Engaging a builder

Whether you’re building a new home, adding an extension or carrying out structural repairs to your house, it’s likely you'll need to engage a building practitioner to do the work.

There are specific requirements for domestic building work, including the need to engage a registered builder for work worth more than $10,000. This amount must include the costs of labour, building materials, and GST, and should cover the total value of the project. The Consumer Affairs Victoria website contains more information on domestic building contracts and when they are required.

To make sure your project is completed by a practitioner or company with the necessary qualifications and experience, make sure you always use a registered building practitioner.

All registered building practitioners (except companies) are issued with a Photo ID card that lists the category of registration for the work they are eligible to complete. Before engaging a building practitioner, check their ID card to make sure they are suitable to do the work.

Note: we are not able to recommend building practitioners for your project.

Regulated areas of building work

Victoria’s Building Regulations 2018 define categories and classes of building practitioner regulated to undertake building work.

What happens if you don’t use a registered builder

If you use an unregistered builder or tradesperson to carry out work valued at over $10,000, you are at risk of having no protection from poor quality work. In addition, the work won’t be covered by domestic building insurance.

We can investigate and prosecute anyone who is not registered and carries out work that requires registration.

Disciplinary register

The disciplinary register is a record of industry professionals and companies that have had disciplinary action taken against them. Industry professionals and companies that have breached the Building Act 1993, the Building Regulations 2018 or the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 may be listed on the register.

However, just because an industry professional or company is listed on the register doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t use their services. You may wish to consider a range of factors in addition to their disciplinary history, such as:

• personal recommendation
• price
• evidence of work quality
• professional status
• your own judgement of their character.

You can search the register to see whether it holds any disciplinary records made against an industry professional or company you are considering engaging for your project.

Advice for building and renovating a home

Consumer Affairs Victoria has some resources to assist with planning and managing a domestic building project for new homes, renovations and pools to help you plan and manage your building project and choose a building team.