Licensed Building Surveyor

A Building Surveyor is a professional trained in understanding and interpreting building law. He or she is authorised to assess building plans with a view to ensuring they are compliant with the Building Regulations. In addition to having recognised qualifications, a building surveyor must be registered and must have appropriate insurance.

Building surveyors are responsible for making sure that buildings are safe, accessible and energy efficient and therefore have an impact on the design, planning and functionality of buildings. They interact with other professionals such as engineers, architects and builders to ensure that buildings are designed and constructed to comply with building regulations. They are experts in building legislation, technical codes and construction standards; they detect and diagnose problems with design issues, construction techniques and materials, and undertake the inspection process from foundations through to completion.

Local councils provide of building surveying services and have historically provided this service. Legislation has been introduced to enable competition and allow private building surveyors to issue building permits. This system is known as 'private certification' and consumers now have the choice of engaging a private building surveyor or seeking the same service from a municipal building surveyor.

Building surveyors do much more than just issue building permits. They can carry out inspections of established buildings to determine their existing condition and the level of compliance with safety standards. The building inspection is comprehensive and comprises an assessment of the building's fabric.

Another role that a building surveyor may play is that of consultant. In this role, usually on large construction projects, the building surveyor will provide the design team with regulatory advice on construction issues.

Because of the extent and depth of knowledge a building surveyor typically possesses, they are in constant demand in a variety of roles. Gone are the days when building surveyors spent their entire career in local government. It is now common to see building surveyors employed in a multitude of disciplines such as project management, facility management, access design and compliance, fire and essential services compliance and in specific industries such as aged care.

Building inspectors are often engaged by the building surveyor in charge of a project to undertake some or all of the inspections the law requires. Because building inspectors have particular expertise in the construction aspects of a building, they are well placed to advise the building surveyor on the level of compliance being achieved on-site. However, unlike building surveyors, a registered building inspector is not able to issue building permits.