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Licensed building certifiers assess building applications, decide whether to issue building approvals and inspect and certify building works. The certifier ensures the building works comply with the building assessment provisions, the Building Act and the approval. Certifiers can work for local government or in private practice.
There is a high level of accountability in your position as a certifier so it is important that you avoid situations that may cause a conflict of interest. Building certifiers must act in the public interest when performing building certifying functions.
Examples of building certifiers not acting in the public interest may include (but not limited to):
A certifier's conduct can be reported to the QBCC.
In most cases, your builder will be responsible for engaging the private certifier on your behalf. However, you can directly appoint a private certifier. You should have documented in your contract who wil be the person responsible for engaging the certifier.
Regardless of who engaged the private certifier, owner clients and other clients must be aware of the certifier's engagement, role and responsibilities, including if:
If you are the property owner, you can obtain inspection documents relating to the stages of work before the final stage using a Form 35—owner request for a copy of inspection documentation (PDF, 169KB)
The building certifier is obligated to provide the requested inspection documentation to you within 5 business days. A penalty of up to 20 penalty units ($2,669 as at 1 October 2020) may apply if the building certifier does not comply.
The certifier will provide the final stage documents to you. You don't need to request them. The process and types of documents depend on the class of the building.
The owner of a class 1a dwelling (or associated class 10 structure) will be given the final inspection certificate, plus a copy of any other inspection documentation.
The building certifier is responsible for ensuring these documents are given to you within 5 business days. Failing to do so may result in a penalty of up to 40 penalty units.
Owners of other types of buildings will be given a certificate of occupancy.
The certifier must ensure you receive the certificate of occupancy as soon as practicable, once the building is eligible for the certificate. A penalty of up to 20 penalty units may apply if the building certifier does not do so.
As a building owner, you can request a certifier to perform inspections and other certifying functions additional to the standard stage inspections required under the building development approval.
These requests can be made using Form 31—additional certification notice (PDF, 183KB) and giving it to the person (client) that engaged the certifier.
The additional certification notice needs to provide details of the certifying function the owner requests the certifier to perform.
Only building certifying functions relating to compliance of a building with the Building Code of Australia (BCA) or the Queensland Development Code (QDC) can be requested.
As the building owner, you must pay the reasonable costs for the additional functions requested.
It is the responsibility of the builder to let the certifier know when the project is at a stage requiring an inspection.
Certifiers must let the QBCC know if they did not receive a notice for inspection from the builder. This can be done by completing the form:
Notification of missed inspection (PDF, 33KB)
Lodge it with us:
Keeping up to date with the latest building practices and legislation is an important part of your role. Continuing professional development requirements assist in maintaining your accreditation to meet licensing requirements.
Some of the areas where you may need to continue to increase your knowledge include:
Building certifiers must act in the public interest. Examples of certifiers not doing this include:
A certifier's conduct can be reported to the QBCC.
Check eligibility requirements and apply for a certifier licence.
A classification summary of buildings and structures under the National Construction Code (NCC).
All building work must comply with the requirements of the Building Code of Australia (BCA).
The Building Code of Australia (BCA) is contained within the National Construction Code (NCC) and provides the minimum necessary requirements for safety, health, amenity and sustainability in the design and construction of new buildings (and new building work in existing buildings) throughout Australia.
In doing so, it groups buildings by their function and use. These groups are assigned a classification which is then how buildings are referred to throughout the NCC. These groups are summarised below.
Houses or dwellings of a domestic or residential nature—single or horizontally attached to other Class 1 buildings such as terrace houses, row houses, or townhouses.
In these situations they must be separated by a wall that has fire‑resisting and sound insulation properties. 2 subclasses include:
Apartment buildings—residential buildings containing two or more sole-occupancy units where people live above, beside or below each other.
Class 2 may also be single storey attached dwellings where there is a common space below such as a basement or carpark.
A residential building, other than a Class 1 or 2 building, which is a common place of long term or transient living for a number of unrelated persons, such as:
Class 3 buildings could also include dormitory style accommodation, or workers’ quarters for shearers or fruit pickers.
Class 3 buildings may also be “care-type” facilities such as accommodation buildings for children, the elderly, or people with a disability, and which are not considered to be Class 9 buildings.
Part of a building that is a dwelling or residence within a non-residential building (Class 5 to 9), such as a caretaker’s residence in a hospital.
Office buildings for professional and/or commercial purposes (excluding Class 6 to 9), such as offices for government agencies, accountants or lawyers.
Shops, restaurants and cafés—places for the sale of retail goods or the supply of services direct to the public, such as:
Buildings including carparks, warehouses or storage buildings. This class includes two sub-classifications:
Factories—buildings used for production, assembling, altering, repairing, finishing, packing, or cleaning of goods or produce.
It includes buildings such as a:
Public buildings—with three sub-classifications:
Non-habitable buildings or structures. This class includes three sub classifications:
Details of building classes included in the builder scope of works.
The QBCC licenses pool safety inspectors to perform the pool safety inspection functions set out in the Building Act 1975 for regulated pools.
A pool safety inspector (PSI) can:
Pool safety inspectors cannot legally perform works valued at more than $3,300 without an appropriate licence and contract.
A pool safety inspector must issue a Form 23—pool safety certificate through the swimming pool register on myQBCC on behalf of their client. Learn how to do this using our help guide:
myQBCC user guide for PSIs—pool register
If a pool safety inspector determines a pool is non-compliant, they must issue a Form 26—swimming pool non-conformity notice (PDF 116.68KB) , unless either:
As a pool safety inspector, you have a responsibility to adhere to the Code of conduct for pool safety inspectors (PDF, 924KB) at all times
The purpose of the code is to:
In undertaking pool safety inspection functions and related functions, an inspector must always:
Download and read:
Code of conduct for pool safety inspectors (PDF, 924KB)
Potential conflicts of interest for pool safety inspectors may include:
There is also a potential conflict of interest when a real estate agent or agency employee inspects a barrier for an owner who receives other services from the agency.
As part of your role, you must continue to update your knowledge of pool safety legislation, regulations, practices and standards.
We measure your activity using a point system and we approve and allocate points for CPD activities such as training courses, workshops and seminars. See our list of approved CPD activities for PSIs.
You must provide evidence that you have accumulated CPD points from the previous year when you renew or restore your licence.
| Item | Fee |
|---|---|
| Identification number for a pool safety certificate | $45.76 |
There is no fee to do a digital search of the pools register.
There is a fee to extract a paper copy of information held in the regulated pools register.
| Item | Fee |
|---|---|
| 1st the first page | $7.40 |
| Each additional page | $3.12 |
When you’re a pool safety inspector, there are responsibilities that come with the job.
To avoid making some of the inspection errors that are reported to the QBCC, we have created a series of short, educational videos to help you prepare for any pool inspection.
