When a landscaper must be registered in Victoria
In Victoria you must use an appropriately registered building practitioner when two things are both true: the contract price is over $10,000, and the work is domestic building work. A contract limited to work such as planting or paving is not generally domestic building work, so a registered practitioner is not legally required for it at any price; verandahs, decks associated with your home, pergolas attached to it, retaining structures and fencing that requires a building permit generally are.
General information, not legal or building advice. The official places to check are the Building and Plumbing Commission (BPC) and its information sheet on domestic building work.
The two conditions
The Building and Plumbing Commission (BPC) sets the rule out as one sentence with two conditions joined by “and”:
In the Building and Plumbing Commission’s words: “You must engage an appropriately registered building practitioner when:”
Price alone does not decide it. For landscaping that is not domestic building work, the BPC says a registered building practitioner is legally not required, regardless of the contract price. That is the law as the BPC explains it, not a recommendation.
Landscaping as domestic building work
The BPC’s information sheet describes domestic building work as work connected with building, renovating, improving or maintaining a home. Its landscaping page says landscaping becomes domestic building work when it is carried out in association with any of these:
- “the erection or construction of a home”
- renovating, altering, extending, improving or repairing a home
- building something that needs a building permit, on land zoned for residential purposes.
The BPC then gives two lists of examples. Both are printed here in full, with its own qualifier kept: “generally”.
Examples outside domestic building work
- Planting
- trees, shrubs, lawns and other vegetation
- Water
- ornamental ponds and water features
- Furnishing
- outdoor furniture, sculptures, garden beds and borders
- Play
- cubby houses and play equipment
- Hard surfaces
- driveways and paving
The condition matters: these examples sit outside the rule “when carried out under a contract limited only to these works”. Bundle any of them with a deck and the contract is no longer limited to them.
Examples of domestic building work
- Verandahs
- verandahs, which the BPC also says require a building permit
- Pergolas
- those attached to your home
- Decks
- those associated with your home
- Retaining
- retaining structures
- Fencing
- the BPC adds “which requires a building permit”
Small components of a larger job
A mixed job does not slip under the rule because most of it is planting. The BPC says that even when only a small component of the landscaping is domestic building work, you will need an appropriately registered building practitioner if the contract price is over $10,000. The same two conditions apply: the price, and domestic building work somewhere in the contract.
Registration carries a standard. The BPC says registered building practitioners must do their work competently and to a professional standard, contributing to the safety and health of the people who use homes.
It also ties into the contract. A builder must not enter a major domestic building contract unless registered as a building practitioner under the Building Act 1993. Layer 05 explains when that kind of contract is needed.
Other licences in a garden
Building registration is not the only licence a garden can call for. Connecting a pond or water feature to mains water or a drain is plumbing work, and the BPC says it needs a licensed plumber. Among the things the non-habitable structures class leaves out, the BPC lists electrical and plumbing work that licensed practitioners must do; Layer 03 prints that class’s full list.
Registration classes for garden work
Victoria registers domestic builders in classes, some of them limited to one kind of work. The BPC’s information sheet describes these:
| Class | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Domestic Builder (unlimited) | Carrying out, managing or arranging every component of domestic building work to build, renovate, improve or maintain a home: class 1, 2 and 4 buildings and their associated class 10 buildings. |
| Limited to structural landscaping | Structural landscaping for homes. Its external features include retaining walls of any material that are not part of a building; gates and fencing in every material, except pool and spa safety barriers; driveways, paths and paving; external stairs and ramps; cabanas, pergolas, decks and gazebos; and ornamental ponds, water features and other structural ornamentation. |
| Limited to gates and fences | Gates and fences for homes, in any material, with manual and automatic gates, and including pool and spa safety barriers. |
| Limited to retaining walls | Retaining walls for homes, with the site set-out and preparation that goes with them. Layer 02 covers walls in detail. |
| Limited to earthworks and excavation | Earthworks and excavation for homes and associated class 10 buildings. |
| Limited to non-habitable building structures | Certain freestanding, above-ground structures associated with homes, such as sheds and gazebos. This is a selection: Layer 03 prints what the class includes and excludes in full. |
| Limited to shade structures | Shade structures for homes. |
| Limited to swimming pools and spas | Pools and spas for homes, the structural landscaping that goes with building them, and appropriate safety barriers. Layer 04 lists what it leaves out. |
One detail in that table is easy to miss. The structural landscaping class builds fences of every kind except pool and spa safety barriers, while the gates and fences class includes them. If your plan has a pool, match the class to the barrier.