Owner-Builder Hold Point Pack
Victoria

What are the mandatory building inspection stages in Victoria?

For a new building or an alteration there are up to five: before a footing is placed, before certain reinforced concrete is poured, when the frame is complete, an inspection of fire and smoke resisting elements in some buildings, and the final inspection when all the work is finished. Source: Building Regulations 2018, regulation 167.

On this page, "the Commission" is the Building and Plumbing Commission. Read on 11 October 2026.

The stages, as the Regulations list them

  • Before placing a footing. Source: Building Regulations 2018, regulation 167(a).
  • Before pouring an in situ reinforced concrete member that your building surveyor has specified in the building permit. Source: Building Regulations 2018, regulation 167(b).
  • The completion of framework. Source: Building Regulations 2018, regulation 167(c).
  • During work your building surveyor has specified in the permit for the inspection of fire and smoke resisting elements. That inspection is for Class 2, 3 and 4 buildings. Source: Building Regulations 2018, regulation 167(d) and regulation 172(1).
  • Final, on the completion of all building work. Source: Building Regulations 2018, regulation 167(e).

Your permit is the list that counts

  • Your building surveyor must write the mandatory notification stages for your job into the building permit. Source: Building Regulations 2018, regulation 171.
  • The surveyor may leave out a stage that is not relevant to your work. Source: Building Regulations 2018, regulation 170.
  • The surveyor may also have the work inspected at any other time, whether or not a mandatory stage has been reached. Source: Building Act 1993, section 35.
  • Demolition and swimming pools have their own lists of stages. Source: Building Regulations 2018, regulations 168 and 169.

Who has to do what

  • The person named as the builder in the building permit must make sure the building surveyor is notified without delay when each mandatory stage is completed. Source: Building Act 1993, section 33(1).
  • If the surveyor directs it, work must stop at that stage. Source: Building Act 1993, section 33(2).
  • Once notified, the surveyor must have the work inspected in person. Source: Building Act 1993, section 34.
  • For an owner-builder, making sure the work is inspected as the Act and Regulations require is one of the listed duties, along with knowing when to apply for an occupancy permit or a certificate of final inspection. Source: Building Regulations 2018, Schedule 2, items 3 and 4.
  • Not notifying is an offence for the person named as the builder. Source: Building Act 1993, section 33(1), penalty.

What the mandatory inspections do not cover

  • The Regulations name only the stages above. Waterproofing, tiling, plasterboard, roofing and decks are not on that list. Source: Building Regulations 2018, regulation 167.
  • Those are the stages where a mistake gets covered up for good, and where nobody but you is required to look before the trade is paid. The hold point pack is a set of printable check sheets for exactly those stages.

Get the free sample of the hold point pack

The instructions and one complete stage, wet area waterproofing: what to check, and what to hold in your hand, before you pay. No sign-up.

Get the free sample (PDF, 7 pages) See what is in the full pack

More for owner-builders in Victoria

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