Box 3 of 6 Certificate
The plumbing compliance certificate in Victoria
In Victoria a licensed plumber must issue a compliance certificate when the total value of the job, counting materials, appliances, labour and GST, is over $750 (the BPC’s insurance page says $750 or more), and for some work whatever it costs, such as installing a Type A gas appliance or work on a below-ground sanitary drain. The customer gets it within five days of the work being completed, and the plumber lodges it with the Building and Plumbing Commission (BPC) inside the same five days.
General information about Victoria’s rules as the BPC’s pages stood on 8 October 2026, not legal advice. The BPC is the place to check whether a particular job needs a certificate.
When a certificate is needed
| Work | Needs a certificate |
|---|---|
| Any plumbing work | When the total value is over $750, including materials and appliances even if someone else supplied them |
| Installing, moving or replacing a Type A gas appliance | At any value |
| Converting a gas appliance to run on a different gas | At any value |
| Installing, changing or moving consumer gas piping, other than work for a gas company | At any value |
| Building, installing or altering a below-ground sanitary drain or its gullies | At any value |
| Building, installing, altering, moving or replacing a cooling tower or any other part of its system, including associated devices or equipment | At any value |
The BPC’s own pages differ on the edge of that line. Its compliance certificates page says a total that exceeds $750. Its plumbing insurance page says $750 or more, with fixtures, appliances, materials and labour all counted, and its WaterMark page says work costing $750 or more, the product included. The Plumbing Regulations fix the amount at $750 for section 221ZH(1)(a) of the Building Act 1993; for a job priced close to that figure, the BPC is the place to ask.
Gasfitting across several separately metered premises needs a separate certificate for each one. Complex gas installations and Type B appliances sit outside the BPC’s certificate scheme and are overseen by Energy Safe Victoria, and an installation that needs a Start Work and Compliance Notice lodged with Energy Safe cannot be self-certified with a compliance certificate.
Who may sign it
Only a licensed plumber can issue a compliance certificate. The BPC says they may do so only for work they did or finished themselves, work by a registered plumber or apprentice they supervised, or work by another licensed plumber they engaged. They may also certify a job another licensed plumber started, if they first inspected or tested what had been done, then did or supervised what was needed to finish it, and say on the certificate that the work complies.
Certifying work they did not complete or supervise is an offence, and the BPC warns it could leave both plumber and customer outside the mandatory plumbing insurance. The guide to licences and registrations explains what supervision means.
What it must show
The BPC lists three things a certificate must contain, in this order:
- Consent number and as-laid plan
- Where they apply: the eleven-digit consent number, and confirmation that the plumber lodged an “as-laid” plan with the relevant water authority.
- Appliances and fixtures
- What was installed, with any comments the plumber thinks are needed to show how far their work went.
- Work not completed
- If the job was left unfinished for any reason: a note that it was not completed, why, and the stage it reached.
A licensed plumber still has to issue a certificate for unfinished work they took on that needed one.
Five days, two directions
To you
Within five days of the work being completed, or of a plumbing work contract being terminated. It goes to whoever asked for the work: you, your builder, or someone else who engaged the plumber.
To the BPC
Lodged within five days of the work being completed, through the BPC’s online system, VBA360.
If the job is unfinished because the plumber was let go or will not complete it, the BPC says you must ask that licensed plumber for the certificate in writing.
Gas appliances
Energy Safe Victoria puts the gas side plainly: “After installing a gas appliance, the licensed gasfitter must give you a compliance certificate”. It says your copy “protects you if any problems arise later due to faulty installation”, because the gasfitter will then be required to come back and fix the installation.
It also describes an offer to turn down: “You may be offered a ‘cheap’ job excluding the cost of the compliance certificate. This is an offence under the Building Act 1993 as it denies you a guarantee and prevents the work from being audited for compliance and quality.”
The insurance it confirms
A compliance certificate confirms two things at once: that the work complies with the plumbing regulations and the relevant Australian Standards, and that it is covered by insurance for six years. Licensed plumbers need that cover for any work that calls for a certificate, and the BPC issues or renews a licence only once it is held.
The BPC’s plumbing insurance page sets out what the cover must include, and points to the relevant Ministerial Order for the full terms. If a certificate never arrived, the guide to missing paperwork covers what the BPC says to do.
The other boxes
For work that needs a certificate, it can only come from a licensed plumber, so a plumber licensed in the right class is the one to engage.