Sydney Water Developer Direct®

When you apply for a Section 73 Compliance Certificate, Sydney Water Developer Direct will review your construction works. We work with you to meet our requirements on minor works.   

If you've already chosen to use a water servicing coordinator, Sydney Water Developer Direct won't be able to assist.

On this page

How we help with minor works

How to apply for a Section 73 certificate

Who can construct required works

Charges to expect

If you're building a granny flat

How we help with minor works

We can help with simple construction or protection work on minor developments to meet our requirements. Minor developments include small unit blocks and dual occupancies, or creating 3 or 4 new lots.

We can assist if: 

  • you only need to construct minor sewer works to meet our requirements
  • you're ready to start construction of any works within the next 4 months
  • no contaminated land or heritage items are on your property.

Planning a big development?

If you're planning large-scale land rezoning, a new development or a redevelopment project, call us on 13 20 92 8am–5:30pm Monday to Friday (except public holidays) for advice. Ask for the Growth & Development team.

Infrastructure contributions may apply to your application. Find out more about land development.

How to apply for a Section 73 certificate

Apply for a Section 73 Compliance Certificate online and pay the application fee by Visa or Mastercard. You'll need a valid Development Application from your local council and be ready to start any works listed in your Notice of Requirements within 4 months.

Please include your council-approved documents, including:

  • site plan
  • building plan
  • subdivision plan
  • development consent
  • pre-allocated plan number.

You can attach up to 10 files up to 10 MB each as Microsoft Word, DWG, PDF, PNG, JPG, ZIP, XLS or XLSX. If any file isn't in one of these formats or is larger than 10 MB, call us on 1300 082 746 7am–4pm Monday to Friday (except public holidays) before you apply.

How we process your application

Within 5 working days, we'll email your application reference number and payment receipt and assign a case manager, who'll contact you. They'll determine the servicing requirements for your development and assess your building plans to make sure it won't impact our pipes and structures. They'll also obtain quotes for any works required.

You'll receive your Notice of Requirements within 14 days if there are requirements you need to fulfil. If our assessment shows you have no requirements, your Section 73 Compliance Certificate will be issued once IC charges are paid (if applicable).

Signed up for Sydney Water Tap in®?
Sydney Water Tap in provides online access to Sydney Water application forms for all sorts of building and development projects, and provides step-by-step instructions on what you need to support them.

Who can construct required works

If you need to do work before we can issue your Section 73 Compliance Certificate, you can either continue to use Sydney Water Developer Direct to coordinate your water and wastewater (sewer) works or switch to a water servicing coordinator.

  • If you use us
    You'll need to sign a minor works contract and pay for the works up front (water and wastewater works are bundled together as one quote and can't be separated). When you've met all your requirements, you'll receive your Section 73 Compliance Certificate directly.
  • If you switch to a water servicing coordinator
    They'll become your new point of contact with us. They'll provide a new servicing design, and you'll enter into a contract with them to manage your application and construction with a listed provider. When your construction is finished and inspected, they'll send us a completion package for approval. Once we're satisfied, we'll give your Section 73 Compliance Certificate to them. We'll issue your Infrastructure Charge (IC) invoice (if required) once the IC payment is received. We'll then send the certificate to you and the water servicing coordinator (if required).

Charges to expect

It costs $1,202.92 (inc. GST) to apply for a Section 73 Compliance Certificate through Sydney Water Developer Direct. The application fee covers:

  • assessment of your building plans and development application
  • your Notice of Requirements if you need to construct something
  • a sewer service diagram
  • a fixed price quote (valid for 60 days) for any construction work outlined in your Notice of Requirements
  • your Section 73 Compliance Certificate and full Building Plan Approval once you've met all our requirements.

If you have to build or construct something outlined in your Notice of Requirements letter, we'll provide a fixed price quote for the work. Most developments need a new wastewater (sewer) connection point constructed and a water service for each new lot as a minimum.

Construction costs are charged at a market rate and aren't included in your application fees. Costs you'll need to consider include:

  • building new pipes to connect to your property,
  • equipment hire, clearing your site, road opening permits and inspection fees
  • concrete encasement of pipes and concrete piering fees.

If you're using a water servicing coordinator, you'll find that prices vary. Ask how much they charge for different services, including project management and administration, design, drawing and planning, inspections and certification, road openings, and any costs associated with entry to neighbouring properties.

Infrastructure contributions help recover the cost of providing services to new developments. Find out about infrastructure contributions at land development.

You may need to pay for other applications or services to complete your application, for example:

  • Pegouts (service protection reports)
    You may need a pegout if your development is close to one of our assets. A pegout tells you exactly where our pipes and assets are, and what the soil conditions are on the site. We use this information to work out if you need to take extra protection steps, such as encasing a wastewater main in concrete or installing concrete piers.
  • Statement of available pressure and flow
    This is used to check if there's enough water or pressure available in the nearest water main to serve your new development.

If you're building a granny flat

You don't need a Section 73 Compliance Certificate if you're building a secondary home or granny flat that's been approved by your council under the complying development provisions under the State Environmental Planning Policy (Affordable Rental Housing), the AHSEPP. Find out more from our Requirements for secondary dwellings and granny flats fact sheet.

Get full building plan approval
You must apply for full approval for any building or excavation work on your property. Apply at Sydney Water Tap in.