The order, and what each step is waiting for
Read this as a chain rather than a list. Every row exists where it does because of the row above it, and the fourth column is why.
| # | Stage | Usually who | Why it cannot move |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Approvals and the certifier | You, your builder, the certifier or building surveyor | The permit lists which inspections your job needs. Work done before it is work nobody will sign off. |
| 2 | Hazard check | Licensed asbestos assessor | You cannot un-disturb asbestos. This happens before the first hammer, not after. |
| 3 | Strip-out and demolition | Demolition, builder | Nobody can measure what is behind a wall until the wall is open. |
| 4 | Excavation, footings, slab | Excavator, concreter, steel fixer | Inspection stop. Concrete cannot be poured before it is looked at, and cannot be unpoured after. |
| 5 | Structure and roof | Carpenter, bricklayer, steel, roofer | Nothing inside survives rain. Weathertight comes before anything that can be ruined wet. |
| 6 | Windows and external doors | Carpenter, glazier | Part of closing the building in, and the frames set out the linings. |
| 7 | Rough-in | Plumber, electrician, air conditioning, data | Pipes and cables live inside the frame. After it is lined, getting them there means cutting the lining off. |
| 8 | Frame inspection | Certifier or building surveyor | Inspection stop. The frame and the services in it are looked at before anything covers them. |
| 9 | Insulation | Insulation installer | Goes in after the services, because it fits around them. |
| 10 | Linings — plasterboard, cornice, set | Plasterer | The first stage that is expensive to reverse. Everything behind it is now committed. |
| 11 | Waterproofing | Waterproofer | Inspection stop. Membrane goes on before tiles and is inspected before it is covered. |
| 12 | Screed and tiling | Tiler | Tiles bond to the membrane. Falls have to be right before the tiles lock them in. |
| 13 | Second-fix carpentry | Carpenter, cabinetmaker | Doors, skirting, architraves, cabinetry. Needs finished walls and finished floors to sit against. |
| 14 | Painting | Painter | Before fittings go on, so nothing has to be masked, removed or cut in around. |
| 15 | Fit-off | Plumber, electrician, cabinetmaker | Taps, basins, switches, lights, appliances, handles. Last, because they are the easiest things on site to damage. |
| 16 | Soft floors — timber, carpet, vinyl | Flooring installer | Often deliberately last for the same reason. |
| 17 | Final inspection and certificates | Certifier, and every licensed trade | Inspection stop. Certificates get collected here. Chasing one months later is far harder. |
Trade practice varies between builders and between jobs — some run painting in two passes, some tile before second-fix carpentry. The stops in bold are the ones that do not move.
Three points in the order are not a preference
In New South Wales the sequence has statutory stopping points. Part 8 of the NSW regulation made under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 is headed “Inspections of building work”, and its section 61 requires that building work for a class 1 or 10 building — a house, and structures like garages and decks — “must be inspected on the following occasions”:
- “after excavation for, and before the placement of, a footing”
- “before pouring an in-situ reinforced concrete building element”
- “before covering the framework for a floor, wall, roof or other building element”
- “before covering waterproofing in a wet area”
- “before covering stormwater drainage connections”
- “after the building work is completed and before an occupation certificate is issued for the building (the final critical stage inspection)”
Read that list as a sequencing instruction and the whole programme falls out of it. Every one of the middle four is the word before attached to a covering trade. The reason the plumber and the electrician come in ahead of the plasterer is not politeness; it is that somebody has to see their work first.
Source: NSW regulation 2021 No 689, made under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 — Part 8, section 61, in-force consolidation at legislation.nsw.gov.au, read 3 September 2026.
Queensland draws the same line in five stages
Business Queensland lists the mandatory inspection stages the Building Regulation 2021 sets for a single detached class 1a house: excavation “after excavation of foundation material and before the concrete for the footings, or slab, for the building are poured”; footings “after the placement of formwork and reinforcement for the footings but before the concrete for the footings is poured”; slab on the same pattern; frame; and final, described as “inspection of any outstanding items and the collection of certificates, such as termite protection, wet area membrane installation, glazing, smoke alarms and energy efficiency”.
That final line is worth reading twice. The certificates are collected at the end, but they are created by trades who left the site weeks earlier.
Source: Business Queensland — Stages of a building inspection, read 3 September 2026.
Victoria calls them mandatory notification stages
The Building and Plumbing Commission describes them as “prescribed stages of building work allowing inspection to verify compliance with the Building Act 1993, Building Regulations 2018 and the building permit up to that point”, and sets out who does what: “the RBS must determine what inspections are required and then list them on the building permit. The builder must notify the RBS upon completion of each mandatory notification stage of work.”
Source: Building and Plumbing Commission (VIC) — MI 01 Mandatory Notifications and Inspections of Building Work, read 3 September 2026.
The asbestos check comes before everything
Stage 2 in the table is the one people skip because it does not feel like building work. NSW's asbestos service is direct about the ages: “Between 1940 and 1990, asbestos was a popular construction material for Australian homes. If you're buying a home built before 1990, it's likely to contain asbestos. If the home was renovated between 1990 and 2004, it may contain asbestos.”
Its instruction for anyone about to start work is one sentence: “Before you start work use the Asbestos Checker or have a licensed asbestos assessor inspect your property.” A strip-out is exactly the activity that turns bonded asbestos into airborne asbestos, which is why this sits ahead of demolition and not beside it.
Source: Asbestos NSW — Asbestos safety in the home, read 3 September 2026.
What goes wrong out of order
Every one of these is a real sequence failure, and the pattern is identical each time: work gets covered before somebody who needed to see it saw it.
| What happened | What has to be undone |
|---|---|
| Plasterboard went on before the electrician finished the rough-in | Sheets come off, get re-sheeted, re-set and re-painted — and the frame inspection has to happen in between |
| Tiles went on before the waterproofing was inspected | The tiles come off. There is no way to inspect a membrane through them. |
| Concrete was poured before the excavation or steel was looked at | The only proof left is what the certifier can see, which is the top surface |
| The cabinetmaker measured before the walls were set and floors laid | Cabinetry made to the wrong dimension, and made-to-order items are rarely returnable |
| Painting happened after fit-off | Fittings come off or get masked, and every edge is cut in by hand |
| Flooring went down before second-fix trades finished | Protected, damaged, or both. It is last on most programmes for exactly this reason. |
| Selections were still undecided at rough-in | The plumber cannot set out for a bath nobody has chosen, so the whole wet area waits |
The last row is the only one on this list a home owner causes, and it is the most common of all.
A bathroom, in order
The smallest room in the house and the one with the most trades in it. This is the sequence in miniature:
- Asbestos check, then strip out to the frame
- Any structural change — wall moved, opening framed, floor levelled
- Plumbing rough-in: drainage, water lines, set-out for every fixture
- Electrical rough-in: lights, fan, heater, power, switch positions
- Wall and floor sheeting, in a board rated for wet areas
- Screed to falls, so water goes to the drain rather than the door
- Waterproofing, then the inspection before it is covered
- Tiling, walls and floor
- Shower screen measured — after tiling, because tiles change the dimensions
- Painting
- Fit-off: tapware, basin, toilet, lights, fan, accessories
- Silicone, clean, and the certificates
Notice where the shower screen sits. Measuring glass off a drawing rather than off finished tiles is one of the most reliable ways to buy a screen that does not fit.
A kitchen, in order
- Strip out, and any structural change or wall removal
- Plumbing and electrical rough-in, set out to the final cabinetry drawings
- Plasterboard, set and first coat of paint
- Flooring, if it runs under the cabinets
- Cabinet install
- Benchtop template — taken off installed cabinets, never off a drawing
- Benchtop install, then splashback
- Plumbing and electrical fit-off, appliances connected by the licensed trade
- Final paint touch-up, handles, clean
The two templating steps — benchtop and shower screen — are where most renovations lose a fortnight, because the fabrication happens off site and cannot start until somebody has measured something real.
The four things the owner controls
Most of the programme is not yours to move. These four are, and each one is a common cause of everybody else waiting:
- Selections, before rough-in. Tapware, bath, toilet, appliances, tiles. The plumber sets out to the fixture, not to a category. Selections are usually the prime cost and provisional sum items on your contract — see how to read a tradie's quote.
- Approvals, before the start date. Including anything a strata committee or an owners corporation has to agree to.
- Access. Keys, parking, alarm codes, and somebody reachable. A trade that cannot get in has still lost the day.
- Decisions during the job, in writing. Every change is a variation, and a variation agreed by text on the day is a variation you can find in three months.
Questions worth asking before the first trade arrives
- Which inspections are listed on the permit for this job, and who books them?
- What is the order of trades, and which two are on the critical path?
- When do you need my selections finalised, item by item?
- Which items are made to order, and how long is each lead time?
- Who is the licensed plumber and the licensed electrician, and what are their licence numbers?
- Which certificates will I receive at the end, and from whom?
The last two are worth the whole list. A renovation is a chain of licensed people, and the paperwork they leave behind is what you will need at claim time and at sale.
General information for Australian home owners, not building advice and not a construction programme. The sequence above is ordinary trade practice and varies between builders and between jobs; the inspection stops are legal requirements, and which of them apply to your job is decided by your certifier or relevant building surveyor and written on your permit. Yamate is software; it does not vet, rank or recommend any tradesperson, and no regulator has reviewed this page. Every quoted sentence is a regulator's or an in-force instrument's own, read on 3 September 2026 and linked in the section it appears in. Inspection requirements differ in every state and change over time — check your own regulator and your own permit. Yamate sells software to tradespeople and lists them in this directory.