Where council grants development consent, that consent settles what may be built: the use, the form, the bulk, the impact on neighbours. It does not settle how it is constructed.
The Construction Certificate is the second half. It confirms that the construction drawings and specifications satisfy the Building Code of Australia, and that what is now proposed is consistent with what council actually consented to. It has to be issued before building work begins.
Not on the drawings. On the conditions.
A development consent comes with conditions, and some of them have to be satisfied before a Construction Certificate can be issued at all. Section 7.11 or 7.12 contributions. A bond or a security deposit. A road opening permit. A tree protection plan. A construction management plan. A long service levy.
Each is ordinary. Together they are the usual reason a project sits still with an approval in the drawer while everybody waits for somebody else. We read the consent at the beginning and list every pre-construction condition, so the waiting happens in parallel rather than one item at a time.
Between consent and construction, designs change — a window relocated, a level adjusted, a material substituted. Some of that a Construction Certificate can absorb. Some of it cannot, because a Construction Certificate cannot be issued for work that is inconsistent with the consent.
Where the change is too large, the consent has to be modified first. That is a council process, and it takes time you would rather have found out about earlier. Send us the current drawings alongside the consent and we will tell you which side of the line they fall on.
The certificate issued. A Principal Certifier appointed by the owner. Notice of commencement given. Any pre-construction condition satisfied.
The certifier who issues the Construction Certificate does not have to be the Principal Certifier — but somebody has to be, and it is the owner who makes that appointment.
Send us the property address and whatever plans exist and we will tell you where you stand — the pathway, what is still needed, and what it will cost. Or call (02) 8772 4022 and we will talk it through.
Request a fee proposal