Construction Drawings near you

The National Construction Code sets performance requirements, and there are two ways to meet them. The deemed-to-satisfy provisions are prescriptive recipes that are accepted as complying, which makes them fast to assess and fast to build. A performance solution is an alternative that has to be shown to meet the relevant performance requirement, documented as such and accepted by the practitioner assessing it. Most of a house should be deemed-to-satisfy. Performance solutions are worth the extra work only where a prescriptive detail would prevent something genuinely valuable.

No, and treating them as if they were is one of the more expensive assumptions in Australian residential building. A planning set exists to persuade a council that a proposal suits the site: plans, elevations, sections and setbacks. It contains almost none of the information a builder needs — junction details, setouts, specifications, schedules, tolerances. A builder pricing from a planning set is pricing assumptions, which means the price is either padded for risk or will be corrected by variations once work starts.

At minimum, a survey establishing levels and boundaries, a soil investigation giving a site classification so footings can be designed, a wind classification for bracing and tie-downs, and a bushfire attack level if the property is in a designated bushfire-prone area. Flood information matters where the planning controls identify it, because it can set a minimum floor level. Coastal sites need a view on corrosion exposure. Details drawn before these arrive usually have to be redrawn, and footings and openings are the parts most often affected.

A building surveyor or certifier, and whether that person is a private practitioner you engage or sits within your council depends on your state or territory. They assess whether the documented building satisfies the National Construction Code and the state's building legislation, and they issue the building approval or permit. Because they assess documents, an incomplete set is the most common reason an approval is delayed. It is worth asking early what that particular practitioner expects to see, since their request list is the real specification for your drawing set.

Usually not outright. Copyright generally remains with the person who produced the drawings, and what you buy is a licence to use them for the project described. If you might re-tender the job, change designers, or reuse the design on another block, negotiate that in the written appointment at the outset rather than when the relationship is under strain. Also confirm the designer carries professional indemnity insurance — in Queensland the QBCC makes it a condition of holding a building design licence, which is a sensible benchmark anywhere.