Estimated development cost (EDC) is used in planning for various purposes, including determining development approval pathways, calculating assessment fees, and for applying development application (DA) requirements.
It applies to:
- state significant infrastructure
- state significant development
- local development
- complying development
- Building Sustainability Index (BASIX) certificates.
Webinars
Key documents and requirements
- Updates on Estimated Development Costs (EDC) for State Significant Planning webinar – 26 November 2025 (PDF, 1.2 MB)
- DPHI updates for Registered Environmental Assessment Practitioner's webinar – 26 June 2025 (PDF, 1.9 MB)
- Planning circular – PS 25-004: Changes to how development costs are calculated for planning purposes (PDF, 274 KB)
- Standard Form of Estimated Development Costs Report (State significant projects) (PDF, 210 KB)
- Standard Form of Estimated Development Cost Report (Projects over $3 million excluding State significant projects) – March 2024 (PDF, 71 KB)
- Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors – Practice Standards
Frequently asked questions
If your project’s EDC is over $3 million, you must submit an EDC report.
- For state significant projects, the report must be prepared by a chartered quantity surveyor from the Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (AIQS) or the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), follow the AIQS Practice Standard, use the correct state significant projects form, and be dated within 30 days of submission.
- For projects over $3 million, the report should be prepared by a qualified quantity surveyor who is a member of AIQS or RICS, follow the AIQS Practice Standard, and use the standard form for projects over $3 million.
- For projects under $3 million, a cost estimate report is recommended. Councils set specific requirements for these reports.
An EDC report should capture the cost to carry out the development. This includes costs:
- to design and erect a building and associated infrastructure
- to carry out a work
- to carry out demolition of a building or work
- associated with any fixed or mobile plant equipment.
An EDC report should not include:
- developer contributions or planning agreement costs
- cost of any development that requires separate approval
- land costs
- GST
- costs of ongoing maintenance and use of the development.
The fundamental value of EDC excludes GST. For consistency, include 2 totals in your EDC report as separate line items:
- excluding GST
- including GST.
Which value is used depends on the context. For example:
- For local and regional developments under Schedule 4 of the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act (EP&A) Regulation, GST must be added to EDC before calculating certain development fees. For state significant projects (and all other circumstances), use EDC (which excludes GST) to determine planning pathways and fees.
For this reason, the Department recommends including GST, as well as the sum of EDC plus GST, on all cost estimates as separate line items.
No. Cost estimates will need to include only the cost to carry out the development and preparing the development to operate at maximum capacity. It does not include ongoing operational, maintenance or running costs.
Councils
EDC is used in 2 ways:
- To determine the planning pathway, ensuring that projects above a certain threshold can be identified as state significant, so council resources are not wasted considering projects that should be classified as such.
- EDC is used to calculate regulated fees, including development application (DA) fees that support council assessment resources.
EDC does not affect development levies.