Submitting a privately certified building approval

Include the following information in your approval application:

• description of works from the decision notice
• building classification and type, based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics classifications
• estimated cost of works in whole dollars
• type of permit – staged, final or amended
• gross floor area in whole square meters
• type of work carried out
• public or private ownership.

For a residential building, state whether it is freestanding or attached to another building.

If the information applies to your development, also include the:

• number of storeys or units
• number of residential dwellings and units on the site before building work started
• number of dwellings to be demolished under the building approval
• number of dwellings moved to, or from, the site
• villa number.

Including all applicable information helps our staff to complete the approval.

Including the certifier reference number is optional, but helps with linking related items.

If the plan sealing hasn’t yet been applied to the property, lodge the application under the original property.

You need to reference the proposed address and the previous address.

Documents should be PDFs created in a software program, not scanned.

Also make sure your document is:

• not zipped
• unlocked, with no password protection
• clear
• in the correct orientation (vertical or horizontal)
• less than 10MB.

Refer to your software instructions if you need to reduce the document file size.

Contact us if you can’t reduce the document size, and we'll provide a Dropbox link.

Also include the following attachments:

• decision notice
• DA Form 2 – Building work details
• Form 56 – Notice of engagement (unless previously lodged)
• Form 20 – Lodgement of building work
• plans and supporting documentation.

These are mandatory documents under Section 86 of the Building Act 1975 (Qld).

You don’t need to also provide a hard copy if you submit documents online.