Principal Certifier fees NSW

It has been the case with both certifiers I've used. I was told once its in the "rules" somewhere, don't know exaclty which regulatory instrument but the idea is that you can't hold payment over their head later on to pressure them to approve things

EDIT: Building & Development Certifier Regulation 2020 clause 29

@pdub thanks so much, good to know someone else has experienced/can verify it. There is sense to the logic but still, quite a bit of risk to the client of the certifier taking off, losing their registration, becoming bankrupt, dieing etc before the works are completed. Clause 29 just says you have to prepay before "functions are carried out" but surely that still works if you're able to make staged payments like for any other service or trade. Thanks again though.

Se

Yep. We are doing a 2 stage build. Paid up front for stage 1. After that was completed and OC received we paid up front for stage 2 plus some extra charges from stage 1 for extra inspections they had not budgeted for.