help ensure that everything goes according to plan and ultimately save time, money, and stress in the long run. Inspections must be carried out at each stage starting with the foundations and following through to completion to ensure compliance with the Building Code of Australia (BCA) and the relevant Australian Standards before it is deemed safe for occupancy.

Queensland Building Inspection Checklist

Building a new home is one of the biggest investments one could make and you need to be sure you have covered all aspects of the build to ensure safety, compliance, and peace of mind that your new home is built to the required codes. Each mandatory inspection has certain requirements that must be met in order for your house to pass. The inspections that are required for your home will be listed on your building permits or approvals and may vary slightly from the ones listed below, depending on what state you are building in. Generally, a building surveyor will legally be required to sign off on the following:

Excavation - after excavation of foundation material and before the concrete for the footings or slab for the building is poured.
Footing inspection - if the building is to have footings - after the placement of formwork and reinforcement for the footings but before the concrete for the footings is poured
Slab inspection / base stage inspection- an inspection of your home concrete slab
Framing Inspection - inspection of all of the framing work for your home
Waterproofing inspection - currently only mandatory in Queensland and NSW
Final inspection - a thorough top-to-bottom inspection of the completed house for compliance with regulatory issues

At each mandatory inspection stage, a building surveyor must approve the work that has been done by the builder and issue a building permit or approval before work can continue. If anything is wrong, it will need to be rectified to the satisfaction of the building surveyor or inspector before a permit approval is issued.

These inspections are carried out to safeguard your investment and ensure your home is built to last.

Who pays for building inspections?

The cost of mandatory inspections needed with a new build will usually be factored into the building contract but, you should always check your contract before you sign it (or agree to extra inspections) to make sure this is the case.

Looking for a professional builder for your Gold Coast, Tweed, or South Brisbane project? We are licensed with the QBCC as trade contractors and builders. Our compliance with regulations ensures you are fully protected in case of any defective work. Contact us on 07 5558 3812 for your renovation or custom build project today.

Reference: Build.com.au - Building inspections

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