A "DA" is the short term for Development application, you need minimal documentation and is an application for Council to assess your proposal, ensures that your plans meet the legislative and Council requirements.

To break this down a DA is a formal request for approval to carry out a development. You must lodge a development application, and have it approved by your local council or a private certifier before you begin any work. Once submitted, the certifying body will assess your application based on applied community standards, planning and development legislation and council requirements. This process can take anywhere from 15 to 100 days and sometimes longer to receive approval, depending on your council (Local Government Area) and the type of development you’re proposing.

A CC (construction certificate) is an assessment on the construction of the building and gives you approval to commence construction. In most cases you cannot start construction without an approved construction certificate. In your application you need to show how your building above and below the ground. This process assesses that your development will comply with the development consent (DA Approval), the appropriate Australian standards, council’s policies and the building code of Australia (BCA).

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Yes, you need to submit a Development Application to council if you wish to build. Following that, you will require a construction certificate before the construction can start.

So what comes first?

People often ask whether they should submit a CC or DA first, and whether it even matters what order they are completed in. The short answer is your DA should generally come first. You will need a development application in order to attain your CC, although it is possible to apply for both at the same time. This option is likely to be suitable only for very minor proposals though, where consideration of the DA won’t require modification to the drawings.

You can either apply for these both at the same time or apply for the DA first, make sure you meet all the requirements before you invest in construction documents such as engineers etc and then apply for your CC.

Every local government area is different but standardly for a development Application you need plans and drawings of the proposed development, supporting documentation such as a statement of environmental effects, waste management plan, BASIX and a formal application form. If you're not applying for a DA and a CC at the same time, following approval of your DA, the next step is to obtain any required construction documentation and apply for a Construction Certificate (CC).

If the worst happens and your development application is not successful we recommend working with your local council or certifying authority to see if there is another way. In most cases you have the option to apply for a review of the decision or challenge it by submitting an appeal to the land and environment court however, you should know that appealing it can be time consuming and a costly process, with no guarantee of success.

Your local council provides these checklists to help reduce potential time delays associated with incomplete applications and to help you prepare the plans and supporting documents to submit with your application.

Please read your councils checklist carefully as they are often a generalised form for any development application and not all items may be required for yours. Consider all relevant requirements prior to the lodgement of your application.

Click on the images to direct you to these forms.

The simple answer to this is YES! Each council has their own set of requirements and outlines. You can either pair up with a great Architect and Builder to make this process a lot easier or have a meeting with a planner in your local council to discuss what you want to do and see if it is possible. You will receive general advice, they should be able to give you guidance through the application process in regards to documents needed for your specific application.

If you are at this stage,

Good luck!