Step 1 — the written notice, and why nothing works without it
Every regulator in the country wants to see that you asked first. Some of them will not open a file until you have.
- Victoria: “Before you can access our service, you must first try to resolve the dispute with the other party yourself.”
- Tasmania: “Before applying to the Director for mediation, you must have first attempted resolve the matter with the other party yourself… If you do not meet the above requirements the Director will reject your application.”
- Queensland: the QBCC “cannot accept a complaint unless the other party has received the written notice.”
So write it, even if you have already phoned six times. Tasmania's advice on how: “write a letter or email to the building contractor with the details of your issues. Give the contractor a reasonable time frame (e.g., 14 days) to respond and to organise to rectify the issues of concern.” The fourteen days is CBOS's example rather than a legal deadline — the point is that a deadline exists and is on paper.
Put five things in it: what was agreed, what has not happened, what you paid and when, the date you want the work started or finished by, and what you will do next. Send it by email so the date sends itself.
Sources: Building and Plumbing Commission (Vic), Dispute resolution services; CBOS (Tas), Mediation of residential building disputes and Resolving residential building works issues. All read 3 September 2026.
What the Australian Consumer Law actually gives you
These apply to every trade job in Australia, at any price, with or without a contract.
The one that fits a no-show is timing. The ACCC: “Services must be supplied within a reasonable time, if there's no agreed time frame.” Alongside it sit due care and skill, and fitness for the purpose you described. And none of it can be signed away — “The basic rights covered by consumer guarantees can't be taken away by anything a business says or does.”
Minor problem, major problem
The remedy depends on which one it is, and the difference is worth knowing before you write anything.
| Failure | Remedy | Who chooses |
|---|---|---|
| Minor | “the business must fix the problem or repair the product for free” | The business |
| Major | Cancel the contract and get a refund, “This may not be a full refund, as the consumer needs to pay a reasonable amount for any work done so far” — or keep the contract and “pay a lower price that takes the problem into account” | You |
The ACCC's test for a major problem with a service is that it “creates an unsafe situation”, or has “one serious problem or several smaller problems that would stop someone buying the service if they knew about them beforehand”, or cannot be used for its purpose “and can't easily be fixed within a reasonable time.”
Being late is not automatically a major failure. A job abandoned half-finished, with a deposit gone and no start date, sits a lot closer to that description than a tradie who is a week behind.
Sources: ACCC, Consumer rights and guarantees and Repair, replace, refund, cancel, both read 3 September 2026.
Step 2 — the door in your state
Building work has its own regulator in every state and territory, separate from the general consumer body, and that is the one with power over a licence.
| Where | Who takes the complaint | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| NSW | Building Commission NSW | Keep the contract, invoices and receipts — it asks for them |
| VIC | Building and Plumbing Commission | Free conciliation. It can issue binding orders, or a certificate that lets you go to VCAT |
| QLD | QBCC | Written notice first, then a complaint. QCAT will not hear it without QBCC's letter |
| WA | Building Commissioner, Building and Energy | Generally six years from completion; three years from the contract date on some home building contract matters |
| SA | Consumer and Business Services | Named in SA's own statutory notice to home owners as the place for independent advice |
| TAS | Director of Building Control, CBOS | Mediation, for building work less than six years old. Attending is voluntary |
| ACT | Access Canberra | Contract disputes can go to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal |
| NT | NT Consumer Affairs | Handles residential building disputes under the Building Act |
Victoria — the body changed its name, and most advice has not caught up
Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria is now part of the Building and Plumbing Commission. BPC's own words: “This service was previously known as Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria (DBDRV). Existing cases will continue to be managed by the BPC.”
What it offers: “a free and impartial service to help resolve domestic building disputes without the cost or delay of going to court”, run by dispute resolution officers, with priority for “applications involving health, safety or financial hardship”. If conciliation fails, “we can issue binding dispute resolution orders or certificates enabling you to progress your dispute to VCAT.”
Source: Building and Plumbing Commission, Dispute resolution services, page's own last-updated 30 June 2026, read 3 September 2026.
Queensland — the order is fixed and the clock is short
Written notice, then a QBCC complaint, then a Direction to Rectify, then QCAT — and QCAT will refuse an application that arrives without QBCC's letter. The complaint deadlines are twelve months, measured from different days depending on the defect, and they are the trap. The full sequence is on where to take a building dispute in Queensland.
Tasmania — delay is explicitly on the list
Most regulators talk about defective work. CBOS names the problem on this page directly: mediation covers “defective or incomplete building work”, “delays in completion of work”, and “issues with payment (including deposits and progress payment schedule)”.
Two limits sit on it. “The Director can only arrange mediation of disputes that relate to building work that is less than 6 years old”, counted from practical completion. And “Attending mediation is voluntary” — so it is a door, not a summons.
Western Australia — who may complain, and by when
Building and Energy: “A complaint may be made to the Building Commissioner by: a person whose interests are being or have been adversely affected by the carrying out of a regulated building service.”
The limits are the part to note early: “In general… a complaint cannot be considered more than six years after the completion of work”, and for home building contract matters it is “generally three years from when the contract was entered into.” On a job that never started, the three-year clock runs from the contract, not from the day you gave up waiting.
Source: Building and Energy (WA), Building dispute resolution, read 3 September 2026.
Check whether the licence is still currentIf a deposit is gone and nothing was ever started
This is the worst version, and it changes what you do first rather than what you are owed.
- Check the licence is still current. A suspended or cancelled licence changes who you are dealing with and is a fact the regulator will want.
- Find out whether cover was ever taken out. On work above your state's threshold the insurance is not optional, and in most states you should have been given a certificate before the deposit was accepted. How to check.
- Write the notice anyway. Every regulator asks for it, and the file starts on the day you send it.
- Complain to the building regulator, not only to a consumer body. The building regulator is the one that can act on the licence.
- Ask your bank about a chargeback if the deposit went on a card. That is a separate route with its own time limits, and it does not replace the complaint.
Before the next one
Nearly all of this is prevented by two lines on a piece of paper: a start date and a finish date. Where no date is agreed, “a reasonable time” is the only standard you have, and reasonable is a thing you end up arguing about.
The rest is on questions to ask before you hire and what a written quote must include.
General information about a process, not legal advice, and not an opinion on anybody's dispute. Nothing here says whether a particular delay is a breach, who is at fault, or what any reader ought to do — those are questions for the regulator, a tribunal or a lawyer. Yamate is software; it does not vet, rank or recommend anyone, it does not act in disputes, and no regulator has reviewed this page. Every quoted line was read at the regulator's own page on 3 September 2026 and each section links to its source; two sites could not be read and their rows say so. Yamate sells software to tradespeople and lists them in this directory.