Secondary dwelling (granny flat) inspection software
Granny flats approved as complying development in NSW go through the same mandatory critical stage inspections as any other dwelling, carried out by the certifier before work can progress. Each inspection is short and specific — footings before the pour, framing, waterproofing, final — and its record has to show what was checked and whether the work matched the approved plans. SurveyThanks gives each stage its own form section.
Built for certifiers running teams of roughly 3–50 inspectors.
Sample Secondary dwelling report
An illustrative excerpt. The site, readings and findings are fictional; the layout is yours to set.
Secondary dwelling report
Critical stage inspection — Secondary dwelling, 22 Example Lane
- Approval
- Complying development certificate (fictional ref.)
- Stage
- Frame inspection
- Date
- 17 June 2026
| Item | Observation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Wall framing | Stud spacing and lintels as per frame layout | Result: Satisfactory |
| Bracing | Missing brace panel, east wall | Result: Not satisfactory |
| Tie-downs | Rod tie-downs at corners, as per engineer | Result: Satisfactory |
| Setback | Measured 0.9 m to the side boundary | Result: As approved |
Fields captured on site
Your firm builds the form in-app, so these are a starting point rather than a fixed schema. Every field is captured on the device, with or without signal, and lands in the secondary dwelling report where your template puts it.
Approval
- Certificate reference
- Approved plan set and revision
- Builder and licence number
Per stage inspection
- Stage
- Item checked
- Satisfactory / not satisfactory
- Photo with comment
- Direction to builder
Site
- Setbacks measured
- Floor area of the secondary dwelling
- Separation from the principal dwelling
Standards the report works to
- State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 (NSW)Secondary dwellings
- Sets the development standards a NSW granny flat is approved against, including the floor area limit.
- National Construction CodeVolume Two / Housing Provisions
- The construction requirements each critical stage is checked against.
Load the standards you hold into your reference library and the drafted prose is written against them rather than against a general model.
How the secondary dwelling report gets built
Capture it once, offline
Your firm builds the granny flat approval inspection form in-app — 25 field types, nesting repeatable groups, compound AND/OR visibility rules, reusable modules and calculated fields. Field capture works with no signal: jobs, forms, photos, notes and audio all queue in an idempotent outbox that only clears once the server confirms receipt.
Link it to your rooms and external areas
Enter rooms and external areas once, as a register. Every one of your defects, photos and timber pest findings then points at a stored row rather than a name somebody typed — and the links survive a disconnected device.
Render your own template
The secondary dwelling report renders into the Word template you already use — your letterhead, your section order, your clause library — with conditionals, loops over repeats, composable sub-templates and photo grids.
Reviewed before it leaves
You write the review framework: a checklist of what a secondary dwelling report must contain, plus the prose standards you would mark a junior against. Link it to a report template and it runs every time that template renders. Each finding comes back graded info, minor or major, quoting the sentence at fault, and a person accepts or dismisses every one.
Because the structured submission behind the report is held too, the review is a comparison rather than a proofread: The summary says no major defects were found; the form carries a major structural defect on the rear wall.
Checks a residential property framework usually carries
- The standard’s required wording, limitations and exclusions are all present
- Every area is either reported on or listed as not accessed, with a reason
- Each defect in the summary appears in the body at the same severity
- Timber pest findings carry the risk statement the standard requires
Questions
- Can each critical stage be its own report?
- Yes. Each stage can be its own job using the same form, or one job with a section per stage, depending on how you issue inspection records.
- Can the builder see what failed?
- The inspection record goes to the builder as a file or a password-protected link, with each unsatisfactory item and its photo.
- Can the form show only the checks for the current stage?
- Visibility rules can show only the questions for the stage selected, so a frame inspection does not show waterproofing checks.
What this is not
Worth knowing before you book a demo, so neither of us wastes the half hour.
- Not field-service dispatch. No timesheets, no parts, no inventory. Scheduling exists to get an inspector to a site.
- No signature capture. If your deliverable has to carry a signed sign-off on the artefact itself, this is not the tool yet.
- Field capture is what works offline — jobs, forms, photos, notes and audio. Reports, chat, scheduling and the inbox need a connection.
- No client portal. Reports go out as a file or a password-protected link.
Other residential property work we cover
- Blind cord safety auditsCord safety report
- Boundary tree dispute reportsArborist boundary report
- Building and pest inspectionsCombined building pest report
- Dividing fence condition reportsFence condition report
- Meth residue testingContamination test report
- Mould inspectionsMould assessment report
- New-build handover inspectionsPCI defect report
- Owner-builder defect inspectionsDefect schedule
Other disciplines
Rebuild your secondary dwelling report in SurveyThanks
Bring the Word template you already send clients. If you are coming off another field-forms tool, a filled report can be uploaded, read field by field, and re-rendered into your template.