A custom home on the Sunshine Coast runs through nine stages: feasibility and site assessment, design and documentation, approvals, contract and pre-start, site establishment and footings, the slab or suspended floor, frame and roof through to lock-up, services rough-in and fit-out, then practical completion and handover. Four of those stages carry a mandatory inspection, and the Building Regulation 2021 lists them at section 44(1)(b). Three sit in the ground and the frame, where the work has to be inspected before concrete is poured or linings close it in. The fourth is the final inspection at the completion of all aspects of the work. Almost every stage also contains a decision only you can make, and the cost of changing your mind rises the further down this list you get.
The nine stages at a glance
This is the table to keep. It maps each stage to what actually drives its length, who is physically on your block, the decision you own, and the event that closes the stage out.
| Stage | How long it runs, and what sets it | Who is on site | What you decide | What closes the stage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Feasibility and site assessment | Set by turnaround on a contour and detail survey, a soil test classified to AS 2870, and title and overlay searches. Constrained lots at Coolum Beach, Noosa or Marcus Beach carrying bushfire, flood, coastal hazard or acid sulfate overlays take longer. | Surveyor, geotechnical driller, builder, sometimes an arborist | Whether the block genuinely suits the brief, and the budget band you are prepared to design to | A site report and a budget you will actually build to |
| 2. Design and documentation | Set by how many design rounds you take, then by structural engineering and the energy assessment once the plan is frozen. A change here costs drawing time; the same change at stage 8 costs demolition. | Nobody on site. Architect or building designer, structural engineer, energy assessor, hydraulic and civil consultants | Layout, orientation, roof form, structural system, and the level of finish you are briefing | Stamped engineering, a compliant energy report, and a full written specification |
| 3. Approvals | Controlled by the assessment manager, not by you or your builder. Code assessable work under the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014 or the Noosa Plan 2020 is faster than impact assessable work, which adds public notification. | Nobody, though the certifier may make a site visit | Whether to amend the design to stay code assessable, or accept the longer impact assessable route | A development permit for building work, from a private certifier or council |
| 4. Contract, insurance and pre-start | Includes a cooling-off period the QBCC sets at 5 business days for contracts over $3,300, running from the day after you receive the signed contract with plans and specifications. The ABS puts the average gap from building approval to commencement for Queensland new houses at 0.69 of a quarter in 2024-25. | Nobody yet | Fixed price or cost plus, prime cost and provisional sum allowances, start date, and the progress payment schedule | Signed contract, home warranty premium paid, deposit taken within QBCC limits |
| 5. Site establishment, earthworks and footings | Driven by fall across the block, rock, retaining, temporary access and wet weather. Steep blocks at Ninderry or Yaroomba carry retaining, rock removal and access work that a flat lot never sees. | Surveyor, excavator operator, formworkers, steel fixers, plumber for underslab drainage | Tree retention, driveway and crossover position, site access, retaining wall finishes | Excavation inspection, then the footing inspection required by Building Regulation 2021 s 44(1)(b) |
| 6. Slab or suspended floor | Driven by the site classification, pour size, concrete supply and cure time. Suspended and stepped slabs on sloping blocks take longer than a single slab on ground. | Formworkers, steel fixers, termite management installer, concreters, pump crew | Wet area set-outs, floor waste positions, slab step-downs, and any last service penetrations | Slab inspection before concrete is poured, then the pour |
| 7. Frame, roof and lock-up | Driven by structural steel and truss lead times, then by window and external door delivery. This is where a supply delay on one item stops several trades at once. | Carpenters, crane crew, steel erectors, roof plumber, glazier, waterproofer, bricklayer or cladder | Window and door hardware, roof and gutter colours, external cladding, ceiling heights confirmed on site | The frame or bracing inspection under s 44(1)(b), then the building made weathertight |
| 8. Services rough-in and fit-out | Carries more trades and more of your selections than any other stage. Driven by sequencing and by lead times on joinery, stone, tiles and imported tapware. | Electrician, plumber, air conditioning, insulator, plasterer, waterproofer, tiler, cabinetmaker, painter | Every switch, tap, tile, benchtop, appliance and paint colour. Late changes become written variations | Wet area waterproofing to AS 3740 signed off, linings closed, finishes complete |
| 9. Practical completion and handover | The QBCC says your builder will notify you as the job reaches practical completion, generally two to three weeks out and with at least 5 days written notice. After that, driven by the length of your defects list and lead times on replacement items. | Builder, certifier, you, plus trades returning to close out defects | What goes on the defects list at the practical completion inspection | Final inspection, the final inspection certificate issued to you, final payment, keys |
Only part of that table can be given a published number. Stages 5 to 9 together are the construction period the Australian Bureau of Statistics measures, and it recorded Queensland new houses averaging 2.36 quarters from commencement to completion in 2024-25. Stages 1, 2 and 3 sit outside that measurement entirely, and no public dataset benchmarks them, which is why those cells describe the driver rather than a duration. You can see how we run these stages on live jobs on our build process page, and what the finished result looks like across our completed projects.
Stage 1: Feasibility and site assessment
Before anyone draws anything, the block has to be measured and understood. That means a contour and detail survey, a geotechnical investigation returning a site classification under AS 2870 Residential Slabs and Footings, and a check of every planning overlay sitting on the title. On the Sunshine Coast and in Noosa Shire that list is long: bushfire hazard, flood, coastal hazard, steep land, vegetation, acid sulfate soils. Coastal sites also carry a wind classification determined under AS 4055 Wind Loads for Housing, which flows straight into the cost of tie-downs, bracing and glazing. Skip this and you can carry a design all the way through approval that the ground underneath it cannot economically support.
Stage 2: Design and documentation
Design is where your money is actually committed, even though nothing has been built. The drawings set the structure, the envelope, the glazing area and the roof form, and those four things drive most of the build cost. Since 1 May 2024, Business Queensland confirms new houses must meet the National Construction Code 2022 residential energy standards as adopted through Queensland Development Code 4.1: a 7 star energy equivalence rating for the building shell, with 6 stars available for eligible houses with raised floor construction and 5 stars for eligible small homes of 50 square metres or less, plus a minimum Whole of Home score of 60 out of 100. On elevated Sunshine Coast sites the raised floor concession matters, and it is won or lost at design stage, not later.
We work alongside design partners including K Architecture and Reitsma & Associates. The Grandview Drive project at Coolum Beach, which won three 2025 Master Builders Queensland Sunshine Coast Housing & Construction Awards including Best Use of Innovation, was resolved on paper long before a machine arrived on site. If you are still weighing a one-off design against a standard plan, read custom build vs project home.
Stage 3: Approvals, planning and building
Two different approvals get confused constantly. A planning approval is assessed against the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014 or the Noosa Plan 2020, and whether you need one depends on your zone and overlays. A building approval is a separate development permit for building work. Sunshine Coast Council advises that a private building certifier can tell you whether you need a development permit for building work and can help with your application, and it recommends you seek that advice before starting the project. Because the overlay picture decides whether you are code assessable or impact assessable, stage 1 is what makes stage 3 predictable. There is more in our guide to building approvals on the Sunshine Coast and in Noosa.
Stage 4: Contract, insurance and pre-start
The QBCC classifies domestic building contracts by value: work up to $3,300 uses a small building projects contract, $3,301 to $19,999 is a level 1 contract, and $20,000 and over is a level 2 contract. The QBCC publishes its level 1 and level 2 contracts as renovation, extension and repair contracts, and publishes a separate New Home Construction Contract for building a single detached dwelling or duplex, which is the one you will sign for a new house. A new home still sits in the $20,000 and over band, so the level 2 protections apply. Three of them are worth understanding before you sign.
- Cooling-off. The QBCC gives you 5 business days on contracts for building work valued over $3,300, starting the day after you receive the complete signed contract with plans and specifications. On contracts of $20,000 or more, that period does not start until you have also received the QBCC Consumer Building Guide.
- Deposit limits. The QBCC caps the deposit at 5% of the contract price for contracts of $20,000 and over, 10% for level 1 contracts of $3,301 to $19,999, and 20% for work valued at $3,300 or less.
- Home warranty insurance. The QBCC requires cover under the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme for most residential building work valued at more than $3,300 including materials, labour and GST, and states that contractors must take out home warranty insurance on the owner’s behalf before starting residential construction work.
The QBCC also requires progress claims to stay in step with the work actually completed on site. The example the QBCC gives is that a contractor cannot claim more than 50% of the contract price, including the deposit, until at least 50% of the work on site has been completed. Check the licence of whoever is signing before you sign, using how to check a QBCC licence, and understand what you are committing to with fixed price building contracts in Queensland.
Stages 5 and 6: Site establishment, footings and the slab
This is where a Sunshine Coast build separates from a flat-lot build elsewhere. Excavation, retaining, temporary access and stormwater all get resolved before a single footing is poured, and on a steep block that work carries costs a flat estate lot never generates. Termite management is installed to AS 3660.1 Termite Management, New Building Work before the slab goes down, because there is no retrofitting it afterwards.
Three of the mandatory inspections in Building Regulation 2021 s 44(1)(b) land in these two stages. Inspection happens after excavation of foundation material and before the concrete for the footings or slab is poured; after the placement of formwork and reinforcement for the footings but before that concrete is poured; and again after the placement of formwork and reinforcement for the slab but before the slab pour. Under section 53 of the same regulation, a certificate of inspection is given for each stage by the inspecting person. If your block has fall, read building on a sloping block in Queensland.
Stages 7 and 8: Lock-up and fit-out
Frame goes up, roof goes on, windows go in, and the building becomes weathertight. Building Regulation 2021 s 44(1)(b) requires a frame inspection timed either before or after the cladding or lining is fixed to the frame, depending on how the building is braced, plus a separate inspection before wall cavities are filled where reinforced masonry is used. Once the frame passes, linings close and everything behind them is invisible for the life of the house, so services rough-in has to be right the first time.
Fit-out carries more trades and more of your selections than any other stage, and it is where owners create the most cost. Every change after lock-up is a variation, and the QBCC requires variations to be presented in writing and agreed to in writing by the owner, with a copy given to you before the variation work begins or within 5 business days of the day you both agreed, whichever comes first. The QBCC also states a contractor cannot require payment for a variation before the variation work is started. Wet areas are waterproofed to AS 3740 Waterproofing of Domestic Wet Areas before tiling, and the QBCC lists a waterproofing certificate, issued as a Form 43 or Form 12, among the documents required where waterproofing work exceeds $3,300. Our guides on building contract variations and kitchen costs in Queensland cover the decisions that bite hardest here.
Stage 9: Practical completion, certification and handover
The final mandatory inspection under s 44(1)(b) happens at the completion of all aspects of the work. Building Regulation 2021 s 53 provides that where the stage is the final stage, two certificates must be given: the certificate of inspection for the final stage and, where the requirements under the Act are met, a final inspection certificate to the owner of the building.
Before that, you walk the house. The QBCC says the builder will notify you when the project is reaching practical completion, generally at least two to three weeks out and providing at least 5 days written notice, and that all defects, incomplete work or items not built to specification are documented in a defects list, usually signed by both parties at the inspection. The QBCC sets out what should change hands at handover: a practical completion certificate, which it notes signifies the building is substantially complete but does not address regulatory compliance or suitability to occupy; the final inspection certificate, Form 21, indicating satisfactory completion of building work and compliance with building approvals; certificates for electrical, plumbing and gas work; energy ratings; and appliance warranties and product manuals. The QBCC states the contractor can ask for final payment once they reach practical completion.
Cover does not stop at handover. The QBCC states a contractor must repair any defects noticed at handover or within 12 months of when the work is finished, and that you must notify the contractor of such defects within 12 months of when you notice them. Separately, work is covered under the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme for 6 years 6 months from the date, whichever is earlier, that you pay the premium, agree to a contract, or work starts. For a structural defect you must become aware of it within that 6 years 6 months and make the claim within 3 months after the day you first become aware of it. A non-structural defect must be found within 6 months after the day the work is substantially complete, with the claim lodged within 7 months after that day. See defects liability and warranty in Queensland.
How long the whole thing takes
For construction itself, the Australian Bureau of Statistics publishes average dwelling completion times alongside its Building Activity, Australia release. In the data released on 15 October 2025, new houses in Queensland averaged 2.36 quarters from commencement to completion in 2024-25, down from 2.71 quarters in 2023-24 but still well above the 1.72 quarters recorded in 2019-20. The ABS also reports Queensland new houses averaged 0.69 of a quarter from building approval to commencement in 2024-25.
Read those as an average across every detached house built in the state, including repeat project homes on flat estate lots. A one-off house on a coastal or sloping site, with bespoke joinery and long-lead glazing, sits above the average. The ABS measures from commencement to completion, so stages 1 to 4 sit entirely outside those figures. For a fuller breakdown, see how long it takes to build a house in Queensland.
Frequently asked questions
Which stages have a compulsory inspection?
Building Regulation 2021 s 44(1)(b) requires inspection after excavation and before footing or slab concrete is poured, after footing formwork and reinforcement is placed, after slab formwork and reinforcement is placed, at the frame or bracing stage, before wall cavities are filled where reinforced masonry is used, and at the completion of all aspects of the work.
When is the last point I can change the design without a variation?
Practically, before the contract is signed. After that, every change is a variation, and the QBCC requires it to be in writing, agreed to in writing by you, and given to you before the variation work begins or within 5 business days of the day you agreed, whichever is earlier. The QBCC also states a contractor cannot require payment for a variation before the variation work is started.
How much deposit can a builder ask for on a new home?
The QBCC caps the deposit at 5% of the contract price for domestic building contracts of $20,000 and over. Progress claims after that must stay in step with the work completed on site. The example the QBCC gives is that your builder cannot claim more than 50% of the contract price, including the deposit, until at least 50% of the work on site has been completed.
Do I need a planning approval as well as a building approval?
Sometimes. A building approval is required for a new house. Whether you also need a planning approval depends on your zone and the overlays affecting the site under the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014 or the Noosa Plan 2020, which is why the overlay check in stage 1 comes before design. Sunshine Coast Council advises that a private building certifier can tell you whether you need a development permit for building work.
What happens if a defect shows up after handover?
The QBCC states a contractor must repair defects noticed at handover or within 12 months of when the work is finished, and you must tell them within 12 months of noticing. Beyond that, the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme covers work for 6 years 6 months from the earliest of premium payment, contract agreement or the start of work. A structural defect must be discovered inside that period and claimed within 3 months of you becoming aware of it. A non-structural defect must be found within 6 months of substantial completion and claimed within 7 months.
Should I talk to a builder or an architect first?
Both, early and together. Bringing a licensed builder in during stages 1 and 2 is what keeps a design inside a budget, because pricing feedback arrives while changes still only cost drawing time. See how to choose a builder in Queensland, or talk to us at Roebuck Concepts in Coolum Beach on 0477 333 386.