At the end of your building project

When you come to the end of your building project, there are a couple of final steps that need to happen. Your building permit will state whether you need an occupancy permit or a certificate of final inspection on completion of the building work, and you may need to provide us with the final cost of your building works.

Occupancy permit

An occupancy permit is a document that confirms your building surveyor is satisfied the building is suitable for occupation.

If you do need an occupancy permit, it is an offence under the Building Act 1993 to occupy the new building before you have received the permit.

The owner or the builder may apply for the occupancy permit. Before issuing an occupancy permit, the building surveyor may request certificates or statements from various practitioners involved in the construction.

Certificate of final inspection

Your building surveyor will issue certificate of final inspection for extensions or alterations to existing homes. Extensions and alterations do not require an occupancy permit, as the existing building should already have an occupancy permit.

Changes to the cost of the building work

Variations to the building work during the life of a building permit are likely to result in cost of the building work increasing or decreasing from the amount initially calculated, which may change the levy applicable.

Once a building permit is issued, the owner should monitor and maintain records of the cost of the building work, which includes the contract price or agreed amount to be paid to the builder or estimate (for owner-builder only), the cost of chattel and the cost of any prescribed excluded items.

The owner has a duty to notify the BPC of a change in any of the above costs within 28 days of becoming aware of the change if the building permit is not a staged permit and there will be increase or decrease in the cost of the building work of $15,625 or higher.

If the change relates to an amendment of the building permit, the applicant is responsible for notifying the BPC. For building permit applications accepted by the relevant building surveyor (RBS) on or after 26 November 2025, the RBS is responsible for notifying the BPC of the revised cost of the building work.

Penalty levy may apply if you:

• fail to notify a variation to the building work that resulted in an increase of the building work
• gave false or misleading information relating to the RBS or BPC which resulted in the cost of the building work being calculated incorrectly.

You can notify us by completing the relevant form:

• Notification of increased building cost for non-staged building permits (for building permit applications accepted by an RBS before 26 November 2025)
  or
• Notification of changes in building cost for non-staged building permits (for building permit applications accepted by an RBS on or after 26 November 2025).

For staged permits, we may contact you at the end of the building work and request information about the final cost of work and supporting documents.