Building and renovating

How to make your home project smooth sailing

Make sure you include us in your plans for your home, whether you're building a brand new house or making where you live the best it can be. Follow the steps on this page to save time with the right information and find the approvals you need. Find out more with steps for first-time builders.

Sign up for Sydney Water Tap in
Sydney Water Tap in gives you access to convenient online 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.

Plan your building

Get your plans approved

Get connected

Buy new taps and showerheads

Plan your building

Your building or excavation can affect our systems if it's over or near our pipes. You'll need to:

  • buy relevant diagrams to help you plan your work
  • consult with your builder to ensure our pipes and structures aren't damaged during construction
  • submit your plans to us so we can check their impact. You can do this at Sydney Water Tap in.

Contact your local council to find out if your building or excavation needs development consent. If it does, we must approve your building plans before you start work.

If you're developing or subdividing your land, you may need to apply for approval for the proposed development. This application is called a Section 73 Compliance Certificate.

Have you had your building plans checked?

Get your plans approved

We must approve your plans before you start any building or excavation work. You can do this at Sydney Water Tap in.

We can approve most plans right away. If your building or excavation works are over or close to our pipes or structures, we'll refer you to a water servicing coordinator. The coordinator will ensure your plans meet our guidelines.

Read our Technical guidelines: Building over and adjacent to pipe assets (6.8MB) to help plan and understand our requirements.

Find out before you dig from Before You Dig Australia (BYDA). BYDA can deliver free plans of our assets to your inbox.

Get connected

When you're ready to connect to our services, we'll install a meter for you.

You don't need to disconnect from our services if you're renovating or extending your home.

Buy new taps and showerheads

It's a good time to fit water-efficient taps and showers when you're renovating. Modern taps and showerheads use a lot less water and aren't more expensive to buy or install.

You may also have to install other water saving fittings to comply with BASIX.