An owner builder permit in Victoria is really two approvals. If the domestic building work on land you own is worth more than $20,000, you first need a certificate of consent from the Building and Plumbing Commission (BPC). You then need a building permit from a registered building surveyor, municipal or private, who stays appointed for the whole project.
Our building surveyors assess your application, issue your owner builder building permit and carry out the mandatory inspections through to final sign-off. For the full rules, read our owner-builder guide for Victoria.
You need a certificate of consent from the BPC to carry out domestic building work as an owner-builder when the work is valued at more than $20,000, up from $16,000 before 1 July 2026. The value includes labour and materials. It’s the estimated cost if a registered builder did the job, so doing the work yourself doesn’t lower it.
To apply, you’ll need to:
Generally, you must live, or intend to live, in the home and not have been issued an owner-builder permit for a different property in the past five years. The BPC’s certificate of consent page has the full criteria.
To assess your owner builder permit application, we typically need:
Get the certificate of consent before applying, because the application asks for its number. It doesn’t guarantee a permit: your plans must still comply.
Since 26 November 2025, set rules apply to the cost of work in a permit application. As an owner-builder, you add your estimated labour, materials and any contract prices for trades, including GST, then deduct chattels: movable items not needed to comply with the National Construction Code. Your own labour counts, even though you don’t pay yourself.
The figure sets the building permit levy, payable when the cost is over $10,000, and the permit number isn’t issued until the levy is paid. A building surveyor can refuse an application if the cost appears materially incorrect, and you must tell the BPC if the estimated cost has increased by the end of the project.
We can only issue a building permit once your documents comply, so our process is built around checking everything early. Here’s how we take owner-builders from first enquiry to final sign-off.
Send us your address, plans, scope and estimated cost. We’ll confirm whether you need a certificate of consent, which reports apply and how many inspections to expect, then send a free quote.
Before lodgement, we review your drawings, engineering, reports and cost figures, then give you a plain checklist of anything missing or needing change, so gaps are fixed before assessment rather than during it.
Once your documents comply, any planning permit is in place, your certificate of consent is provided where required and the levy is paid, we issue your building permit and lodge it with council.
You notify us as each stage is reached and we inspect in person. After a successful final inspection, we issue the occupancy permit or certificate of final inspection that your permit specifies.
Owner-builders can work on a single home and its ancillary buildings and structures. Common projects include:
Owner-builders can’t carry out demolition or subfloor work such as re-stumping, or relocate a home, so tell us early if your project involves these.
As an owner-builder, you’re legally the builder. In practice, that means:
Your building permit lists the mandatory notification stages. For a new home, that’s usually before footings are placed, before the concrete slab is poured, when the frame is complete, and at final. As the builder named on the permit, you must notify us as each stage is reached, and work must not be covered until it has been inspected and approved.
Inspections happen in person, not from photos. If work doesn’t comply, the direction to fix comes to you, with a set time to fix it. Our guide to mandatory building inspections in Victoria explains each stage.
JLN Building Consultants is a building surveying consultancy based in Niddrie, in Melbourne’s north-west. Our directors bring over 20 years of combined experience across construction and building surveying, and we issue permits for new homes, extensions, sheds, garages, pools and more across Melbourne and regional Victoria.
As your building surveyor, we’re an independent check on compliance rather than your site supervisor, but we’ll make each step of the approval pathway clear.
Common questions from owner-builders planning their permit.
Yes. You can appoint a municipal or private building surveyor, and they must stay appointed for the whole project. As private building surveyors, we assess your application, issue the building permit, carry out the mandatory inspections and issue the final certificate or occupancy permit.
The BPC says about 45 business days for a complete application, so apply well before you plan to start. The certificate is valid for 12 months from issue or, once you have a building permit, until that permit lapses. While you wait, we can review your plans and reports.
Not unless you hold the relevant licence. Use licensed plumbers and electricians, and a licensed asbestos removalist if asbestos needs removing. Keep their certificates together: for a new home, we can’t issue the occupancy permit until we’ve seen any required plumbing compliance certificates.
If you sell within six and a half years of your occupancy permit or certificate of final inspection, you’ll need a defects inspection report from a prescribed practitioner, no more than six months old. If the work was worth more than $20,000, you’ll also need domestic building insurance before signing a contract of sale. The report and notice of cover go in the section 32 statement. Our owner-builder guide covers the detail.
Send us your address, plans and estimated cost of work, and we’ll tell you what your owner builder permit needs before you apply. Request a free quote, call 0422 234 951 or email info@jlnconsultants.com.au.
