Domestic Building Contract Requirements in Victoria

What it is

Victoria regulates home building contracts through the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 (Vic), known in the trade as the DBCA. The Act works in two layers. Some rules bind every domestic building contract regardless of price. Others bite only once the contract becomes a major domestic building contract.

Builders lose money on that distinction. The mandatory contents in section 31 are not a template suggestion. They are an offence provision, sitting next to a subsection that can strip the contract of legal effect entirely.

The $10,000 line

The trigger is $10,000. Domestic building work in Victoria priced above $10,000 must be carried out under a major domestic building contract. Only a building practitioner registered with the Building and Plumbing Commission may enter one. Consumer Affairs Victoria states the threshold plainly: the threshold amount for a major domestic building contract is $10,000.

Below $10,000 the DBCA still applies. The section 8 warranties still run. The deposit cap still applies: 10 per cent under $20,000, 5 per cent at $20,000 or more. What drops away is the section 31 formality set.

What section 31 puts inside the contract

Section 31(1) requires a major domestic building contract to:

• be in writing, in English, readily legible
• set out in full all the terms of the contract
• contain a detailed description of the work
• include plans and specifications holding enough information to obtain a building permit
• state the names and addresses of the parties
• state the builder registration number under the Building Act 1993, plus the ACN or ARBN where the builder is a corporation or foreign company
• state when work starts or how that date is determined, with a best-endeavours statement where the start date is unknown
• state the finish date, or the number of days needed once work starts
• state the contract price, or for a permitted cost plus contract, how the amount payable is calculated
• state the date the contract is made
• set out the insurance details required under the Building Act 1993
• carry a conspicuous notice in the Director-approved form about the section 34 cooling-off right
• define the key words used, including prime cost item and provisional sum
• set out the warranties implied by sections 8 and 20
• contain a checklist in the form approved by the Director

Breaching section 31(1) carries 50 penalty units.

The obligations either side of signing

Three more provisions bracket the contract itself:

• Section 29A: before the owner signs, the builder must hand over a contract information statement in the Director-approved form. Consumer Affairs Victoria publishes that form as the Domestic Building Consumer Guide. The penalty is 60 penalty units, higher than the penalty for a defective contract.
• Section 30: the builder must obtain foundations data before contracting.
• Section 25: within 5 clear business days of entering the contract, the builder must give the owner a readily legible signed copy. Penalty 20 penalty units, with a default penalty of 1 penalty unit for each day it stays outstanding.

What non-compliance actually costs

Section 133 is the provision most Victorian builders have never read. A failure by a builder to comply with any requirement of the Act does not make the contract illegal, void or unenforceable, unless a contrary intention appears in the Act. A contract missing its checklist is an offence. It is not a dead contract.

The contrary intentions are narrow. They are also where the money goes:

• Section 31(2): a major domestic building contract has no effect unless it is signed by the builder and the building owner, or their authorised agents. An unsigned contract is not a technical defect. It is nothing.
• Section 13(3): a builder who enters a cost plus contract outside the permitted classes cannot enforce it against the owner.
• Void terms: a compulsory arbitration clause, a caveat over the building site land, any waiver of the implied warranties.

Where Victoria sits against the other states

$10,000 is the tightest major-contract threshold in the country. It captures a deck, a bathroom, a carport. Victoria also forces the warranty text itself into the contract body under section 31(1)(q), a drafting obligation rather than a disclosure one.

Victoria is also mid-reform. The Domestic Building Contracts Amendment Bill 2025 passed the Victorian Parliament on 11 September 2025. The section 31 settings described above are the ones operating now.