Victoria builder check
Check a builder in Victoria before you sign.
See what the public registers hold for a Victorian builder in about 60 seconds, then decide whether to sign, dig deeper, or step back.
Building work in Victoria is state law. This page explains how a Victorian builder is registered, where their record lives, when Domestic Building Insurance is required, why disputes start with a free government conciliator, and what our check reads for you against the public registers.
In short, as at 17 Jul 2026
In Victoria, domestic building work is carried out by registered practitioners whose registration sits on a public register you can search through the Building and Plumbing Commission's Find and check a practitioner tool. Domestic Building Insurance is required before the builder takes any money on work priced more than $16,000, and a written major domestic building contract is required over $10,000. You can check the practitioner, the registration class and the company records for free before you sign.
How do you check a builder is registered in Victoria?
To check a builder in Victoria, search the Find and check a practitioner tool on the Building and Plumbing Commission website by name or registration details. It returns the registration held, the class of work it authorises, its status as at the day you look, and it also surfaces the Prosecution and Disciplinary Register. Domestic building work in Victoria is carried out by registered practitioners, so an unregistered name on a quote is the first thing to reconcile.
Victoria folded its building regulation into a single body on 1 July 2025, when the Building and Plumbing Commission (BPC) replaced the Victorian Building Authority (VBA). Existing registrations transitioned automatically and remain valid until their expiry date, so a registration issued under the former VBA is still current. The register you search is public and free, and you do not need the builder's permission to look.
The single most useful thing the register shows you is the exact name a registration is held under and the class of work it permits. A registration held by one practitioner or entity does not cover work you contract through a different trading name or a related company. Match the exact name and registration to the name that will sit on your building contract and receive your deposit.
Do you need builders insurance in Victoria, and who pays for it?
In Victoria, the builder must take out Domestic Building Insurance (DBI) in the homeowner's name for domestic building work where the contract price is more than $16,000, and must do so before demanding or receiving any money, including a deposit. The cover is provided through the Building and Plumbing Commission, which took over the function from the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority (VMIA) on 1 July 2025, and it is paid for by the builder, not by you directly.
DBI is last-resort cover. It responds only where the builder has died, become insolvent, or disappeared, and in limited cases where the builder fails to comply with a tribunal or court order. It does not respond simply because you are unhappy with the work while the builder is still trading and contactable, which is why it sits alongside, rather than instead of, checking the practitioner up front.
This is why the certificate matters before the deposit leaves your account. If a builder asks for a deposit on a job priced over $16,000 without providing the Domestic Building Insurance certificate, that is a gap you can close before you sign, not after. You can confirm a certificate exists and then reconcile the name on it against the registered practitioner you are actually contracting with.
What do Victorian contract and deposit rules require?
In Victoria, a written major domestic building contract is required where the price is more than $10,000, under the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995. The maximum deposit a builder can ask for is 5% of the price where the price is $20,000 or more, and 10% where the price is less than $20,000.
The deposit cap is a consumer protection, not a guideline. A request for a large sum up front on a standard home build sits outside the Victorian rules and is worth pausing on. The contract should also name the registered practitioner, and where the price is more than $16,000 it should be matched by the Domestic Building Insurance certificate before any money changes hands.
Victoria also gives owners a cooling-off period. Under section 34 of the Act, an owner may withdraw from the contract within 5 clear business days after receiving a signed copy of it. On withdrawal, the builder may retain $100 plus any approved out-of-pocket expenses, so the window to reconsider a signed contract is short but real.
Where do building disputes go in Victoria?
In Victoria, a domestic building dispute must be lodged first with Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria (DBDRV), a free government conciliation service, and only then, if it is not resolved, with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). VCAT will not accept a domestic building application unless it includes a DBDRV certificate, so conciliation through DBDRV is a mandatory prerequisite to the tribunal.
This makes Victoria different from most states, where a homeowner can take a building dispute straight to the tribunal. Here the path runs through the free conciliator first, by design, and only the DBDRV certificate opens the door to VCAT.
Knowing the path in advance changes how you read a builder before you sign. A builder whose registered entity differs from the one on the quote, or whose record already carries matters, is harder to pursue later. The point of checking first is to make the decision while you still hold the deposit, not once it has moved.
When do you need an owner-builder certificate in Victoria?
In Victoria, if the total cost of the building work is more than $16,000, the owner must obtain a certificate of consent from the Building and Plumbing Commission to carry out work as an owner-builder for a single domestic dwelling. The certificate is a prerequisite before that work proceeds under the owner's own name rather than a registered builder's.
Getting the certificate requires completing the owner-builder eLearning assessment and holding a construction induction card, commonly known as the white card. For a buyer looking at a property that was built or renovated by an owner-builder, this is a useful thread to pull, because the person named on the consent is the one who stood behind the work rather than a registered practitioner carrying Domestic Building Insurance.
What makes checking a Victorian builder different?
Victoria consolidated its building regulator, its dispute service and its insurance function into one body on 1 July 2025, when the Building and Plumbing Commission replaced the Victorian Building Authority. This matters because the register, the Prosecution and Disciplinary Register, and the Domestic Building Insurance function now sit under a single roof, so the public record for a Victorian builder reads as one connected trail.
Two features stand out for a buyer. First, a homeowner cannot take a domestic building dispute straight to VCAT; a DBDRV conciliation certificate is required first, which is unusual among the states. Second, Domestic Building Insurance is single-provider, last-resort cover, compulsory on work priced more than $16,000, that pays only where the builder has died, become insolvent, or disappeared. Both features reward reading the practitioner and the certificate before you sign rather than after.
Checking their insurance in Victoria
In Victoria you cannot search a builder's insurance by name. Cover is arranged per contract, and the official verifier checks a single policy using the notice-of-cover number the builder must give you, so the practical step is to ask for that certificate and confirm it. For domestic building contracts signed from 1 July 2026, the new Home Warranty scheme replaces Domestic Building Insurance.
Under the current Domestic Building Insurance regime, cover is required for domestic building work over $16,000 and is last-resort cover up to $300,000, responding where the builder has died, disappeared, become insolvent or, in defined cases, failed to comply. From 1 July 2026 the Home Warranty scheme applies to new contracts: cover rises to $400,000 and, unlike the old last-resort model, it can respond to incomplete, defective and non-compliant work without waiting for the builder to be insolvent or gone. Which scheme applies to you depends on the date your contract is signed.
To check the cover on your job, ask the builder for the certificate or notice of cover and verify the notice-of-cover number through Building and Plumbing Commission Victoria. There is no free search by builder name or address, and the builder-eligibility lookup that once existed is no longer available; an owner who needs the position on a specific property can order a paid Insurance Information Statement. Match the builder and the property on the certificate to your contract before any deposit is paid.
Where to verify: Building and Plumbing Commission Victoria - Domestic Building Insurance Cover is verified per policy using the builder's notice-of-cover number; there is no free search by builder name.
What does a Property Assurance check cover in Victoria?
A free Property Assurance check reads the public registers for the builder you name and reports what they hold, sourced and dated. Company identity and external administration signals come from national records, so they are part of the instant check everywhere. Whether the VIC builder licence itself is read in the instant pass or checked by an analyst depends on the state.
| Check | How it is run | What it reads |
|---|---|---|
| Company and business identity | Instant check | The instant check matches the trading name to the company and ABN records held on the national ASIC company register and the Australian Business Register. |
| External administration signals | Instant check | The instant check reports the count of external administration or strike-off signals on record in the national ASIC company dataset. Counts only, sourced and dated. |
| VIC builder licence on the register | Analyst check | The Building and Plumbing Commission (BPC) register is not yet part of the instant automated pass. Our analyst team checks it by hand for the full report, and you can search it yourself on the Find and check a practitioner register. |
Where a check is marked analyst check, it is not yet part of the instant automated pass. If the builder does not fully match automatically, leave the name with us and an analyst runs the Building and Plumbing Commission (BPC) register and the wider checks by hand for the full report. You can also search the register yourself on the Find and check a practitioner register.
What are the builder licence classes in Victoria?
Victoria issues building licences in classes, and the class sets what work the holder is authorised to do. Matching the class to the work in your quote is part of reading a licence properly, not just confirming one exists.
| Licence or registration | What it authorises |
|---|---|
| Domestic Builder (Unlimited) | Authorises all components of domestic building work, including construction, renovation, improvement and maintenance, for class 1, 2 and 4 buildings and associated class 10 buildings, with no cost or complexity limit. |
| Domestic Builder (Limited to a class of work) | Authorises only the specific class or classes of work set out in the registration conditions. A practitioner can hold more than one limited class, so the conditions define what the registration actually permits. |
| Practitioner registration requirement | Domestic building work in Victoria is carried out by registered practitioners. The registration held, and its class, is what the Find and check a practitioner register records, and it is the line to match to the name on your contract. |
What does our own VIC data hold?
Victoria builder records are not yet in our automated register index, so we do not publish a count here rather than imply coverage we do not hold. When you run a check for a Victoria builder, our analyst team reads the Building and Plumbing Commission (BPC) register and the national company records by hand and reports what they find, sourced and dated.
What is worth checking before you sign in Victoria?
Before you sign a building contract or pay a deposit in Victoria, a short list of checks reconciles the sales material with the public record. None of these characterise a builder. They confirm the paperwork matches the entity.
- The name on the registration matches the company and ABN that will sign your contract and receive the deposit.
- For work priced over $16,000, the Domestic Building Insurance certificate exists in your name before any money is requested.
- The deposit asked for is within the Victorian cap: 5% where the price is $20,000 or more, or 10% where it is less than $20,000.
- The registration class shown on the register actually authorises the work you are quoting, not just domestic building work in general.
- The trading name in the sales material resolves to a real, current registered practitioner, not a related name with no registration of its own.
Questions about checking a builder in Victoria
- How do I check if a builder is registered in Victoria?
- Search the Find and check a practitioner tool on the Building and Plumbing Commission website by name or registration details. It returns the registration held, the class of work it authorises, its status as at the date you check, and it surfaces the Prosecution and Disciplinary Register. Our check also matches the trading name to the company and ABN records and reports the registration details on record.
- Do you need builders insurance in Victoria?
- Yes. For domestic building work priced more than $16,000, the builder must take out Domestic Building Insurance in your name and provide the certificate before demanding or receiving any money, including a deposit. It is last-resort cover provided through the Building and Plumbing Commission, which took the function over from the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority on 1 July 2025, and it responds only where the builder has died, become insolvent, or disappeared.
- How much deposit can a Victorian builder ask for?
- In Victoria the maximum deposit is 5% of the price where the price is $20,000 or more, and 10% where the price is less than $20,000. A written major domestic building contract is required where the price is more than $10,000.
- Can I cool off after signing a building contract in Victoria?
- Yes. Under section 34 of the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995, an owner may withdraw within 5 clear business days after receiving a signed copy of the contract. On withdrawal the builder may retain $100 plus any approved out-of-pocket expenses.
- Who regulates builders in Victoria?
- The Building and Plumbing Commission (BPC) regulates the Victorian building industry. It replaced the Victorian Building Authority on 1 July 2025, folding the regulator, the dispute service and the Domestic Building Insurance function into one body. Existing registrations transitioned automatically and remain valid until their expiry date.
- Where do building disputes go in Victoria?
- A domestic building dispute must be lodged first with Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria (DBDRV), a free government conciliation service. VCAT will not accept a domestic building application unless it includes a DBDRV certificate, so conciliation through DBDRV is a mandatory step before the tribunal.
- When do I need an owner-builder certificate in Victoria?
- If the total cost of building work is more than $16,000, the owner must obtain a certificate of consent from the Building and Plumbing Commission to carry out work as an owner-builder for a single domestic dwelling. It requires the owner-builder eLearning assessment and a construction induction card, commonly called the white card.
- What does a free Victorian builder check show me?
- Our check matches the builder name to the company and ABN on the ASIC and Australian Business Register records and reports the count of any external administration signals in the ASIC dataset. The Victorian practitioner register is read by an analyst on request rather than in the automated pass. Every fact is sourced and dated, and we never rate or score anyone.
- How do I check a builder's insurance in VIC?
- Victoria has no free search by builder name. Ask the builder for the certificate or notice of cover and verify the notice-of-cover number through Building and Plumbing Commission Victoria. Cover for contracts signed before 1 July 2026 is Domestic Building Insurance (last resort, up to $300,000, on work over $16,000); from 1 July 2026 the new Home Warranty scheme applies to new contracts, with cover up to $400,000 that can respond to incomplete, defective and non-compliant work.
14,722 Australian companies entered external administration in the 2024 to 2025 financial year, the highest annual number on record.Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Corporate Insolvency Update (issue 37)
Reads the public registers directly. Sources named and dated.
Sources
The regulatory facts on this page were read from primary government sources and last reviewed on 17 Jul 2026. Registers and rules change, so confirm any figure on the source before you rely on it.
- Building and Plumbing Commission - find and check a practitioner (as at 16 Jul 2026)
- Building and Plumbing Commission - domestic building insurance (as at 16 Jul 2026)
- Consumer Affairs Victoria - deposits and payments for domestic building (as at 16 Jul 2026)
- Consumer Affairs Victoria - cooling off on a building contract (as at 16 Jul 2026)
- Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 (Vic) (as at 16 Jul 2026)
- DBDRV - Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria (as at 16 Jul 2026)
- VCAT - domestic building disputes (as at 16 Jul 2026)
- Building and Plumbing Commission - owner-builder eligibility (as at 16 Jul 2026)
Property Assurance is an independent Australian information service. It is not a government body, insurer or credit provider, and it does not rate, rank or score any builder. It reports what the public registers hold, with the source and the date, so you can draw your own conclusion before you sign.