Checklists
Before You Engage a Professional: Questions to Ask
Reviewed:
A residential project can involve several specialists, each responsible for a different part of the process. The right professional depends on the question you need answered. Before engaging an architect, building designer, planner, engineer, surveyor or builder, consider these questions.
Use these questions to organise your enquiries. Checking every box does not establish suitability or feasibility. Selections are temporary and are not saved.
Sources: Consumer Affairs Victoria — Seek expert advice on property; Building and Plumbing Commission — Agreements and contracts
Why these questions matter
A professional appointment should have a clear purpose, scope and expected outcome.
For example, a building inspection, a property title review, a planning assessment and a structural investigation answer different questions. One service should not automatically be assumed to cover the others.
Similarly, engaging a designer does not necessarily mean every approval, authority enquiry or specialist investigation is included.
Ask for the scope, exclusions and responsibilities to be documented. Where relevant, verify professional registrations and insurance.
Discuss the answers before accepting an engagement.
The central lesson: Understand what advice you are purchasing, what decisions it will support and what it will not establish.