CC issued. Here's why you still
can't dig on Monday.

A CC is permission to build. It is not permission to start. Six things still sit between the certificate and the first machine on site, and most of them are nobody's job until they're suddenly urgent.

1. Appoint your Principal Certifier — formally

The certifier who issued your CC isn't automatically your Principal Certifier for the build. The appointment is a separate step, made by you as the owner, and it has to be in place before work begins. If council issued your CC, you can still appoint a private certifier as PC, and vice versa. Decide, sign, done — before Monday, not on Monday.

2. Confirm the long service levy is actually paid

Where the cost of works is $250,000 or more (including GST), the long service levy — 0.25% of that cost — has to be paid before the certifier can release the CC. Usually this is done. Occasionally the certificate is issued "subject to" payment and the receipt never comes through. Check you have the Long Service Corporation receipt in the folder.

3. Get the Home Building Compensation certificate from your builder

For contracted residential building work over $20,000, your builder must give you a certificate of insurance under the Home Building Compensation Fund before starting work and before taking any money beyond the deposit. Your Principal Certifier will ask for it. If your builder can't produce it on the spot, that's information worth having before a single tonne of soil moves.

4. Lodge the Notice of Commencement — two days early

This is the one that costs people the week. Notice that building work is about to start must be given through the NSW Planning Portal at least two days before it does. It names the Principal Certifier and confirms the start date. Lodge it Friday and Monday is fine. Lodge it Monday morning and Monday is not.

5. Clear the "prior to commencement" conditions

Go back to your consent and find the group headed prior to commencement of works. On a Northern Beaches site it usually includes: site signage with the certifier's details, tree protection fencing around retained trees, sediment and erosion controls installed, a dilapidation report on neighbouring properties where excavation is involved, and any Sydney Water approval for building near its assets. Each is small. Each is photographed and filed before the first inspection.

6. Book the first critical stage inspection

For a house, the first mandatory inspection is after excavation and before footings are placed. Your certifier needs notice, and certifiers are busy. Booking it the week you lodge the Notice of Commencement means the excavator doesn't sit idle waiting for a signature.

The CC tells you that you may build. Nothing in it tells you that you may start. That part is a separate list, and it's short — as long as somebody owns it.

The Friday checklist

• Principal Certifier appointment signed
• Long service levy receipt in the folder
• HBCF certificate from the builder in the folder
• Notice of Commencement lodged on the Portal, date confirmed
• Signage, tree protection, sediment controls, dilapidation reports — done and photographed
• First critical stage inspection booked

Six lines. If all six are ticked on Friday, Monday happens.

A note on the rules

The Building (Approvals and Practitioners) Bill passed NSW Parliament in August 2026 and will eventually replace Construction Certificates with "building approvals". It commences by proclamation and the regulations aren't published. Nothing has changed yet. The steps above still apply to every CC issued today.

Haven't got the CC yet? Start with reading your DA conditions, then what your CC actually needs. Or send us the consent — the free assessment sorts the list for you.

General information only, current at the time of writing. Requirements vary by council and by consent. Not planning or legal advice.