Green Start Consulting

Since the 2nd of April 2012 a Building Surveyor in Perth has been able to work in a private company issuing, among other things, Certificates of Design Compliance (AKA CDCs) for buildings throughout Western Australia. Gone are the days of Building Licenses - we now have Building Permits. These CDC's are what is required by the Council when you apply for a Certified Building Permit.

Previously, Building Surveyors employed by the local governments were the only ones who were able to access your plans. The state government identified that this had been a bottleneck in the system for some time so they studied what was happening in other states and came back with the model we use today.

The current process was brought in to relieve the local Councils of the pressures and responsibilities of having to assess plans for compliance with the BCA (Building Code of Australia) and Australian Standards. People were now able to have an independent registered Building Surveyor assess the plans and prepare the CDC.

The main benefit of the new system is the time in which an application takes. It is not uncommon for information submitted to a local government Building Surveyor to take one week to actually arrive on their desk. Even if the information is sent in via email, it can still take a week to arrive to the Building Surveyors in-tray. Private Building Surveyors do not have to adhere to the same record keeping processes which local governments do. With private Building Surveyors like myself, if any information comes through I know about it instantly. If I am in front of my computer working - outlook will let me know. If I'm away from the computer, my phone will let me know. I can then work on it and get your application sorted out and back to you.

Once the CDC is issued by a private Building Surveyor you can then take that to the Council and make an application for a Certified Building Permit. The Council then have 10 working days to issue the permit, or they must refund your money. This is relatively quick considering that previously they had an unlimited amount of time to put you through the wringers.

I thought it might be a good time to make a flow chart, outlining the current Building Permit approval process here in Perth Western Australia.

Click HERE to email us if you have any questions about the process or would like to discuss your project.

Thanks for reading.

Author James Terenciuk

Green Start Consulting