Plumbers: public liability requirements in Victoria

Verified for Victoria

• Licence liability condition: Licensed plumbers must hold the insurance prescribed by ministerial order: at least $5 million for public liability and completed work liability for any one occurrence, plus at least $50,000 for other liability on domestic work and $100,000 on non-domestic work. VIC · effective 2002-06-20 Building and Plumbing Commission · 2026-08-17
• Licence evidence required: A certificate of currency for public liability insurance must be provided before a plumbing licence is issued or renewed, naming the plumber, insurer, policy number and period, and carrying the prescribed ministerial order compliance notation. Licences are issued only for the insured period. VIC · effective 2026-08-13 Building and Plumbing Commission · 2026-08-17
• Licensing body: The Building and Plumbing Commission licenses and registers plumbers under the Building Act 1993. Practitioners hold registration or a licence in named main classes including drainage, gasfitting, mechanical services, roofing, sanitary, irrigation and water supply. VIC · effective 2026-08-13 Building and Plumbing Commission · 2026-08-17

What contracts commonly ask for

Principals and head contractors set their own insurance requirements, and those are frequently higher than a licence condition. The requirement that binds is the higher of the two, and both have to be read from the actual document.

• What the limit figure on a certificate means
• Cover for the principal for your work
• When a certificate falls short of the contract

What this cover costs

This site publishes no cost benchmark for this cover. A benchmark needs a real sample of documents, and none is published until the sample is large enough to compute a median honestly. A benchmark from a handful of policies is a guess with a decimal point.

Sources

• Building Commission NSW — Building Commission NSW — building and trade licences
• Building and Plumbing Commission — Building and Plumbing Commission (Victoria)
• WorkSafe Queensland — WorkSafe Queensland — regulator portal (WHSQ, Electrical Safety Office, WCRS)
• Consumer Protection WA — Consumer Protection, Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety (WA)
• Consumer and Business Services SA — Consumer and Business Services (South Australia)
• Consumer, Building and Occupational Services Tasmania — CBOS Tasmania — occupational licensing
• ACT Construction Occupations Registrar — ACT construction occupations licensing
• NT Building Practitioners Board — Northern Territory Building Practitioners Board — registration