One of the less visible but genuinely important steps in planning a custom home is understanding who is responsible for what and verifying that the people taking on those responsibilities are appropriately qualified and registered to do so.

This matters more than it might initially appear. A custom home project typically involves a builder, a designer, a building surveyor, and a range of other specialists, each with a distinct role, distinct registration requirements, and distinct authority for specific decisions and certifications. The fact that someone presents themselves under a familiar job title, has an established social media presence, or has been recommended by someone you trust does not, by itself, establish what they are registered and authorised to do.

The process of verifying practitioner information and clarifying responsibilities is not a sign of distrust. It is a standard part of making an informed decision before committing to an engagement, the same kind of due diligence that applies to any significant professional relationship. Doing it before work is agreed is significantly simpler than trying to resolve uncertainty about roles and authority after a project is underway.

Understand the Roles Before Comparing the People

A useful starting point is understanding what the distinct roles in a custom home project are, and what each role is responsible for before thinking about who will fill them.

The builder is the party who holds the contract for the construction work and is responsible for carrying it out in accordance with the contract documents, the approved plans, and the relevant regulations. In Victoria, domestic building work above a certain value must be carried out by or under the supervision of a registered building practitioner. The registration is specific, different categories of registration authorise different types of work and checking that the registered category matches the proposed work is part of the verification process.

The designer whether an architect, building designer, or draftsperson is responsible for producing the design documentation that the project is built from. Architects are registered through the Architects Registration Board of Victoria. Building designers and draftspersons working on domestic building work in Victoria may be required to hold registration as building practitioners in the relevant category. The specific requirements depend on the type and scale of the work.

The building surveyor is an independent role separate from both the builder and the designer responsible for issuing building permits, approving stages of construction, and issuing the occupancy permit at the end of the project. The building surveyor works for the homeowner, not the builder, and their independence from the construction team is a fundamental aspect of the regulatory framework that protects building owners.

Other specialists structural engineers, energy assessors, geotechnical consultants, landscape architects, and others contribute specific technical input at different stages of the project. Each has their own qualifications and registration requirements relevant to their discipline.

Understanding these roles as distinct before a project begins helps homeowners ask the right questions when they are introduced to the practitioners who will fill them and identify the cases where a single person or business is proposing to perform functions that the regulatory framework expects to be kept separate.

Match Evidence to the Proposed Work

The verification process for any practitioner begins with identifying the specific person or business who will perform the role not the company name on the proposal, but the individual whose registration and insurance are relevant to the work being done.

For registration, ask for the exact name under which the practitioner is registered and the registration number, then check it through the current official channels. In Victoria, building practitioner registrations can be checked through the Victorian Building Authority. Architect registrations can be checked through ArchiCentre Australia or the Architects Registration Board of Victoria. Do not rely on a certificate provided by the practitioner alone, check the current status through the official register, because registrations can be suspended, cancelled, or subject to conditions that a printed certificate does not show.

The check should be recorded noting the date on which it was conducted, the channel through which it was verified, and what the check showed. A registration that was current at the time of checking may not remain current through the life of a project, so the check at the start of the engagement is the baseline rather than the final word.

For insurance, where evidence of insurance is relevant to the engagement, ask for the specific document rather than a general assurance that insurance is held. Review what the document actually covers, the type of insurance, the policy period, the covered activities, the coverage limits rather than accepting the presence of a document as confirmation that coverage is adequate for the proposed work. Insurance requirements for domestic building work in Victoria are established by regulation, and Consumer Affairs Victoria’s guidance is a useful reference for understanding what should be in place.

Keep copies of the registration verification records and insurance documents in the project file alongside the engagement contract and the construction contract. A social media profile, a portfolio of completed work, a company logo, or a photograph of a construction site is context, it is not the same as verified practitioner information, and it should not be treated as a substitute for it.

Clarify the Engagement Before Signing

Once the practitioners and their registrations have been identified and verified, the next step is clarifying exactly what each practitioner’s engagement covers what work they will perform, what is excluded, and how changes to the engagement will be managed.

Five questions provide a useful structure for this clarification.

What work will this practitioner perform? The answer should be specific enough to distinguish this practitioner’s responsibilities from those of others on the project. If the builder is responsible for the construction work under the building contract, and the designer is responsible for the design documentation and contract administration, those are distinct scopes and both should be described clearly.

What is excluded or requires another specialist? Exclusions are as important as inclusions. If the designer’s engagement does not include structural engineering, or the builder’s contract excludes a particular category of work, knowing this upfront allows the homeowner to confirm that the excluded work is covered by another engagement rather than falling into a gap.

Who will communicate instructions and approvals? In a project with multiple practitioners, the communication pathways matter particularly for instructions that affect the construction contract, approvals that are required before work proceeds, and responses to requests for information from the site. Understanding who is the appropriate contact for each type of communication prevents requests from reaching the wrong person and decisions from being made by someone without the authority to make them.

Which documents or deliverables are expected? The engagement should specify what the practitioner will produce, the drawings, specifications, reports, certifications, or other documents that form the deliverables of their role. This is particularly important for the building surveyor, whose formal documents, the building permit, stage inspection approvals, and occupancy permit are the regulatory milestones of the project.

How will a change in personnel or scope be recorded? Projects change. Personnel change. The process for recording and agreeing those changes should be established at the start of the engagement rather than improvised when a change occurs. If the person performing a role on the project changes during the build, the homeowner should know how that change is communicated and what verification is expected for the incoming person.

Separate Technical Certification From Document Coordination

One specific clarification that is worth making explicitly in a custom home project is the distinction between the person who coordinates and communicates documents and the person who makes the technical certifications those documents contain.

On some projects, a single point of contact manages the flow of information between the homeowner and the various practitioners collecting design documents, coordinating responses to queries, managing the programme. This coordination role is genuinely useful. But it is not the same as the technical authority to certify a structural calculation, to approve a building stage inspection, or to issue a building permit. Those authorities belong to specific registered practitioners, and the homeowner should know who those practitioners are and how to reach them directly when a matter requires their specific authority.

If a query about a technical certification whether a structural element has been inspected, whether a stage approval has been issued, whether a particular specification has been signed off by the relevant specialist — is being answered by a coordinator rather than by the certifying practitioner, it is worth asking for the answer to come from the practitioner themselves, or for the relevant document to be produced rather than described.

A Note on the Scope of This Article

This article does not verify the registrations, insurance, or capabilities of EJN Build or any other practitioner. Its purpose is to help homeowners organise the evidence and questions needed for an informed project discussion before signing an engagement or construction contract.

For current guidance on building practitioner registrations, insurance requirements, and your rights as a building owner in Victoria, Consumer Affairs Victoria publishes practical information at consumer.vic.gov.au. The Domestic Building Consumer Guide in particular covers the rights and responsibilities of building owners in domestic construction projects and is worth reading before entering into any building contract.

EJN Build works with homeowners in South East Melbourne who are planning custom home projects. If you have questions about how roles and responsibilities are structured in a well-managed custom home project, we would be glad to discuss what that looks like in practice.