Most building approvals don’t get held up by the certifier — they get held up by small, avoidable gaps in the paperwork. After years of assessing files, the same culprits come up again and again. Here are the ten most common, and how to sidestep each one so your project keeps moving.
1. Missing Form 15 design certificates
Each consultant on your project — engineer, energy assessor and others — provides a Form 15 certifying their part of the design. A single missing one can hold up the whole file.
2. A soil test that doesn’t match the footing design
If the engineer’s footings are designed for one soil classification but the soil test says another, the file stalls until they reconcile.
3. A site plan missing key detail
Setbacks, sewer lines, easements and overlays all need to be shown. A site plan without them can’t be assessed.
4. An expired builder’s QBCC licence
This one catches people out more often than you’d expect. If your builder’s licence has lapsed, the approval can’t proceed.
5. Unpaid Home Warranty Insurance
A building approval can’t be issued until the Home Warranty Insurance premium is paid.
6. Development Approval conditions not addressed
If your project needed a council planning approval, its conditions have to be carried through into the building submission. Miss them and the file bounces back.
7. Drawings that are unsigned, undated or unnumbered
Plans without a signature, date or revision number can’t be relied on for assessment.
8. Missing pool fencing details
For any project with a pool, fencing and barrier details are mandatory. Leaving them out is a guaranteed delay.
9. An energy report that doesn’t match the windows
If the energy assessment was done on an earlier design and the windows have since changed, the numbers no longer hold.
10. Late design changes
The classic. A “minor” change after approval often isn’t minor at all — it can require an amended approval, resetting part of the process.
Avoiding building approval delays
Almost every item on this list comes down to one thing: a complete, consistent file lodged the first time. Getting your certifier involved early is the best insurance against all ten, because they’ll flag the gaps before they become weeks of delay.
At Apex Approvals, we’d rather chase one missing document than restart a file. Send us what you’ve got and we’ll tell you exactly what’s missing before it costs you time.
