The period, state by state
| State | How long you have | What that period governs |
|---|---|---|
| NSW | 6 years for a major defect, 2 years otherwise, from completion — plus a further 6 months where the breach only became apparent in the last 6 months | Proceedings for breach of the statutory warranties |
| VIC | 10 years from the date the work was completed | A building action against the builder. The right passes to a new owner within that time. |
| QLD | 12 months from completion for a non-structural defect; 12 months from noticing a structural one. The QBCC's own power runs 6 years and 6 months from completion. | The complaint to the QBCC, and the QBCC's power to direct a rectification |
| WA | 6 years after completion of the work. Complaints about plumbing failures with Typlex pipes may be lodged up to 15 years after practical completion. | A building service complaint to Building and Energy |
| SA | 5 years after completion | The statutory warranty period, and what building indemnity insurance rectification cover attaches to |
| TAS | 6 years after the date of practical completion | Proceedings for breach of a statutory warranty |
| ACT | 6 years after the completion day for a structural element, 2 years for a non-structural one | The statutory warranties, on work needing approval and costing $12,000 or more |
| NT | 6 years for structural defects, 1 year for non-structural. Incomplete work: 90 days from when the builder stops. | An application to the Commissioner of Residential Building Disputes, where a fidelity fund certificate exists |
Sources, read 3 September 2026: Home Building Act 1989 (NSW) s18E · Consumer Affairs Victoria — Implied warranties and domestic building insurance · QBCC — Help with defective work · WA Government — Building dispute resolution · SAFA — Building Indemnity Insurance · Residential Building Work Contracts and Dispute Resolution Act 2016 (Tas) s32 · ACT Planning — Statutory warranties · NT Government — Get defective or incomplete work fixed or paid out.
There are two clocks, and the second one is the trap
Almost every state runs a complaint clock and a proceedings clock, and they are different lengths measured from different days. Queensland is the clearest case, because there the gap is years wide.
The QBCC will take a complaint about a non-structural defect for “no later than 12 months from completion of work”, and about a structural one “within 12 months of noticing the defect”. But its own power to act runs much longer: “We only have: 6 years and 6 months from when the building work was completed to issue the contractor with a direction to rectify.”
Read those two together and the practical rule falls out. A structural defect that appears in year five can still be directed — but only if the complaint goes in within twelve months of you noticing it, and only inside the six years and six months. A non-structural defect works the other way: the clock started at completion whether or not anybody saw the problem, so month thirteen is too late no matter when it appeared.
Source: QBCC — Help with defective work, read 3 September 2026 (last updated 12 Dec 2025).
Which side of the line your defect falls on
The longer period is almost always reserved for the serious category, and each state draws the line in its own words. Two worth knowing, because they decide which number in the table above applies to you.
NSW — a “major defect”
Section 18E(4) of the Home Building Act 1989 defines it as a defect in a major element of a building, attributable to defective design, defective or faulty workmanship, defective materials or a failure to comply with the structural performance requirements of the National Construction Code, that causes or is likely to cause “the inability to inhabit or use the building (or part of the building) for its intended purpose”, “the destruction of the building or any part of the building”, or “a threat of collapse of the building or any part of the building”.
QLD — “structural”
The QBCC treats faulty or unsatisfactory work as structural where it adversely affects the structural performance of a building, the health or safety of people in it, or the functional use of the building — or where it allows water penetration into a building. That last limb surprises people, and it moves a leak onto the longer clock.
Who pays, in order
The question in the heading has a sequence of answers, and each one only applies once the one above it has failed.
| Order | Who | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The contractor | Always first. Statutory warranties bind them and a regulator can direct them to come back. |
| 2 | The regulator's order | Where the contractor will not. A rectification order, a direction to rectify or a building remedy order, depending on the state. |
| 3 | The warranty or indemnity scheme | Where the contractor has died, disappeared or become insolvent — and, in some states, where they simply refuse to fix it. |
| 4 | The tribunal or court | Where the above has not settled it, and inside the proceedings clock. |
| 5 | You | Outside the period, outside the scheme, or against a contractor with nothing to pay with. |
Row 5 is not a legal outcome. It is what row 1 to row 4 failing looks like, and the two most common ways to get there are missing a date and hiring somebody the scheme never covered.
Where to take it, state by state
In every jurisdiction the first two steps are the same and neither costs anything: tell the contractor in writing what is wrong and give them a period to fix it, then go to the regulator. Only after that does a tribunal or court become relevant, and in several states the regulator's paperwork is the ticket in.
| State | Who takes the complaint | Then |
|---|---|---|
| NSW | Building Commission NSW — a free complaint handling service; an inspector may issue a Rectification Order describing what must be fixed and by when | NCAT, if you are dissatisfied with the outcome |
| VIC | Building and Plumbing Commission — jurisdiction check, assessment, a building assessor, then conciliation | VCAT, and you need the BPC's certificate of conciliation to get there |
| QLD | QBCC, after written notice to the contractor. Direction to Rectify, usually 35 days to comply. | QCAT, only after the QBCC process and with its letter |
| WA | Building and Energy — a building remedy order may require the person to remedy the work, pay the cost of someone else remedying it, or pay reasonable compensation | State Administrative Tribunal. The Commissioner cannot order over $100,000 without the parties' consent. |
| SA | Consumer and Business Services — advice and dispute resolution, and the Commissioner can call a compulsory conciliation conference | A court, if conciliation does not resolve it |
| TAS | Your building surveyor first — they can issue a written inspection direction, then a building notice and a building order. Then CBOS. | Mediation arranged by the Director of Building Control |
| ACT | Access Canberra — the Construction Occupations Registrar can enforce rectification of defects | ACAT |
| NT | Commissioner of Residential Building Disputes, where a fidelity fund certificate exists. NT Consumer Affairs first, informally. | Without a certificate: NTCAT small claims to $25,000, Local Court to $250,000, Supreme Court above that |
Sources, read 3 September 2026: Building Commission NSW — Building defect complaints · BPC (VIC) — The dispute process (last updated 30 June 2026) · QBCC — Direction to rectify · WA Government — Complaint resolution process (last updated 31 July 2025) · SA Government — Disputes with a builder or tradesperson · CBOS (TAS) — Resolving residential building works issues (last updated 20 Jul 2026) · ACT Planning — Disputes and complaints · NT Government.
When the contractor has gone under
A rectification order is worth nothing against a business that no longer exists. That is what the warranty and indemnity schemes are for, and each one has its own threshold and its own ceiling.
| State | The scheme | Threshold and cap |
|---|---|---|
| QLD | Queensland Home Warranty Scheme | Compulsory over $3,300; cover runs “6 years and 6 months from when the contract is entered into or the premium is paid or when the work commences (whichever is the earliest)” |
| NSW | Home Building Compensation cover | Required for each project over $20,000 including GST |
| VIC | Home Warranty from 1 July 2026 — Domestic Building Insurance for contracts before it | Home Warranty: over $20,000, up to $400,000 in total per home. DBI: over $16,000, generally up to $300,000, and only where the builder died, disappeared or became insolvent. |
| SA | Building Indemnity Insurance | $20,000 or more and needing development approval (it was $12,000 before 10 November 2025); policy limit $250,000 on policies issued from late 2025 |
| WA | Home indemnity insurance | Residential building work valued over $20,000, taken out in the owner's name before payment or commencement |
| NT | Fidelity fund certificate | Required for residential building work valued over $12,000; covers the owner if the builder dies, is bankrupted, disappears or has their registration cancelled |
Note what Victoria's change did. Under the old Domestic Building Insurance the trigger was the builder dying, disappearing or becoming insolvent. The Building and Plumbing Commission describes the new scheme as broader: it “may apply where eligible domestic building work is incomplete, defective or non-compliant and the builder fails or refuses to complete or fix the work” and “is not limited to situations where the builder has died, disappeared or become insolvent.”
Sources, read 3 September 2026: QBCC — What is home warranty insurance · NSW Government — Insurance cover for building work · BPC (VIC) — Domestic Building Insurance and Home Warranty (last updated 1 July 2026) · SAFA — Building Indemnity Insurance · WA Government — Home indemnity insurance · NT Government — Residential building insurance.
The warranties nobody can contract out of
Two sets of protections sit under all of the above and neither depends on what the contract says.
The state statutory warranties. NSW implies them into every contract to do residential building work — that the work will be done with due care and skill and to the plans, that materials will be “good and suitable for the purpose for which they are used” and new unless the contract says otherwise, that the work will comply with the law, and that it will be done with due diligence and within the stipulated time. The ACT is blunt about attempts to shrink them: “Any provision in a contract that limits the statutory warranty is void.” In several states they also pass to whoever buys the house next — the ACT: “You do not have to be the original purchaser for the warranty to apply.”
The consumer guarantees. Separately, the ACCC states that “Service providers must carry out all services using an acceptable level of care and skill” and that services and any resulting products “must be fit for any stated purpose”. These have no fixed expiry attached to them; what is reasonable depends on the service. They are a second route, not a replacement for the dates above.
Sources: Home Building Act 1989 (NSW) s18B, read at legislation.nsw.gov.au; ACT Planning — Statutory warranties; ACCC — Consumer rights and guarantees. All read 3 September 2026.
The first week matters more than the first lawyer
Whatever state you are in, the same four things protect your position and none of them costs anything:
- Date it. Write down when you noticed the problem. Several of the clocks above run from that day, not from completion.
- Photograph it. Wide shot for context, close shot for the defect, and again after rain if water is involved.
- Put it in writing to the contractor, item by item, with a period to fix it. In Queensland the QBCC will not accept a complaint until the contractor has received that notice; everywhere else it is the document the regulator asks for first.
- Find the paperwork. Contract, variations, progress payment records, the insurance certificate, the compliance certificates, the occupancy permit or final inspection certificate. Victoria's conciliation process asks for exactly that list.
General information for Australian home owners, not legal advice, and not an opinion on anybody's dispute. Nothing here says whether a particular defect is defective work, who is at fault, or what any reader should do — those are questions for your regulator, the tribunal, or a lawyer. Yamate is software; it does not vet, rank or recommend any tradesperson, and no regulator has reviewed this page. Every period above was read at its own regulator or in the in-force Act on 3 September 2026, and each table lists the source it came from. Periods, thresholds and schemes change — Victoria's changed on 1 July 2026 and South Australia's threshold changed on 10 November 2025 — so check your own regulator before relying on a date. Yamate sells software to tradespeople and lists them in this directory.