One Queensland Rock Bill Cost Slightly More Than Three Pre-Build Surveys Combined

Which survey or report council and the certifier ask for

Council asks first. The NSW Planning Portal says council will require a site survey as part of a development application or complying development certificate. Burwood Council wants that plan prepared by a registered surveyor, showing contours, existing trees and structures, and adjoining buildings. That is the job of a contour and detail survey ($2,150), which the designer also uses to set floor levels.

The certifier asks next, at the construction certificate or building permit stage. Leeton Shire's checklist asks for a soil or site classification report to AS 2870, prepared by a qualified engineer or engineering geologist. Parkes Shire's checklist lists a geotech soil reactivity test report and a survey plan showing natural ground level contours. On most house blocks a standard soil test ($2,200) meets that requirement. The Planning Portal adds that you may be asked for a geotechnical report to support the soil part of the engineer's report.

At Going Rate's prices, a boundary survey ($2,700), a contour survey ($2,150) and a standard soil test ($2,200) come to about $7,050 together. The soil test is nearly a third of that.

The builder must get soil and slope data before you sign

In Victoria, section 30 of the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 says that on a major domestic building contract involving footings, the builder must obtain foundations data for the site before entering into the contract, with a penalty of 50 penalty units. Foundations data covers reports, surveys, test results and plans, and the builder must have regard to the need for information on the fall of the land. Queensland's QBCC Act sets the same duty in Schedule 1B section 31, with a maximum penalty of 100 penalty units, and also names the fall of the land.

Both laws then bar the builder from charging the owner later for an amount the contract did not provide for, if that amount could reasonably have been worked out from the foundations data. Queensland adds that a clause allowing the contract price to rise does not, by itself, count as providing for it. Consumer Affairs Victoria tells owners that the builder must obtain a soil report and foundation data to design the footings, and that a contract over $10,000 is a major domestic building contract.

Western Australia handles it through provisional sums. The WA Government says that on contracts between $7,500 and $500,000 a provisional sum cannot be less than the minimum the work would reasonably cost, that penalties apply for understating costs, and that site investigations should happen before the contract is signed. In all three states, ask each builder whether the soil test ($2,200) is already inside the quoted price.

Paying twice for a soil test

Some owners commission their own soil test before choosing a builder, often to get a design started. Victoria's and Queensland's Acts both let the builder skip new data if foundations data already exists and it is reasonable to rely on it. Queensland also exempts builders who cannot lawfully enter the land before signing, as long as the contract guarantees no price increase because of the foundations data.

If the owner pays for a soil test ($2,200) and the builder then orders and charges for another, the three-report bill rises to about $9,250 at Going Rate's prices, almost a third more. That is our assumed scenario, and no source measures how often it happens. Hand your report to each builder who quotes and ask in writing whether they will rely on it and whether a second test is in their price.

The soil class decides how much engineering follows. Intrax, a geotechnical firm, lists AS 2870 classes by surface movement: S up to 20 mm, M 20 to 40 mm, H1 40 to 60 mm, H2 60 to 75 mm and E over 75 mm. The footing tables in the ABCB's NCC 2022 Housing Provisions cover only A, S and M sites, and an H, E or P classification sends the design to AS 2870. On those sites the engineer may ask for a geotechnical report ($4,300). Adelaide University researchers found a footing beam 300 mm deep in uncracked clay would need to be 550 mm deep once the clay cracks.

Paying twice for an old survey or title

Some councils put an age limit on survey plans. Bayside Council's 2019 lodgement checklist says the survey plan must be no more than five years old and must include any new works. Broken Hill City Council's checklist for new dwellings also asks for a survey plan not more than five years old.

An owner who bought a block with a seven-year-old survey would need a new contour survey ($2,150), adding about 30% to the three-report bill at Going Rate's prices. That is our assumed scenario. Ask the surveyor whether updating the existing plan costs less than a fresh one.

Victorian councils put shorter clocks on title copies for planning applications. Surf Coast says the title must be no older than 60 days, and Glen Eira asks for one less than three months old, plus a site re-establishment and feature survey if new works run along a boundary. Stonnington says it will contact applicants if it needs a soil report or re-establishment survey after they lodge for a building permit ($6,250), so some owners learn about a missing report weeks into the process.

The 2018 Queensland rock bill

In Lawrence v Stroudbuilt, decided by QCAT in 2018, Stroud Homes sent the owners a $7,181.99 invoice, GST inclusive, for rock encountered in tank excavation the day before handover. The contract allowed only for bucket removable soil. The tribunal member found breaches of the contract and the QBCC Act, but the owners had paid to secure handover without reserving their rights, so that money stayed with the builder. They recovered $1,888.10 for a gas hot water system that was never installed, on a contract price of $356,992.36.

That one variation came to about 1.02 times a boundary survey ($2,700), a contour survey ($2,150) and a standard soil test ($2,200) combined at Going Rate's prices, about $132 more. The survey reports would not necessarily have found that rock. A standard soil test samples where the footings go, and this rock turned up in a tank excavation.

The NSW standard home building contract uses unforeseen rock excavation as its example of a provisional sum. It tells owners to question any margin on provisional sums that exceeds 20%, and, for rock excavation rates, to discuss the need for a geotechnical survey to estimate the quantity more accurately. On a rocky block, ask whether a geotechnical report ($4,300) would cover the whole excavation area, including tanks, pools and retaining walls.

Boundary and identification surveys are the owner's cost

Clause 20 of the NSW contract says that if the boundaries can only be fixed by a boundary survey, the contractor must provide one at the owner's cost, after notifying the owner in writing with a proper estimate. The NSW Guide to Standards and Tolerances says the builder must ensure footings, gutters and any other part of the work do not encroach on a boundary unless approved.

In Queensland, Somerset Regional Council says the owner is responsible for determining the boundaries and the placement of survey pegs, and that the building certifier may require an identification survey where there is doubt about pegs or building lines. An identification survey ($1,750) costs about two-thirds as much as a boundary survey ($2,700) at Going Rate's prices. Business Queensland says only surveyors registered with the Surveyors Board of Queensland can carry out cadastral surveys, and that interfering with a survey mark without approval is an offence.

If you are unsure which type the job needs, describe the purpose, such as a fence, an extension near the boundary or a new house, when you ask a surveyor to quote for a land survey ($2,800). In NSW, when two registered surveyors disagree on a shared boundary, the Registrar General can determine it under the Real Property Act 1900.

What the bank and the neighbours ask for

Westpac's guide to residential construction loans asks for council-approved plans and specifications, a signed building contract, variations and quotes, and a quantity surveyor report if applicable. No survey or soil test appears on the list. The bank relies on the approved plans, which already depend on those reports, and orders its own valuation.

Neighbours come into it when you dig. A 2017 North Sydney consent required a full dilapidation survey of every neighbouring structure within a zone of influence measured out to twice the excavation depth, before any construction certificate. The engineer had to be agreed by both the applicant and each affected neighbour, and the applicant paid all costs.

A dilapidation report ($1,450) on one neighbouring house costs about a fifth of the three-report bill at Going Rate's prices. In that consent the report went to the certifying authority for approval, so the building certifier ($3,250) is the one who checks it before work starts.

Common questions