Ask Baily about your Melbourne renovation. One vetted VBA-registered Melbourne builder, not a dozen strangers.

Every Melbourne renovation runs through two parallel consent regimes. A Planning Permit is issued by the local council under the Victoria Planning Provisions and addresses land use, amenity, heritage, and overlay controls. A Building Permit is issued by a registered Building Surveyor and addresses technical compliance with the National Construction Code. Miss either one and the work is unlawful even if the other has been granted. A building permit cannot issue until a planning permit is endorsed where one is required.

The Building Act 1993 and Building Regulations 2018 require a VBA-registered practitioner for any residential building work over A$10,000. For work over A$16,000 the builder must carry Domestic Building Insurance (DBI) underwritten by the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority (VMIA), giving the homeowner 6-year structural and 2-year non-structural cover if the builder dies, disappears, or becomes insolvent. The Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 requires a written fixed-price contract for work over A$10,000 with a statutory cooling-off period and a progress-payment schedule tied to stages.

Victoria Planning Provisions Clause 43.01 — Heritage Overlay — covers most of the inner-Melbourne suburbs built before World War I. Fitzroy, Carlton, North Melbourne, Richmond, Collingwood, Abbotsford, South Yarra, Prahran, St Kilda, Hawthorn, Kew, Camberwell, Malvern, Armadale, and Williamstown all sit under extensive HO schedules. Demolition, external alteration, subdivision, and sometimes interior work to a graded building trigger a planning permit, a heritage statement, and a municipal heritage adviser review. State-significant places on the Heritage Victoria register require a separate permit from Heritage Victoria in addition to the council permit.

Victoria Planning Provisions Clause 44.06 — Bushfire Management Overlay — triggers a Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) assessment under AS 3959 on every peri-urban lot in the Dandenongs, the Yarra Ranges, Nillumbik, Macedon Ranges, the Mornington Peninsula, and scattered coastal fringes. BAL ratings run from BAL-Low to BAL-FZ (Flame Zone). BAL-29 and above add materially to construction cost — non-combustible cladding, ember guards, window and door glazing upgrades, defendable-space vegetation management, and bushfire attack-level-rated decking.

The Owners Corporations Act 2006 governs body-corporate consent on Victorian strata and apartment stock. Any work that affects common property — a bathroom waterproofing membrane, balcony balustrade, facade cladding, or ducted-heating riser — requires Owners Corporation resolution, often by special resolution at a general meeting. Expect A$500-A$3,500 in manager and surveyor fees plus 4-12 weeks of OC meetings before works can start. Some schemes require a registered amendment to the rules before major works.

A 6-star energy rating (moving to 7-star under the 2023 National Construction Code update) is mandatory for new class-1 dwellings and major alterations, assessed under NatHERS via FirstRate5, AccuRate, or BERS Pro by an accredited thermal-performance assessor. A 6-star rating drives window orientation, glazing U-value and SHGC, insulation levels in walls, ceilings, and floors, and often external shading. Non-compliance is a building-permit refusal, not a negotiating position.

Section 173 Agreements (Planning and Environment Act 1987) are council-imposed ongoing conditions registered on title — car parking, vegetation retention, stormwater detention, heritage controls. They bind all future owners. Section 32 vendor statements under the Sale of Land Act 1962 require the vendor to disclose every S173 Agreement, planning overlay, and building order before signing a contract. A builder scoping a Melbourne renovation should read the Section 32 before quoting; surprises on title at contract-stage are common.

Secondary dwellings in Victoria do not enjoy the NSW granny-flat fast-track. A Melbourne secondary dwelling typically requires a planning permit under Clause 52.42 or a specific DDO provision, plus a building permit, plus service-upgrade coordination with the distribution network. The Department of Transport and Planning is reviewing a streamlined pathway; for now, budget 12-24 weeks for consents versus 10 days for a Sydney complying-development granny flat.

Victorian Heritage Council places on the state Heritage Register (for example Melbourne Club, The Windsor, and individual Italianate mansions in Toorak, Hawthorn, and Kew) require a Heritage Victoria permit in addition to the council planning permit. Unauthorised work on a registered place is an offence under the Heritage Act 2017 carrying fines into six figures for corporations. Heritage advisers, architects on the Heritage Victoria panel, and specialist conservation trades become non-negotiable on registered places.

Asbestos is a statutory issue for any renovation on a pre-1990 Melbourne home. The Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 and the Compliance Code for Removing Asbestos (WorkSafe Victoria) require a pre-works survey and a licensed removalist over 10 square metres of non-friable or any friable quantity. Reblocking and restumping — a distinctively Victorian specialty because of the combination of timber-stump foundations and reactive clay soils in the western and northern suburbs — is its own VBA-registered speciality with its own permit pathway. Termite treatment under AS 3660.1 is expected on every reblock given the prevalence across the north and west.