Build a block of townhouses — Tasmania

Scale changes the process qualitatively: mandatory public notification, multiple referrals, panel determination, development contributions and a subdivision that cannot start until the works are done.

developmentMulti-dwelling housing, roughly 5 to 20 dwellings, site already held skeleton compare across jurisdictions

This is a structural skeleton, not a measured process. The steps, the authorities and the sequence are researched from this jurisdiction's published requirements and are broadly right. The durations are a uniform template applied across all jurisdictions, so the differences between them on the comparison page are mostly an artefact of that template rather than evidence about Australia. Do not quote the day counts. Replacing them with sourced figures for even one jurisdiction would make this page genuinely useful.

484 days elapsed
longest dependent chain

16 discrete steps
across 3 bodies

37% waiting on availability
scheduling or queue, not assessment

42 days saved by concurrency
vs. 526 if run end-to-end

Where the time goes

Critical-path days only. Steps that run alongside others are real work but do not lengthen the process, so counting them here would overstate the prize.

applicant	154d	Waiting on the applicant to supply or fix something.
assessment	149d	Someone is genuinely evaluating the merits.
queue	134d	Waiting behind unrelated work in a backlog.
scheduling	47d	Waiting for a person or committee to become available.

181 of 484 elapsed days are spent waiting for a person or a meeting rather than for a judgement to be formed. Removing that time changes no assessment standard and lowers no bar -- it is the cost of scheduling alone.

The process, step by step

Applies when: Multi-dwelling housing permitted with consent in the applicable zone, on a site the developer already controls.

#	Step	Who	Why it waits	Clock	Typical	Basis
1	Prepare design and consultant documentation application Architectural, civil, traffic, waste, landscape, stormwater and acoustic documentation.	—	applicant	—	150 estimate	—
2	Lodge the planning application application after Prepare design and consultant documentation 331d slack	Planning authority (Tasmanian council)	applicant	—	3 published	Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993 (Tas)
3	Pay the assessment fee fee after Lodge the planning application 330d slack	Planning authority (Tasmanian council)	applicant	—	1 estimate	—
4	Lodgement and properly-made check assessment The authority checks the application is complete before assessment begins. after Pay the assessment fee 316d slack	Planning authority (Tasmanian council)	queue	—	14 estimate	—
5	Public notification and submissions notification after Lodgement and properly-made check 288d slack	Planning authority (Tasmanian council)	statutory	28	28 estimate	—
6	Internal and external referrals referral Traffic, engineering, waste, landscape, heritage and state agency referrals, each responding separately. after Lodgement and properly-made check 271d slack	Planning authority (Tasmanian council)	queue	—	45 estimate	—
7	Assessment against the planning rules assessment after Lodgement and properly-made check, Public notification and submissions, Internal and external referrals 187d slack	Planning authority (Tasmanian council)	assessment	—	84 estimate	Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993 (Tas)
8	Information request and amended plans assessment only if triggered The clock commonly stops while the applicant answers questions. Triggered when: The authority requests further information. after Assessment against the planning rules 97d slack	Planning authority (Tasmanian council)	applicant	—	90 estimate	—
9	Determination and issue of planning permit decision after Assessment against the planning rules 152d slack	Planning authority (Tasmanian council)	scheduling	—	35 estimate	Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993 (Tas)
10	Third party appeal period appeal only if triggered A legislated window in which a submitter may seek review of the decision. Triggered when: Submissions were received and a submitter has standing to seek review. after Determination and issue of planning permit 124d slack	—	statutory	28	28 estimate	—
11	Pay development contributions fee after Determination and issue of planning permit 138d slack	Planning authority (Tasmanian council)	applicant	—	14 estimate	—
12	Obtain the building permit certification Certifies that construction documentation complies with the National Construction Code and the planning approval. after Determination and issue of planning permit 112d slack	Building surveyor (Tasmania)	assessment	—	40 estimate	Building Act 2016 (Tas)
13	Mandatory inspections during construction inspection Inspections at prescribed stages. Counted as booking delay only, not as construction time. after Obtain the building permit 100d slack	Building surveyor (Tasmania)	scheduling	—	12 estimate	—
14	Obtain the certificate of completion certification Authorises the building to be occupied. after Mandatory inspections during construction 75d slack	Building surveyor (Tasmania)	assessment	—	25 estimate	—
15	Obtain the subdivision certificate certification Authorises registration of the plan creating separate titles. Cannot begin until the works are complete and certified. after Obtain the certificate of completion 30d slack	Planning authority (Tasmanian council)	queue	—	45 estimate	—
16	Register the plan of subdivision registration The land registry records the plan and issues the new titles. after Obtain the subdivision certificate	Land Titles Office (Tasmania)	queue	—	30 estimate	—

on the critical path scheduling/queue = delay not caused by the assessment itself

Machine-flagged questions

These are produced automatically from the dependency graph. They are questions for a practitioner, not findings. Each one needs a person who has run this process to say whether the constraint is real.

The same body asked more than once

tas-building (certification) appears at Obtain the building permit, Obtain the certificate of completion. Could these be a single sign-off?
tas-planning (assessment) appears at Lodgement and properly-made check, Assessment against the planning rules, Information request and amended plans. Could these be a single sign-off?

Sources

Tasmania published development assessment and building approval guidance, accessed 2026-08-30

Something wrong here?

This page is wrong in some way -- every page like it is. If you have run this process, the most useful thing you can do is tell us which step took longer than we say and why. Edit data/processes/tas-townhouses.toml and open a pull request, or send us the correction.