Planning an extension, a new home or a shop fit-out? JLN Building Consultants is a private building surveyor Geelong homeowners, builders and businesses can appoint for building permits and mandatory inspections, from period homes in Geelong West and Newtown to new estates at Armstrong Creek and Lara, and coastal properties in Ocean Grove, Barwon Heads and Portarlington.
We’re based in Niddrie, in Melbourne’s north-west, and service Greater Geelong. Heritage, flood, coastal and bushfire controls each apply in parts of the municipality, so we check your land before plans are finalised. Call 0422 234 951 or request a free quote.
It’s your choice. The City of Greater Geelong offers its own building permit service, or you can appoint a registered private building surveyor. Only the owner or the owner’s agent can appoint a private surveyor; for domestic work under a building contract, the builder can’t. Once appointed, we notify council within seven days and lodge your permit through council’s portal for private surveyors.
Some approvals stay with council whoever issues your permit:
Parts of Geelong’s older suburbs, including Geelong West, Newtown, Drumcondra and East Geelong, are in the Heritage Overlay. There, extending, altering or demolishing a building, or adding a garage or front fence, generally needs a planning permit before the building permit.
Council’s Heritage Design Guidelines (July 2026) favour rear additions, upper storeys set well back from the front wall, garages and carports behind the house, and front fences typically no higher than 1.3 metres unless the precinct has a precedent. We check your plans match the planning permit before issuing your residential building permit.
Council describes Armstrong Creek as the largest contiguous growth area in Victoria, with about 2,500 hectares of developable land and around 22,000 homes planned. Lara West, approved in 2014, is planned for about 11,000 people. The Northern and Western Geelong Growth Areas are expected to house more than 110,000 new residents, though precinct structure plans such as Creamery Road and Elcho Road East are still being prepared.
Buying in a new estate? Check your contract and title for design guidelines, covenants or a memorandum of common provisions. These can apply on top of the Building Regulations, so we review them with your plans.
Whether it’s a Newtown extension, an Armstrong Creek home or a Portarlington pool, the order of approvals matters. Here’s how we take your Geelong project from site check to sign-off.
We check VicPlan for zones and overlays such as heritage, flooding and bushfire, and review the title for easements, covenants and section 173 agreements. Where it matters, council’s building information certificate confirms flood or BAL designations.
Any planning permit comes first. If the design varies the siting rules, crosses a council drainage easement or sits on flood-prone land, council’s report and consent follows. Council says siting applications can take up to two weeks, and easement or flood consents up to four.
Once the plans, engineering and energy reports comply, we issue the building permit and lodge it with the City of Greater Geelong. Council also requires an asset protection permit before any demolition or building work begins.
We carry out an inspection at each mandatory stage listed on your permit. When the work is complete, we issue the occupancy permit or certificate of final inspection that your building permit requires.
Two recent planning scheme amendments are worth knowing about:
Bushfire controls apply too. New homes in a designated bushfire prone area must be built to at least BAL-12.5, and land in the Bushfire Management Overlay needs a planning permit as well as a building permit.
A pool or spa that can hold more than 300 mm of water needs a building permit and a compliant safety barrier. Council requires new pools and spas to be registered within 30 days of completion and a certificate of barrier compliance (Form 23) to be lodged, and the barrier must then be inspected every four years. A relocatable pool erected for three days or more must be registered by the fourth day.
On LSIO2 land, new buildings and works such as an extension may need a planning permit first. See our pool and spa permits page.
Commercial projects range from retail and office fit-outs in central Geelong to warehouses and factories. A change of use, such as turning a shop into a cafe, can mean upgrading the building for its new occupants, with exits, fire safety and access all reviewed.
Heritage can apply here too. Council’s Heritage Design Guidelines cover commercial additions and shop verandahs, with examples from Pakington Street and Moorabool Street, so external changes may need a planning permit first. We assess essential safety measures early and issue the building and occupancy permits. See our commercial building permits page.
JLN is a building surveying consultancy based in Niddrie, in the City of Moonee Valley, and we service Greater Geelong as well as Melbourne. Our directors have over 20 years of combined experience across construction and building surveying, which helps when heritage, coastal or estate controls sit alongside the Building Regulations.
Working near Little River, which straddles the municipal boundary? We also service neighbouring Wyndham and the other areas we service.
Common questions from Greater Geelong homeowners, builders and businesses.
Yes. Council offers its own permit service, but you can appoint a registered private building surveyor instead, and only one surveyor per project. The owner or the owner’s agent makes the appointment; under a domestic building contract, the builder can’t. Council still handles report and consent, pool registration and building information certificates.
Search your address on VicPlan to see the zones and overlays, including flood, heritage and bushfire controls. Council’s regulation 51.2 building information certificate confirms designations such as land liable to flooding and a specified BAL. Council says standard requests take five business days.
If the property is in the Heritage Overlay, generally yes. External works such as extensions, demolition, new garages and front fences usually need a planning permit, which must be in place before the building permit is issued. Council’s heritage advisory service can help before you apply, and its design guidelines explain what it looks for.
For a City of Greater Geelong drainage easement, yes. Council checks that its stormwater assets won’t be damaged and can still be accessed, and asks for plans showing the clearance from your footings to the pipe. It says easement consent can take up to four weeks. For water and sewerage easements, contact Barwon Water; for electricity, Powercor.
Yes. JLN is based in Niddrie, in Melbourne’s north-west, and services Greater Geelong. Send the property address and a description of the work when you request a quote, and we’ll confirm the approvals your project needs and how inspections will be scheduled.
Send us the address, your plans or a sketch, and any planning permit or estate approval, and we’ll outline the approvals you need. Request a free quote! Or call 0422 234 951.
