The Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 reshaped how remedial works get done on strata buildings in NSW. If your building is Class 2, this affects every repair you authorise — from waterproofing to structural works. Here's what you need to know.
The DBP Act commenced 10 June 2020. Remedial works on Class 2 buildings fully captured since 1 July 2021.
The duty of care applies retrospectively to defects that became apparent within 10 years of 11 June 2020.
All multi-storey residential strata — regardless of age. Class 3 and 9c buildings captured from July 2023.
NSW Government's response to a construction industry in crisis. Opal Tower. Mascot Towers. A Deakin University study found 97% of NSW buildings had at least one defect — water penetration and fire protection failures the most common.
All design practitioners, building practitioners, and professional engineers must be registered on the NSW public register before carrying out regulated work on Class 2 buildings. It is an offence to carry out regulated work while unregistered.
Regulated designs must be prepared by a registered design practitioner, declared compliant with the BCA, and lodged on the NSW Planning Portal before building work starts. No design lodged = work cannot legally commence.
After works are done, the registered building practitioner must provide a building compliance declaration confirming the work was built to the declared design and meets the Building Code of Australia.
Design practitioners must retain all regulated designs and compliance declarations for a minimum of 10 years — giving owners a verifiable record for insurance, disputes, resale, and future remediation.
Why does this matter to your committee? Before the Act, a builder could carry out complex waterproofing or structural works with no engineer sign-off, no lodged design, and no legal exposure when it failed. The owners corporation wore the cost. The DBP Act closed that gap — permanently.
For most remedial works on Class 2 buildings, you can no longer engage a builder and proceed without a registered design practitioner. The Act creates a clear divide — but even exempt work has conditions.
Balcony, rooftop, podium, facade — waterproofing always requires a regulated design, even when the works fall under exempt development. The design must comply with the NCC and Australian Standards, be prepared by a registered design practitioner, and be lodged before work starts. No exceptions.
Concrete spalling, lintel replacement, transfer beam repairs — must be supervised by a registered professional engineer. Works are only exempt development if structural adequacy is maintained and fire resistance is not reduced. The engineer's involvement is not optional — it's the legal condition that makes the works exempt.
Any facade work involving building elements requires a registered design practitioner. Cladding replacement — particularly combustible ACP — triggers full compliance including planning approval in most cases.
An immediate safety risk allows works without a regulated design upfront — but only for the emergency stabilisation itself. Any subsequent remediation requires full DBP Act compliance. You cannot use emergency provisions repeatedly. NSW Fair Trading audits these and takes disciplinary action against misuse.
Minor concrete repair, corrosion treatment, and repainting are generally excluded from regulated design requirements — provided the works don't alter structural or fire-resistance capacity. If in doubt, the registered practitioner must assess before proceeding.
The practical rule: if you're repairing a building element — structural, waterproofing, facade — there's a very high chance a regulated design and/or registered engineer is required before the builder starts. The engineer isn't an add-on cost. They're the mechanism that makes the work legally defensible and gives your owners corporation recourse if something fails.
The DBP Act fundamentally shifts who carries the risk — from your levy fund back to the professionals who designed and built the work.
Every person who carries out construction work — builders, designers, engineers, project managers — now owes you a statutory duty to exercise reasonable care to avoid economic loss from defects. Enforceable without a contract relationship.
→ You can pursue practitioners directlyThe duty applies to loss that became apparent within 10 years of 11 June 2020. If your building has defects from works completed years ago, the Act may give you a new legal avenue to pursue the responsible parties.
→ Old defects, new legal recourseLiability extends beyond the builder. Anyone who supervised, coordinated, project-managed, or had substantive control over the works is captured. Developers who controlled the construction — even indirectly — can be held liable.
→ No more "not my problem" defencesBefore the DBP Act, there was no lodged baseline to measure finished work against. Now every regulated job comes with a declared design on the Planning Portal. If the work doesn't match it, you have documented proof of non-compliance.
→ Disputes decided on paper, not memoryRegistered practitioners must carry mandatory insurance as a condition of registration. When you engage a registered building practitioner, there's an insured party behind the declaration — not just a handshake and a hope.
→ Something to claim against if it failsAll regulated designs and compliance declarations must be retained for a minimum of 10 years. This protects your owners corporation in disputes, insurance claims, future resales, and when the next committee wants to understand what work was done.
→ Your building's paper trail, protectedWater penetration and fire protection failures were the most common. The DBP Act exists because self-regulation failed. For owners corporations, the Act is the first time a duty of care has been written directly into statute — meaning you don't need a contract, just proof that the practitioner did substandard work.
The traditional approach to remedial works was cheap to start and expensive to fix. Here's what changed — and why it matters to your owners corporation.
Getting works done by an unregistered builder — or without a declared design — isn't just a technical breach. It removes the legal protections the Act was built to give you.
The short-term saving is not worth the long-term liability. A builder quoting without mentioning a regulated design is either not registered, not across the requirements, or deliberately avoiding the conversation because it adds cost and complexity to their quote.
Four steps from first contact to compliant, documented remediation — built around the DBP Act requirements from day one.
We assess the actual cause — not just what's visible. Our investigation determines scope, identifies the correct registered design pathway, and flags any planning triggers before you commit a dollar. This is the step most committees skip — and it's why previous repairs fail.
We coordinate with a registered design practitioner to prepare and declare the regulated design — lodged on the NSW Planning Portal before works start. Your compliance baseline is set before we lift a tool. You can hand this to your strata lawyer and they'll know exactly where you stand.
You receive a clear methodology, fixed-price quote, and timeline structured for committee approval. The DBP compliance pathway is documented so your strata manager, strata lawyer, and owners corporation can review it without ambiguity.
Engineer-directed remediation with weekly progress reports and QA documentation. On completion, we provide a building compliance declaration confirming the work was built to the declared design and meets the Building Code of Australia — lodged on the Planning Portal as part of your building's permanent record.
Yes. The Act applies to all Class 2 buildings — regardless of when they were built. If your building is a multi-storey residential strata, the DBP Act governs how remedial works must be carried out from July 2021 onward. Age of the building is irrelevant. What matters is the work being done now.
Yes — and it's not uncommon. Many builders in the Sydney market are not registered, not across the compliance requirements, or are deliberately avoiding the conversation because regulated design adds cost. It's an offence under the DBP Act for an unregistered practitioner to carry out regulated work. If something goes wrong with a non-compliant builder, your owners corporation bears the cost and has limited recourse. Always verify registration on the NSW public register before signing a contract.
Almost certainly yes. Waterproofing is carved out specifically in the DBP legislation — it requires a regulated design even when the works fall under exempt development. The size of the job doesn't change this. Whether you're waterproofing one balcony or twenty, a registered design practitioner must prepare and declare the design before works start.
Your owners corporation is fully exposed. Without a registered practitioner and declared design, you lose the statutory duty of care protections the Act provides. You also lose your insurance claim path — and if the work is later found to be non-compliant, the cost of rectification falls entirely to the owners corporation. Regulatory action from NSW Fair Trading is also possible. The short-term saving is not worth the long-term liability.
Search the NSW Building Commission's public register at NSW Fair Trading — search Atomic Projects or Licence 360636C. All registered Class 2 building practitioners are listed publicly. We're registered, insured, and have been completing compliant remedial works under the DBP Act since its commencement in July 2021.
Depending on where the project is at — yes. If works haven't started, you can require compliance as a condition of proceeding. If works are underway, the builder has ongoing obligations under the Act regardless of when the contract was signed. If works are complete and non-compliant, speak to your strata lawyer about your options. We can conduct a building investigation and advise on the current state and what rectification compliance would look like.
Yes — and this is one of the most important changes the DBP Act introduced. The statutory duty of care runs with the land and extends to all subsequent owners. Before the Act, a builder didn't necessarily owe a subsequent owner a duty of care to avoid economic loss. Now they do. Compliant remediation protects not just the current committee, but every future owner in the building.
Being Class 2 registered isn't the whole job. It's the starting point. Here's what DBP Act compliance actually looks like when Atomic Projects is running the project.
Most contractors quote off a scope that was never properly investigated. We start with a building investigation — identifying the root cause, confirming what building elements are affected, and determining the correct DBP Act pathway before a dollar is committed. This is what prevents scope blowouts and repeat failures.
Engaging a registered design practitioner, getting the design declared, and lodging it on the NSW Planning Portal is our responsibility to manage — not yours. We have established relationships with registered structural and waterproofing engineers. The design is in place and lodged before any site work begins. You receive confirmation when it's done.
Strata committees need to pass resolutions. That means clear scope, fixed price, confirmed timeline, and documented compliance pathway. Our proposals are written for committees — not just builders — so your strata manager and strata lawyer can review, advise, and approve without coming back to us for clarification.
Once works commence, everything is built to the declared design. Deviations go back to the engineer. QA documentation is maintained throughout. Weekly progress reports go to your strata manager so the committee is never in the dark. No surprises at handover.
On completion, we issue the building compliance declaration — confirming the works were built to the declared design and comply with the Building Code of Australia. Lodged on the NSW Planning Portal. Retained by us for 10 years. Your building has a permanent, verifiable compliance record for this scope of work.
The short version: we handle the compliance process from investigation to declared design to compliance declaration. You get a fixed price, a documented process, and a building that's genuinely protected — not just repaired.
We don't do general construction with remedial as a sideline. Waterproofing, concrete, facade, and structural remediation is all we do. The DBP Act compliance pathway is part of every project we run — not bolted on as an afterthought.
Every project is run against an engineer's specification, not a builder's estimate. Where structural or waterproofing works require on-site engineer supervision, it's factored in from day one — not added when Fair Trading comes asking.
We understand how strata decisions get made — AGMs, special levies, committee resolutions, strata managers, strata lawyers. Our documentation is built to move through that process cleanly, not sit in someone's inbox waiting for clarification.
Our Class 2 registration is on the NSW Building Commission public register. Check it before you sign anything. Every compliance declaration we issue is backed by registration, insurance, and 15+ years of remedial works across Sydney.