Building Inspection Software for New South Wales
Built for the post-Opal Tower regulatory environment. DBP Act 2020, SBBIS reports, AFSS compliance, and the documentation NSW Fair Trading and the Building Commissioner expect.
New South Wales has the most regulated apartment building environment in Australia. The 2018 Opal Tower and 2019 Mascot Towers crises triggered the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020, the Residential Apartment Buildings (Compliance and Enforcement Powers) Act 2020, the Strata Building Bond and Inspections Scheme, and an empowered NSW Building Commissioner. Inspectors working in NSW need tooling that produces defensible records under all of those frameworks.
NSW regulators and regimes
Who you answer to and what they expect from inspection records.
NSW Fair Trading & Building Commission
Issues building consultant licences, runs the contractor licence register, and enforces consumer protection. Building Commissioner has expanded powers post-2019 to investigate and stop work on suspect class 2 buildings.
Department of Planning and Environment
Administers the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 and the Annual Fire Safety Statement (AFSS) regime under the EP&A Regulation.
SBBIS Panel
Strata Building Bond and Inspections Scheme, independent inspectors drawn from the NSW Fair Trading panel produce interim and final defects reports for class 2 buildings 4+ storeys.
iCIRT (Equifax)
Independent Construction Industry Rating Tool. Voluntary developer/builder rating used as a buyer trust signal in NSW.
What inspectors in NSW actually deal with
Climate, regulation, and building stock all shape the defect profile in New South Wales.
- 1DBP Act 2020 statutory duty of care extends to subsequent owners. Defect documentation needs to last beyond the original owner.
- 2SBBIS interim reports are due 15-18 months after completion. Final reports at 21-24 months. Both must be defensible under the Bond claim process.
- 3AFSS lodgement is annual and unforgiving. Late lodgement triggers penalties and personal duty exposure.
- 4Sydney basin geology creates specific waterproofing failure modes in basements and below-ground car parks.
- 5High-rise apartment defects are concentrated in waterproofing, balconies, planter boxes, basements. Inspection regimes need to catch them.
- 6Coastal corrosion is significant on the eastern seaboard, fastener grade selection matters under AS 3566.
How InspectAndGo helps inspectors in NSW
- AS 4349.1 starter template auto-seeded, the standard NSW Fair Trading building consultants reference
- Defect inspection workflows aligned to SBBIS report structure for class 2 buildings
- Waterproofing-aware comment library for the most common NSW apartment defect category
- GPS-verified photos with timestamps for DBP Act duty-of-care evidence trails
- Multi-asset portfolio support for OCs and strata managers running multiple buildings
- Australian data residency in Sydney: your inspection data is stored in Australia
Related articles
Essential Safety Measures in Victoria: What Building Owners Must Maintain Annually
Victoria's ESM regime parallels NSW's AFSS, with annual statements required for fire, smoke, egress, ventilation, and emergency lighting systems.
Annual Fire Safety Statements (AFSS): What NSW Strata Managers Need to Know
The AFSS regime is one of the strictest annual compliance obligations in NSW strata management, and the consequences of getting it wrong include personal penalties.
The Opal Tower and Mascot Towers Fallout: What It Changed for Apartment Buyers
Two evacuated Sydney apartment towers triggered the biggest overhaul of building accountability in a generation, and the changes are still rolling out.
Frequently asked questions about inspections in NSW
Do I need a NSW Fair Trading licence to do inspections?
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Yes. Building consultants in NSW must hold a Fair Trading building consultant licence. The licence is searchable on the Fair Trading website and should be referenced in every inspection report.
How does SBBIS work?
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The Strata Building Bond and Inspections Scheme requires the developer of a class 2 building 4+ storeys to lodge a 2 percent bond against defects. An independent inspector from the NSW Fair Trading panel produces an interim defects report at 15-18 months after completion and a final report at 21-24 months. The bond can be drawn against to pay for rectification.
What is the DBP Act statutory duty of care?
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The Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 created a statutory duty of care owed by anyone carrying out construction work to all owners, including future owners. This is a major shift from the previous position where most claims expired with the original buyer.
Where is my inspection data stored?
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InspectAndGo data is hosted in Google Cloud Sydney (australia-southeast1); your inspection records, photos, and reports are stored in Australia. Some AI processing occurs overseas under strict data-processing agreements, with results stored back in Australia. Our data handling is designed to align with NSW Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 requirements for personal information handling.
Run inspections in New South Wales with confidence
Free 14-day trial. AS 4349.1 starter template, GPS-verified photos, AI-assisted reports.
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