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Phase 4 of 5 — before construction is certified

The details that separate built from built properly

Everything from the Concept and Development Approval checklists carried forward, plus the sixteen technical certification checks: the frame, the wet areas, the finishes and the specifications that decide how the house performs for decades.

Construction Certificate and CDC

By the time your construction certificate or CDC is issued, the documents stop being drawings and start being instructions. Whatever they say is what gets priced and built. Whatever they do not say gets decided on site, on the day, by whoever is holding the tool.

I am Shea Cullen, a registered architect on the Central Coast, and this checklist is the technical layer I add to every project before certification. The slab setdowns that make bathrooms and garages work, which cost nothing in formwork and cannot be retrofitted. The difference between a membrane that is factory made and one that is as thick as the applicator's arm decided that afternoon. The aggregate detail that stops clay cracking your retaining walls. The one line in a lighting schedule that decides whether your home feels like sunlight or a supermarket.

Sixteen construction checks on top of the full Concept and Development Approval lists, each with the why and the failure it prevents. Read them against your specification and drawings before the certifier signs, while every fix is still a sentence.

What's inside

41 checks across 10 sections, each with the why behind it and the cost of skipping it.

Orientation and light

  • Most rooms and most windows face north
  • Use east for rooms that wake early
  • Put bathrooms and the laundry on the west
  • Keep the south side lean

The block and the ground

  • Cut and fill are roughly equal
  • The driveway is not too steep
  • No big retaining walls
  • Water drains away from the house, especially off the driveway

The rooms themselves

  • Check every room against my minimum sizes
  • High ceilings in the living areas
  • Windows placed for cross ventilation, no more than 6 m apart
  • The dryer sits on the floor, never hung on a wall

The shape of the building

  • Two storeys share the same footprint
  • Eaves at least 450 mm, ideally 600 mm
  • Keep at least 80 square metres of roof facing north or west for solar

Water is the enemy

  • No box gutters, anywhere
  • Any retained wall touching the house is two walls, not one
  • Drainage in front of the garage, sized for a real storm, ideally twice
  • A downpipe at least every 9 metres of gutter
  • Show where the big storm goes

The envelope

  • uPVC windows with double glazing
  • Insulation above the minimum, in writing
  • Eaves of at least 450 mm are drawn on every elevation

Energy

  • Maximise the solar array and include the battery
  • Get rid of gas

Structure and frame

  • Go for a timber frame
  • If steel posts have concrete footings, be there on the day of the pour
  • The drawings and specification agree with each other
  • Every external slab is on the concrete setout plan
  • Floor waste locations are correct on the concrete setout plan

Wet areas and water

  • Bathroom slab setdown of 50 mm
  • Garage slab setdown of 70 mm
  • Torch applied membrane for anything external or below ground
  • Diarise the critical stage inspections when you appoint the certifier
  • Write membrane curing time into the program
  • Falls to every waste, drawn and specified
  • Aggregate behind every retaining wall, full height, with a drainage pipe under

Finishes and services

  • LED lighting throughout, with a colour rendering index of 97 or higher
  • Fill internal walls inside the envelope with adobe
  • Every envelope wall is actually filled with insulation
  • If specifying weatherboards, use Weathertex

This is for you if

  • Your construction certificate or CDC documentation is being finalised right now
  • You want the technical details, setdowns, membranes, insulation, specified before tender fills the blanks with the cheapest option
  • You are an owner builder who wants a professional's checklist against your own documents

Your investment

$29

Australian dollars, one time, instant download.

The full amount is credited toward a $220 Initial Consultation with the single use code in your delivery email, valid for 12 months.

If your download does not arrive or the checklist is not what this page describes, reply to your delivery email and I will make it right, refund included. Australian Consumer Law guarantees apply to every purchase. Terms of sale.

Questions people ask

How do I get the checklist after paying?

Instantly. Payment takes you straight to your download page and the link is emailed to you as well. It works for 12 months.

What kind of details does it cover?

The 50 mm bathroom and 70 mm garage slab setdowns, torch applied membranes, aggregate and drainage behind retaining walls, timber framing, clean footing pours, insulation wall by wall, colour quality of your LED lighting, and my thermal mass detail for internal walls.

Does it apply to complying development?

Yes. Whether the gate is a construction certificate or a CDC, the documentation being certified is the same, and these checks belong in it either way.

Is the $29 credited back?

Yes. Your delivery email includes a single use code that takes $29 off the $220 Initial Consultation, valid for 12 months.

Every one of these details is one sentence in a specification now, or a jackhammer later.