Buy land and build a single storey house — Victoria

From choosing a lot to occupying the finished house: purchase, settlement, title, design, planning permit, building permit and occupancy permit.

developmentVacant residential lot, one single storey detached dwelling 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 Do not quote the day counts.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.

328 days elapsed
longest dependent chain

21 discrete steps
across 3 bodies

4% waiting on availability
scheduling or queue, not assessment

27 days saved by concurrency
vs. 355 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	131d	Waiting on the applicant to supply or fix something.
assessment	105d	Someone is genuinely evaluating the merits.
third party	80d	Waiting on an external body outside the regulator's control.
queue	7d	Waiting behind unrelated work in a backlog.
scheduling	5d	Waiting for a person or committee to become available.

12 of 328 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: Buyer is purchasing a vacant residential lot and building one detached dwelling on it.

#	Step	Who	Why it waits	Clock	Typical	Basis
1	Find and select a lot application Search, inspect and choose a site. Entirely the buyer's own time.	—	applicant	—	60 estimate	—
2	Sign the contract of sale application Contracts are exchanged or signed and the deposit is paid. after Find and select a lot 261d slack	—	applicant	—	7 estimate	—
3	Statutory cooling-off period decision 5 calendar days (approx) in which the buyer may rescind. after Sign the contract of sale 256d slack	—	statutory	5	5 reported	Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic)
4	Unconditional finance approval referral The lender values the property and confirms the loan. after Sign the contract of sale 240d slack	—	third party	—	21 estimate	—
5	Title, planning and site searches assessment Title search, planning certificate, contour and soil classification survey. after Sign the contract of sale 240d slack	—	applicant	—	21 estimate	—
6	Pay transfer duty fee Stamp duty on the transfer, payable to the state revenue office. after Sign the contract of sale 260d slack	—	applicant	—	1 estimate	—
7	Settlement period registration Customarily 45 days from contract to settlement in this jurisdiction. after Statutory cooling-off period, Unconditional finance approval, Title, planning and site searches, Pay transfer duty 195d slack	Land Use Victoria	third party	—	45 reported	—
8	Transfer of title registered registration after Settlement period 181d slack	Land Use Victoria	third party	—	14 estimate	—
9	Prepare design and consultant documentation application Architectural plans, siting, and a thermal performance assessment. after Transfer of title registered 121d slack	—	applicant	—	60 estimate	—
10	Lodge the planning permit application application after Prepare design and consultant documentation 118d slack	Responsible authority (Victorian council)	applicant	—	3 published	Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic)
11	Pay the assessment fee fee after Lodge the planning permit application 117d slack	Responsible authority (Victorian council)	applicant	—	1 estimate	—
12	Lodgement and properly-made check assessment The authority checks the application is complete before assessment begins. after Pay the assessment fee 110d slack	Responsible authority (Victorian council)	queue	—	7 estimate	—
13	Neighbour notification notification only if triggered Not generally required for a compliant single dwelling; triggered by variations to siting or height standards. Triggered when: The design departs from the acceptable siting, height or setback standards. after Lodgement and properly-made check 96d slack	Responsible authority (Victorian council)	statutory	—	14 estimate	—
14	Internal and external referrals referral only if triggered Triggered by site-specific matters such as heritage, bushfire, flooding or a classified road frontage. Triggered when: The site attracts a referral trigger. after Lodgement and properly-made check 82d slack	Responsible authority (Victorian council)	third party	—	28 estimate	—
15	Assessment against the planning rules assessment after Lodgement and properly-made check 50d slack	Responsible authority (Victorian council)	assessment	60	60 published	Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic)
16	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 5d slack	Responsible authority (Victorian council)	applicant	—	45 estimate	—
17	Determination and issue of planning permit decision after Assessment against the planning rules 40d slack	Responsible authority (Victorian council)	assessment	—	10 estimate	Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic)
18	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 19d slack	Building surveyor (Victoria)	assessment	—	21 estimate	Building Act 1993 (Vic)
19	Mandatory inspections during construction inspection Inspections at prescribed stages. Counted as booking delay only, not as construction time. after Obtain the building permit 14d slack	Building surveyor (Victoria)	scheduling	—	5 estimate	—
20	Obtain the occupancy permit certification Authorises the building to be occupied. after Mandatory inspections during construction	Building surveyor (Victoria)	assessment	—	14 estimate	—
21	Utility connections referral only if triggered Water, sewer, power and telecommunications connections. Triggered when: The lot is not already serviced. after Obtain the building permit	—	third party	—	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

vic-building (certification) appears at Obtain the building permit, Obtain the occupancy permit. Could these be a single sign-off?
vic-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

Victoria published development assessment and building approval guidance, accessed 2026-08-30
Comparative state-by-state guides to contract cooling-off periods, accessed 2026-08-30
Comparative state-by-state conveyancing settlement guides, 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/vic-buy-land-build-house.toml and open a pull request, or send us the correction.