Strata approval
in WA: what gets
rejected and why
After 200+ submissions to Perth strata committees we've seen every knock-back there is. Here's what they actually check, the acoustic spec that sinks half of DIY applications, and how our packs get through first pass.
What 'approval' actually means in WA
In Western Australia, anything touching the building's structure, waterproofing, or common property needs your strata company's sign-off — and most by-laws go further, covering floors, external doors and anything visible from the street. Cosmetic work inside your lot is usually free to proceed. The grey area is where most owners get into trouble.
The committee isn't being difficult for fun — they're protecting the owners below you from leaks and the owners beside you from noise. Once you read the checklist through their eyes, the paperwork makes sense.
The documents committees actually check
- Proposed drawings — floor plans showing what's demolished and what's added. Hand sketches get questions; dimensioned plans get stamps.
- Waterproofing spec — membrane brand, application standard (AS 3740), who applies it, and their licence details.
- Acoustic underlay spec — the one that sinks DIY applications. "Underlay included" isn't a spec; committees want the product datasheet and tested rating.
- Contractor insurances — public liability certificate naming the job, plus licence numbers for every trade.
- Waste plan — where the skip goes, how common property gets protected, work hours acknowledged.
Our design packs produce all of this as a single submission-ready document — it's most of why our first-pass approval rate sits at 96%.
The acoustic trap
Hard flooring is the single most-rejected item in WA apartment renovations. Pull up carpet, lay boards, and the person downstairs hears every step like it's inside their ceiling. Committees know this — they've usually had the complaint before — so they ask for the underlay's tested impact-sound rating.
"5 mm rubber-cork underlay, tested L'nT,w under 62" is an approvable sentence. "Quality acoustic underlay" is a rejection letter. We submit product datasheets with tested figures from our flooring spec, which is the difference between an approval and a resubmission.
Timeline: realistic expectations
Two to four weeks for a routine pack in a well-run building. Longer if the committee meets monthly, asks questions, or your scope touches common property like risers or balconies. Build it into your schedule — starting demolition before approval lands is how people end up paying to put walls back.
Pro move: attend the meeting if your strata allows observers. Questions answered in the room take two minutes; the same question by letter costs a month.
When approval is refused
It's rare on a complete pack, but it happens — usually over hard floors in a building with a hard-floor ban, or structural changes to common walls. The fix is almost always spec, not argument: different underlay, different product, revised drawings. We resubmit revised packs at no charge because a refusal usually means we spec'd for the wrong building rules.
If you're mid-argument with a committee already, send us the by-laws and the refusal letter. Nine times out of ten the gap is one missing document.
Committee meeting in a fortnight?
We prepare strata packs the way committees want to read them — drawings, specs, insurances, done. Ask about the approval pack.
