Roofers: public liability requirements in Victoria

Verified for Victoria

• Licence liability condition: Yes, and it is compulsory rather than contractual. The Victorian regulator sets a minimum public liability cover of $5,000,000 for licensed plumbing work, prescribed by Ministerial Orders. It is an offence to work as a licensed plumber without insurance cover in the required areas — so this is not a document to produce, it is a condition of being allowed to work at all. VIC · effective 2026-07-01 Building and Plumbing Commission · 2026-08-17
• Licence evidence required: A Certificate of Currency for Public Liability Insurance before a plumbing licence is issued or renewed. The regulator is explicit that it will not accept offers of insurance or other insurance documents in its place — the certificate itself, naming the insured plumber, or no licence. VIC · effective 2026-07-01 Building and Plumbing Commission · 2026-08-17
• Licensing body: Not the building regulator you would expect — roofing is regulated as PLUMBING in Victoria. The Building and Plumbing Commission licenses "roofing (stormwater)" as a plumbing class, defined as the construction, installation, replacement, repair, alteration, maintenance, testing or commissioning of any roof covering or roof flashing, or any part of a roof drainage system involved in collecting or disposing of stormwater. A roofer in Victoria is a licensed plumber, which surprises people arriving from other states. VIC · effective 2026-07-01 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
• Australian Capital Territory Government — Australian Capital Territory — consolidated legislation
• NT Building Practitioners Board — Northern Territory Building Practitioners Board — registration