The Building Surveyor's Code of Practice

About this course.

A building surveyor — called a building certifier in some states and territories — is the professional who assesses whether building work complies with the applicable requirements, issues the statutory approvals and certificates that allow work to proceed and buildings to be occupied, and carries out or oversees inspections at critical stages of construction. Their professional conduct matters so much because they perform a public-interest, quasi-regulatory function: even when engaged and paid by a private client, they exercise powers that protect the wider community, and the safety and integrity of buildings depends on those powers being exercised honestly, competently and independently. In effect, the building surveyor stands at the gate of the building system, and the community relies on that gate being kept properly.

To understand why conduct is so central, it helps to see what the role actually decides. A building surveyor typically checks that proposed work meets the requirements set out through the National Construction Code — the nationally consistent set of building requirements developed by the Australian Building Codes Board — together with the relevant standards, planning conditions and approved documentation that apply in their jurisdiction. They issue the approvals or permits that authorise building work to begin, they inspect or arrange inspection of the work at mandatory stages, and they issue the final approvals or occupancy certificates that signify a building may lawfully be used. Each of these is a decision with real consequences for safety, amenity and value, and each depends on the surveyor's independent professional judgement.