Home Indemnity Insurance (Western Australia)

What the scheme requires

• Work value threshold: Home indemnity insurance is required for residential building work valued over $20,000, under the Home Building Contracts Act 1991. The builder must take it out in the owner's name before accepting payment or commencing work. GST treatment of the threshold is not stated. WA · effective 2026-08-13 Government of Western Australia · 2026-08-17
• Who pays premium: The builder must take out the insurance in the owner's name before accepting any payment or commencing work, for residential building projects valued at $20,000 or more. The regulator does not state who bears the premium cost. WA · effective 2026-08-13 Government of Western Australia · 2026-08-17
• Premium basis: Cover is obtained from approved private insurance providers, and Building and Energy advises which providers are approved. Certificates of insurance are issued by QBE and are checked by permit authorities against QBE's Builders Warranty Insurance Certificate Register. WA · effective 2026-08-13 Government of Western Australia · 2026-08-17
• Certificate issued to: Called a certificate of insurance, taken out in the owner's name; the builder must give the owner the certificate before asking for a deposit or any other payment or starting work, and a copy also goes to the permit authority as part of building approval. WA · effective 2026-08-13 Consumer Protection WA · 2026-08-13
• Cover scope: Covers financial loss where the builder dies, disappears or becomes insolvent: up to $40,000 for lost deposits and up to $200,000 for incomplete or defective works under the 2022 reforms, with the policy covering construction plus six years from practical completion. WA · effective 2026-08-13 — recorded with low confidence; check the source before relying on it Government of Western Australia · 2026-08-17
• Variation treatment: Building and Energy's Home Indemnity Insurance fact sheet states the insurance premium is a one-off payment made by the builder before work starts or a deposit is taken, and that cover responds to the completion of the residential building work at no additional cost to the owner, up to a limit of $200,000 (or the value of the contract work if lower). The fact sheet does not separately describe a premium top-up mechanism tied to later contract variations; the $200,000 completion/defects cap and $40,000 lost-deposit cap are fixed figures that do not rise with an increase in contract value. WA · effective 2026-08-17 — recorded with low confidence; check the source before relying on it Government of Western Australia · 2026-08-17

Who administers it

• Building and Energy (WA) — Registers builders in Western Australia and administers home indemnity requirements.

What this scheme does not do

Scheme cover and a business’s own insurance answer different questions. A residential building scheme protects the homeowner when work is defective or unfinished; it does not cover the contractor’s liability to third parties or the contractor’s own losses.

• Insuring the works or insuring liability
• What builders commonly hold alongside

Sources

• Government of Western Australia — wa.gov.au — Building and Energy, home indemnity insurance
• Consumer Protection WA — Consumer Protection, Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety (WA)