The cap in each state
Every figure below is a percentage of the contract price set by that state's building law, with the section and the page it was read at underneath. The threshold column is what switches the cap on.
| Where | Maximum deposit | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| NSW | 10% of the contract price | Residential building work. A written contract is required over $5,000 |
| VIC | 10% under $20,000 5% at $20,000 or more | Building, renovating or extending a home |
| QLD | 20% at $3,300 or less 10% from $3,301 to $19,999 5% at $20,000 and over 20% where off-site work is more than half the price | Domestic building contracts, level 1 and level 2 |
| WA | 6.5% of the contract price | Fixed-price home building work between $7,500 and $500,000. Outside that range there is no cap |
| SA | $1,000, or 5% where the price is over $20,000 | Domestic building work contracts. Work under $20,000 is "minor domestic building work" and the Division does not reach it |
| TAS | 5% of the contract price 20% where off-site work is more than half the price | The Act only applies at $20,000 and above, so 5% is the live cap |
| ACT | No legal limit | Government's own words: industry practice is usually up to 10% |
| NT | 5% in the standard payment schedule | Prescribed residential building work — over $25,000 on certain building classes. An alternative schedule can be agreed |
New South Wales — 10%, and the insurance rule that comes with it
NSW Fair Trading and Building Commission NSW both put it in one line: “Under NSW home building law, the maximum deposit you can be asked to pay is 10%.” There is no separate figure for a small job — 10% is the ceiling either way.
The second rule matters more than the percentage. Where the work needs cover under the Home Building Compensation Scheme, Building Commission NSW says “it is illegal for the contractor to ask for a deposit or other payment under the contract unless the insurance has been taken out, and a certificate of cover is given to you.” So on a job over $20,000, no certificate means no deposit — whatever the percentage is.
NSW also tells you to check the certificate rather than accept it: “Check that a certificate of cover is valid by contacting the insurance company shown on the certificate or by using HBC Check.”
Sources: NSW Government, Contracts for residential building work and Building Commission NSW, Questions to ask before hiring a tradesperson or builder, both read 3 September 2026.
Victoria — 10% or 5%, and a change dated for December
Consumer Affairs Victoria states the cap directly: “By law, your deposit for building work cannot be more than: 10% for contracts under $20,000, 5% for contracts of $20,000 or more.” It comes from the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995.
Victoria's rules change by 1 December 2026. The Domestic Building Contracts Amendment Act 2025 passed Parliament on 11 September 2025 and, among other things, allows deposit limits and progress payment stages to be set in regulations. Consumer Affairs Victoria's own note is blunt about the meantime: “For now, the current laws remain the same.” Check the date on any Victorian deposit advice you read, including this page.
Sources: Consumer Affairs Victoria, Deposits and payments for building work and New domestic building contract laws passed in Victoria, both read 3 September 2026.
Queensland — four numbers, not one
Queensland sets the cap by contract level. Level 1 covers $3,301 to $19,999; level 2 is $20,000 and over.
| Contract | Maximum deposit |
|---|---|
| Works valued at $3,300 or less | 20% |
| Level 1 — $3,301 to $19,999 | 10% |
| Level 2 — $20,000 and over | 5% |
| Any level where off-site work is more than 50% of the price | 20% |
The off-site exception is narrow and QBCC describes what it is for: “substantial customised building work or prefabrication is performed away from the building site and this work represents more than 50% of the total contract price” — made-to-measure kitchen cabinetry, windows, sheds, pergolas, cladding. A bathroom retile is not that.
There is a second Queensland protection worth more than the deposit rule on a long job. QBCC: the contractor “can't claim more than 50% of the contract price, including the deposit, until at least 50% of the work onsite has been completed.”
Source: QBCC, Deposits and progress payments, read 3 September 2026.
Western Australia — 6.5%, inside a price band
Building and Energy states it plainly: “The maximum deposit that your builder or tradesperson can require before they start work is 6.5 per cent of the contract price.”
The band matters more than the percentage. The Home Building Contracts Act 1991 covers fixed-cost home building work “between $7,500 and $500,000”. Below $7,500 and above $500,000 the Act does not apply, so no statutory cap binds — which means the largest jobs in WA are the ones with no ceiling on the deposit.
Source: Building and Energy (WA), Building or renovating your home, read 3 September 2026.
South Australia — $1,000, or 5% above $20,000
South Australia's own statutory notice to home owners — Form 1, the one a contractor must hand over with the signed contract — says it in a sentence: “the law prohibits the taking of any deposit on a domestic building work contract in excess of $1 000, or if the contract price is over $20 000, 5% of the contract price.”
Two things sit underneath that. The cap lives in section 30 of the Building Work Contractors Act 1995, and the Division it belongs to “does not apply to a contract for the performance of minor domestic building work”. Since 10 November 2025 minor domestic building work means work under $20,000 — it was $12,000 before that. Where those two edges leave a particular contract is a question for Consumer and Business Services or a lawyer, not for this page.
Separately, the contractor may ask you in advance for money that has to go to a third party — a council planning fee, building indemnity insurance, an engineer's or surveyor's report. That is not the deposit.
Sources: Building Work Contractors Act 1995 (SA), version 15.1.2026, s27 and s30; and Building Work Contractors Regulations 2026 (SA), version 1.9.2026, reg 4 and Schedule 2 Form 1. Both read 3 September 2026.
Tasmania — 5%, and a floor that swallows the other rate
Tasmania's Residential Building Work Contracts and Dispute Resolution Act 2016 sets three percentages in section 41, and only two of them can be met in practice.
- 5% where the contract price is at or above the set amount.
- 10% where it is below the set amount.
- 20% where off-site work is more than half the contract price.
The set amount is $20,000 unless a regulation prescribes a higher one. But the Act itself “does not apply to… residential building work that is performed, or is to be performed, for a contract price that is less than $20 000”. A contract below the set amount is therefore outside the Act altogether, and the 10% line has nothing to bite on. For a Tasmanian home owner the number is 5%, or 20% on a job that is mostly made off-site.
Source: Residential Building Work Contracts and Dispute Resolution Act 2016 (Tas), sections 5 and 41, read 3 September 2026.
ACT and NT — where no cap exists
The ACT sets none. The ACT Government's own page: “There is no limit on the initial deposit for the work in the ACT. However, industry practice is usually up to 10% of the total contract price.” It gives a reason to keep the deposit small anyway — “the maximum amount you can claim back under the insurance for the project is currently $10,000 if the work is not completed.” A deposit above that is money the insurance will not return.
The Northern Territory sets a default, not a ceiling. A contract for prescribed residential building work — work over $25,000 on the listed building classes — must carry a schedule of progress payments, and the standard schedule starts at “deposit — before commencement — no more than 5% of the total contracted price”. The contract may instead use an alternative schedule agreed between you and the builder, so 5% is what applies unless you have agreed otherwise in writing.
Sources: ACT Government, Entering into a contract with a builder in the ACT; NT Government, Signing a residential building contract and What is prescribed residential building work. All read 3 September 2026.
The jobs none of this covers
Every cap above sits in a building Act, and every building Act has a value or a work-type gate on the front of it. A blocked drain, a dead power point, a service call, a lawn job, most one-day work — these are ordinary consumer contracts, and no statute names a maximum deposit for them.
What still applies is the Australian Consumer Law. The service must be delivered with due care and skill, must be fit for the purpose you asked for, and where no time is agreed, must be supplied within a reasonable time. Those guarantees cannot be signed away: the ACCC's wording is that “the basic rights covered by consumer guarantees can't be taken away by anything a business says or does.”
So on an uncapped job the protection is the paperwork, not a percentage. Get the deposit amount, what it covers, and the start date in writing before any money moves.
Source: ACCC, Consumer rights and guarantees, read 3 September 2026.
Check the licence before you pay anythingAsked for more than the cap?
- Check which cap you are under. The threshold is the contract price including GST, labour and materials, whoever supplies them.
- Ask for it in writing. A deposit request that will not go in writing is the answer to a different question.
- Do not pay it while you work it out. Every one of these caps is on demanding or receiving, and money back is harder than money not sent.
- Tell the regulator. Exceeding a statutory cap is an offence in each state that has one, and the regulator is the body that acts on it.
In Queensland that is the QBCC, and the wider complaint path is set out in where to take a building dispute. Elsewhere it is the body named beside your state above.
General information about statutory deposit limits, not legal advice, and not an opinion on any particular contract. Yamate is software; it does not vet, rank or recommend anyone, it does not hold or handle deposits, and no regulator has reviewed this page. Every percentage and threshold above was read at the Act, the regulation or the regulator's own page on 3 September 2026 and each section links to the source it came from — building laws change, so check the linked page before relying on a figure. Yamate sells software to tradespeople and lists them in this directory.