What level of drawings and documents is needed at each stage?

Summary: Each stage needs more detail than the last. Ask every consultant which stages their fee covers. A fee that stops at approval leaves gaps at tender, during construction and at handover.

Why it matters: Approval drawings are not detailed enough to price or build from. Missing tender, construction and completion documents are a common cause of variations, delays to final sign-off, and missing records for insurance, resale or future renovations.

1. Concept: test the brief, budget and siting. Site plan, sketch floor plans, massing or elevations, area schedule.
2. Planning or development approval (if required): council assesses siting, height, privacy and streetscape. Site plan with setbacks and site cover, floor plans, elevations and sections with heights to ground and AHD, shadow and overlooking diagrams, materials schedule, landscape and stormwater concepts, consultant reports.
3. Building approval or permit: the certifier checks NCC compliance. Dimensioned plans, sections, elevations and key compliance details, engineering drawings and certificates, energy certificate, BAL, stormwater and hydraulic plans, soil report, specification.
4. Tender documents: builders or trades price the job accurately and on the same basis. Approval set plus a full specification, window, door, finishes and fixtures schedules, electrical and lighting layout, and a clear list of inclusions, exclusions and provisional sums.
5. Construction documents: the level of detail the builder needs to physically build the home. Fully dimensioned plans with setting out, sections and construction details (junctions, wet areas, stairs, roof, eaves, windows and doors), joinery drawings, coordinated engineering and hydraulic drawings, and the final specification, issued as "For Construction" with revision numbers.
6. Construction phase: answer questions and manage changes. Responses to builder questions (RFIs), shop drawing reviews (trusses, frames, windows), revised drawings reissued with new revision numbers, inspection certificates.
7. Completion and as-built: final sign-off and handover records. As-built or works-as-executed drawings, identification or as-constructed survey, consultant certificates, warranties and manuals.

Options: Approval-only fee, full documentation fee (tender and construction documents), or full service including the construction phase and as-built. Ask your certifier at the start for the full list of certificates needed for final sign-off, and collect them as you go.