Building Certifiers

What we can do for you?

BCA Certifiers Brisbane is a team of building certifiers that are accredited by the Australia Institute of Building Surveyors (AIBS) and licensed under the Building Services Authority (BSA). And in accordance with the Queensland Building Act 1975, our role as building certifiers, is essentially to facilitate the approval, inspection and certification of building works in the Queensland, ensuring building work complies with required parts of the Queensland Development Code (QDC), the Building Code of Australia (BCA), the relevant Australian Standards (AS) and all applicable building control legislation.

What We Do

If you require a Building Development Approval (BA) we are the people to see. We will guide you through the process to enable us to issue your BA as soon as possible so you can get your project underway.

During the design of the building, the approvals process and the construction phase we can assist in the provision of a comprehensive building compliance advice service, ensuring the building being designed and constructed meets all BCA and other regulatory requirements and is therefore suitable for occupation and use on completion.

While the building is under construction we will:-

• carry out the mandatory inspections and any additional inspections as necessary;
• provide ongoing compliance advice to ensure your project is constructed in accordance with the BA documents;
• complete Final Certification for your project on satisfactory completion of the building work and acceptance of all required certification and supporting documentation;
• issue the Final Certification documentation to the building owner and Local Government in accordance with the Queensland Building Act 1975 to finalise the BA process.

QLD Approval and Certification Process

Prior to commencement of building work on some projects you may be required to obtain a Development Approval (DA) from council in accordance with the Sustainable Planning Act in Queensland. This is predominantly an approval for assessment against the respective Town Planning Schemes from your Local Government area. Once the DA is in place we can issue our BA to authorise the commencement of your building work.

The DA is obtained through a Town Planning Application to your respective Local Government. Generally we do not get involved in this part of the process other than providing compliance advice in relation to the QDC, BCA and relevant AS to avoid costly time delays when it comes to the BA stage.

After obtaining DA your next step is to obtain a BA. To obtain your BA you must appoint a Queensland Licensed Certifier. BCA Certifiers excel at providing this crucial service to our clients for all types of projects no matter the size or complexity.

As opposed to the DA, which gives approval as to what you can build from a town planning perspective, the BA is an approval for how the building will be constructed ensuring compliance with the codes, standards and applicable building control legislation.

Building Work Approval

The exception to the normal process of obtaining a DA is when your proposal is categorised as exempt/self-assessable development under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 and relevant Town Planning Schemes. This may allow you to be exempt from requiring a DA. Many structures ranging from decks and pergolas to new houses and extensions may come under the exempt/self-assessable development category requiring a BA only.
Minor structures or repairs to existing buildings which are exempt from DA may also be exempt from BA; this information can be confirmed under Schedule (1) of the Building Regulation 2006. These minor structures or repairs are still required to be built to the BCA and applicable AS but may not require any formal approval.

(Note: these are legal documents and can sometimes be hard to interpret; you may need to check with the Local Government, Town Planning Consultant or Building Certifier to confirm if it applies to your proposed development).

It also should be noted that this process when correctly applied will greatly simplify and speed up the approval process; however, there are a number of development requirements within the Town Planning legislation that will need to be addressed prior to confirming a proposal is exempt from DA.

Note: BCA Certifiers are building certifiers and not planning consultants. This explanation of the planning and building regulatory process is meant to be general advice only and does not constitute legal advice. Therefore you should obtain your own specific legal and planning advice before embarking on any building project. BCA Certifiers (Aust) Pty Ltd accepts no responsibility or liability to any person for anything or the consequences of anything done or omitted to be done as a result of relying on the whole or any part of this document.