Permits, registration and contracts in Victoria
Permits, registration, contracts, deposits, warranty and certificates for a Victorian bathroom renovation in 2026, written for a first time Berwick homeowner.
Six separate legal requirements sit over a bathroom renovation in Victoria in 2026, and a building permit is only the first of them. This page carries all six, so no other page on this site has to repeat them.
They are the permit question, who may legally carry out the work, what the written contract has to contain, the cap on your deposit, the warranty scheme that stands behind the job, and the certificates the plumber and the electrician must issue. Each one is independent of the others, and clearing one of them tells you nothing about the remaining five.
In the City of Casey a permit, where one is needed, comes from a private building surveyor you engage yourself, never from the council. That is the call to make whenever there is any doubt about your own job.
The regulator for building work in Victoria in 2026
The regulator is the Building and Plumbing Commission, the BPC. It holds the register of building practitioners, it licenses plumbers, and it replaced the former state building authority, which no longer exists. A quote, a website or a contract that still names the old authority has not been kept current, and that is worth noticing before you read anything else in the document.
Energy Safe Victoria sits beside the BPC on the electrical side. The City of Casey handles asset protection and anything that touches the street. Private building surveyors, not the council, issue the permits themselves.
When does a bathroom renovation need a permit?
A permit is required for all building work unless Schedule 3 of the Building Regulations 2018 exempts it. In a bathroom, the work that reliably triggers one is:
- Anything affecting the structural soundness of the building.
- A change in floor area or in the height of the building.
- Underpinning or the replacement of footings.
- Removing or altering a loadbearing element, including a loadbearing wall.
A like for like renovation inside the existing walls, floor and ceiling, with no structural change, is usually exempt. The exemptions are conditional, and only a building surveyor can confirm that a particular job sits inside them. Never treat the general rule as a finding about your own house, and be wary of anyone who rules a permit out before they have looked at the framing.
That list bites hardest in the heritage core around High Street. Dropping joists for a level entry shower, cutting a timber floor for a linear grate, or taking out the wall between a bathroom and a separate toilet can all touch structure. Internal walls in a 1970s or 1980s brick veneer house are frequently non loadbearing, but frequently is not a finding either.
Does waterproofing a wet area need a permit?
No. Waterproofing is not itself a permit trigger. It stays mandatory work to a published standard, and where a permit does exist the waterproofing is inspected under it. Plenty of exempt bathrooms still have to be waterproofed correctly, and the exemption gives nobody a licence to skip a coat.
When the council has to be involved
Casey requires an asset protection permit where the work could damage the kerb, the nature strip, the footpath or a council drain. A skip on the verge, a truck crossing the kerb or a trench to the sewer connection can all bring that into play. Council fees are set by Casey, they are reviewed regularly, and they are passed through at cost rather than marked up.
Who is allowed to do the work?
Domestic building work worth more than ten thousand dollars, counting labour, materials and GST together, must be carried out by a registered building practitioner. Note the wording. In Victoria builders are registered, while plumbers and electricians are licensed. The two words are not interchangeable, and a trade that uses the wrong one about itself is worth a second look.
Two registration classes cover a bathroom:
| Class | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Domestic Builder (Unlimited) | All domestic building work |
| Domestic Builder (Limited to bathroom, kitchen and laundry renovation) | Wet area renovation that does not extend beyond the existing external walls, floor or ceiling |
The limited class is the normal registration for a bathroom specialist and it is entirely appropriate for a same footprint job. It stops being enough the moment the work extends past the existing external walls, floor or ceiling. Check the class on the BPC register before you sign, and check that the name on the register is the same legal entity that appears on the contract.
What the written contract has to contain
A written major domestic building contract is required at the same ten thousand dollar threshold, which makes one compulsory for nearly every full bathroom renovation in Berwick. It should contain:
- The full legal name of the builder and the registration number, matching the BPC register.
- A clear scope of works, with the tiling height, the membrane specification, the fixture allowances and what is excluded.
- The contract price, and how variations are priced and approved.
- The start date and the contract period.
- The deposit, within the legal cap.
- The progress payment stages, tied to work completed rather than to a calendar.
Two clauses repay close reading. Progress payments should follow finished stages, and the variation clause should require your written agreement before any extra work begins.
How much deposit can be asked for?
| Contract price | Maximum deposit |
|---|---|
| Under twenty thousand dollars | 10 per cent |
| Twenty thousand dollars or more | 5 per cent |
These are statutory caps. A request for thirty or fifty per cent up front is unlawful, and it is the single clearest warning sign a homeowner can act on without any technical knowledge. Most Berwick bathrooms sit above the twenty thousand dollar line, where the cap is the lower of the two figures. The price bands themselves are set out on what a bathroom renovation costs in Berwick.
The warranty scheme that applies from 2026
From 1 July 2026 the First Resort Home Warranty Scheme replaced Domestic Building Insurance.
| Feature | First Resort Home Warranty Scheme |
|---|---|
| Applies to | Work valued at more than twenty thousand dollars on a home up to three storeys |
| Covers | Defective work for up to six years after completion |
| Maximum assistance | Four hundred thousand dollars per home |
Domestic Building Insurance and its sixteen thousand dollar threshold now reach only contracts signed before 1 July 2026. A contract signed today falls under the First Resort scheme.
A job valued at or under twenty thousand dollars sits outside the scheme. That does not make it unlawful and it does not remove your contract rights, though it does mean nothing stands behind the builder if the business closes. Look hard at any quote landing just below the line, and check the scope has not been trimmed to get it there.
How long the statutory warranty period runs
Ten years. That is the limitation period for bringing a building action in Victoria, and it is not a product warranty that anyone grants you. Treat a renovator offering their own lifetime waterproofing warranty with care. A private warranty is worth exactly as much as the entity standing behind it, and most bathroom crews will not be the same registered company a decade from now.
The certificate the plumber has to issue
Plumbing work must be carried out by a licensed plumber. A compliance certificate is required for plumbing work valued over seven hundred and fifty dollars, and for below ground sanitary drains and gas work at any value at all. The plumber has five days to issue the certificate and five days to lodge it, and it carries six years of insurance running from the date of issue.
Ask for it and keep it with the house documents. It is the proof that the work behind your tiles was done by someone licensed, and a buyer’s conveyancer will ask for it years later.
The certificate the electrician has to issue
Electrical work must be done by a Licensed Electrical Worker employed by a Registered Electrical Contractor, and a Certificate of Electrical Safety is required for it. In a bathroom that covers the exhaust fan, the heat lamp, the lighting and any new circuit. Collect the certificate at handover alongside the plumbing one.
The standard that governs the waterproofing
Wet area waterproofing is done to AS 3740, current edition 2021, which is called up by the National Construction Code. Victoria adopted NCC 2025 on 1 May 2026, so a specification citing NCC 2022 is out of date. Shower walls are waterproofed to 1800 mm above the floor substrate, a height that comes from the ABCB Housing Provisions for NCC 2025 rather than from AS 3740 itself. The practical signs of a membrane that was never done to that standard are described on signs your shower is leaking.
The asbestos rules for an older Berwick house
Any home built before 1990 should be assumed to contain asbestos in the wet area sheeting until testing by a NATA accredited laboratory says otherwise. Asbestos cement sheet was the standard wet area lining from the 1940s to the mid 1980s, which puts the whole 1970s and 1980s brick veneer belt in scope along with most of the older stock north of High Street.
The sample is taken before demolition begins, never during it. Removal is a job for a licensed asbestos removalist, and it is priced as a separate line rather than absorbed into the tiling. A quote for a pre 1990 Berwick house that says nothing about asbestos has not been thought through.
What to hold at handover
- The signed contract and every written variation.
- The building permit and the final inspection paperwork, if a permit was required.
- The plumbing compliance certificate.
- The Certificate of Electrical Safety.
- The waterproofing details: product used, number of coats, date applied.
- Warranty documents for the fixtures, tiles and shower screen.
For the checks you can run on a renovator before any of this gets signed, work through choosing a bathroom renovator. For the order the trades run in and where the permit question has to be settled in the calendar, see how long a bathroom renovation takes. Or send the job through the quote form for a written fixed price and a reply within one business day.
Berwick Bathroom Renovations is operated by Yes Right Pty Ltd. The work is carried out by registered and licensed trades. We are not accredited, approved or endorsed by the Building and Plumbing Commission, Energy Safe Victoria or the City of Casey, and no bathroom renovator in Victoria is.