What steps do you need to take?

Make sure you keep a record of all the costs related to building and construction work incurred from the very first stage of your project. This includes indirect costs such as those incurred for site clearing, town planning, design, project management, engineers and quantity surveyors.

You’ll need to include the costs incurred in these early stages when you’re notifying the work to us.

What’s included in the cost of work?

Before work starts, you must notify us about your new project on the Building and Construction Levy Portal.

We'll use the cost of work provided on the form to calculate the levies you need to pay now. You'll be provided with payment options when the form is submitted, so that you can pay in a way that works for you.

When you notify the work, you'll also need to tell us the date you expect work to be completed. We'll keep a record of this and contact you after this date to determine the final cost of work, so that we can make sure the correct levies have been paid.

Paying the levy

Once the levy has been paid, we’ll issue a confirmation of notification and payment to you. Then, you need to provide this confirmation to your assessment manager or private certifier before a development permit or approval is issued.

Assessment managers and private certifiers

Now that you've notified work, paid the levy and provided confirmation to your certifier, construction is ready to start. We know that sometimes it can take years for work to be completed, so it’s important to remember that your QLeave obligations don’t end here and you need to keep us updated when work details change.

Make sure you let us know if any details change during construction. This includes changes to contact details, owner, principal contractor, cost of work, building and construction work details and more.

You can do this by clicking on your project in the Building and Construction Levy Portal and updating the relevant information. To change your work details you will need to provide your levy number, which you can find on your notification and payment confirmation.

Change work details

To ensure the correct levies have been paid, you must notify us of the final cost of work within 30 days of work finishing.

You may be required to pay additional levies if the final cost of work is more than what you originally notified. If the cost of work has decreased you may be eligible for a full or partial refund, which you must apply for within one year of the work being completed.

Finalise work details

You can complete the finalisation form by clicking on your project in the Building and Construction Levy Portal and clicking Finalise project. When you've submitted the form, and paid additional levies if required, you have met your QLeave obligations and there's nothing else we need from you.