Residential and commercial. Room heights, natural light, ventilation, stairs and barriers. Prepared under Clause A2G2 by a registered building practitioner, in consultation with your building surveyor.
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Overview
Every building in Australia has to meet the National Construction Code. The Code sets the minimum standards for safety, health and amenity, and it can be satisfied two ways.
Following the prescriptive provisions written into the Code. Fixed dimensions, materials and methods. This is how most buildings are documented.
Demonstrating by another means that the relevant Performance Requirement is met. Prepared under Clause A2G2 and assessed by your building surveyor.
A Performance Solution suits buildings where a prescriptive figure cannot be achieved because of existing structure, heritage fabric or a base building constraint. Where the Deemed-to-Satisfy provisions can be met, that is usually the simpler and cheaper route, and we will say so if that applies to your job.
Worth knowing before you commit
Services
All items below sit within the scope of a registered building practitioner. Each is assessed under the relevant Performance Requirement using expert judgement and comparison with the Deemed-to-Satisfy provisions.
Class 1 and 10 buildings. Most work is renovations, extensions, conversions and small second dwellings, where an existing element cannot be brought up to current figures.
Class 5 to 9 buildings. Most work is tenancy fitouts, change of use and refurbishment, where base building structure or services limit what the fitout can achieve.
Scope
A surveyor will reject a report authored outside the writer's competence, and the time is lost. Here is the line, up front.
Process
Each step is prescribed by the Code. Reports that skip the first step are commonly rejected, because the surveyor never agreed to the method.
01
We contact your building surveyor and agree the Performance Requirement, the assessment method and the acceptance criteria before any analysis begins. We also confirm they will accept a report from a registered building practitioner for the item in question.
02
We carry out the assessment set out in the brief. Usually expert judgement supported by comparison against a Deemed-to-Satisfy benchmark, using dimensional analysis, occupant characteristics and the intended use of the space.
03
Results are tested against every acceptance criterion in the brief. Where a criterion depends on another consultant, such as lighting levels or ventilation rates, we obtain their written confirmation rather than assuming it.
04
You receive the final report with implementation requirements set out as conditions, plus the drawing notes to add to your documentation. The first round of surveyor comments is included.
Sectors
Almost all of it is existing buildings. New builds should be documented to Deemed-to-Satisfy from the outset, and a surveyor will ask why they weren't.
Getting started
The more of this we have up front, the more accurate the fee and the turnaround. If you only have the surveyor's comment, send that and we will tell you what else is needed.
We aim to come back with a fixed fee proposal within one business day.
Who prepares the report
Reform Performance Solutions is the compliance arm of Reform Building Design, a registered building design practice in Melbourne. Reports are prepared by Josh Beaumont, with over a decade of experience across residential building design, commercial architecture and national retail fitout documentation.
Because we also draft, we can handle whichever answer the assessment points to. If the item is better resolved by a revised drawing, we can make that change in the same engagement rather than handing you back to someone else.
FAQ
The Code does not prescribe who may prepare one. It depends on the type of departure, the assessment method and the complexity. Architectural and spatial items such as room heights, light, ventilation and stair geometry sit within the scope of a registered building practitioner. Fire safety, structural and access items do not, and we refer those on. Your building surveyor makes the final call on whether the author's qualifications suit the item, which is why we confirm that with them before starting.
No. The relevant building surveyor assesses the report, so they can only have limited involvement in preparing it. They can tell you what they will need to see, and they must agree the design brief with you, but the analysis and report have to come from someone else.
No. A Performance Solution must be approved before the relevant building work is carried out. Where work is already complete and does not comply, it has to be addressed another way, usually by rectification or through the building permit process with your surveyor. Tell us the stage of works when you enquire so we can say straight away whether this pathway is open.
We confirm the turnaround with the fee proposal, so you know before you commit. The variable is the design brief step, because it depends on how quickly your building surveyor responds. We start that conversation the day we are engaged.
Agreeing the brief up front is what prevents this, because the surveyor has already accepted the Performance Requirement, the assessment method and the acceptance criteria before the analysis is done. The first round of surveyor comments is included in the fee. If the surveyor raises something that changes the scope of the assessment, we will quote that separately before proceeding.
Many surveyors require the building owner to acknowledge in writing that a Performance Solution is being used instead of a Deemed-to-Satisfy design, and that they accept the ongoing conditions. Requirements vary between firms, so we ask your surveyor for their form as part of the design brief step.
The NCC applies nationally, so the technical assessment is the same. Administration differs between states. Interstate work is by arrangement, and we will confirm the approval pathway before quoting.
Yes. Reform Building Design is a drafting practice, so where an item is resolved by revised documentation rather than a report, we can make the change in the same engagement.
Contact
Attach the surveyor's comment and the affected drawing. We will confirm the pathway, the fee and the turnaround, usually within one business day.
Send us the RFI