When does a Victorian plumber have to give a compliance certificate?

Value work and always work

Section 221ZH of the Building Act 1993 sets two separate triggers. The first is value: any plumbing work with a total value of $500 or more, "or any higher amount fixed by the regulations". Regulation 47 of the Plumbing Regulations 2018 fixes that higher amount at $750, so $750 is the figure that applies now. Total value is the cost of materials, the cost of anything installed and the cost of labour combined, so a job can cross the line on labour alone.

The second trigger ignores value altogether. A compliance certificate is always required for installing, relocating or replacing a gas using appliance, converting an appliance to a different gaseous fuel, installing, modifying or relocating consumer gas piping, constructing or altering a below ground sanitary drain, and any work on a cooling tower or its system. A $200 gas appliance swap needs a certificate. A $700 tap replacement does not.

The 5 day clock

Once the work is complete, the licensed plumber has 5 days to give the customer a signed compliance certificate and to notify the Victorian Building Authority, now operating as the Building and Plumbing Commission, that the certificate has been given. Missing either step carries a penalty of up to 60 penalty units. Work counts as complete when the plumber finishes what they were engaged to do, or when it can already be used in line with the plumbing laws, whichever happens first.

A customer who thinks a plumber has stalled can serve a written notice asking for a certificate covering the work done so far. That starts its own 5 day clock, with the same 60 penalty unit exposure if the plumber ignores it.

What the certificate has to say

Only a form supplied by the Authority counts as a compliance certificate. On it the plumber must describe the work, state that they carried it out or supervised it (or, if they finished work another plumber started, that they inspected it first), state that the work meets any requirements named on the certificate, and state that it complies with the plumbing laws. Signing a certificate that leaves any of this out carries a penalty of up to 120 penalty units, and knowingly signing one with a wrong statement of fact carries up to 60 penalty units.

Keeping the copy, passing it on

The plumber keeps a copy of every certificate they sign for at least 10 years, with a penalty of up to 10 penalty units for not doing so. If the plumber handed the certificate to a builder or other practitioner rather than the property owner, that practitioner must pass it to the owner within 5 days of receiving it, or face a penalty of up to 3 penalty units. A 2024 amendment to the Act added that a certificate stays valid even if it does not match the exact kind or value of work done, or was written on an expired certificate form, which removes an old argument for refusing to accept one.

Producing it from ServiceM8

Build a ServiceM8 Form the plumber completes on site: a description field for the work, a checklist of the always required categories (gas appliance, gas piping, below ground drain, cooling tower) so the office can see at a glance why a certificate is or isn't needed, the total value if the job sits near the $750 line, and the compliance statements as fixed text the plumber ticks off rather than retypes. Attach the form to a job badge such as Plumbing certificate required and make it mandatory before the job can be marked complete, so the 5 day clock never starts without someone noticing. The finished PDF in the job diary is the 10 year copy, and emailing it from there the same day covers the deadline to the customer.