Landscaping over $10,000 in Victoria: what the law asks

Property & tenancy · VIC

Past $10,000, a landscaping job can stop being ordinary trade work and become domestic building work — which changes who may do it, what has to be in writing, and what insurance applies.

The short version

Two numbers change what a Victorian landscaping job legally is:

- Over $10,000 — if the work is domestic building work, it must be carried out by an appropriately registered building practitioner. Where the work involves more than one trade, Consumer Affairs Victoria says you must have a major domestic building contract in place before work starts. - Over $16,000 — domestic building insurance must be provided (see the caveat in our insurance guide).

The trap: the threshold is the whole contract

The Building and Plumbing Commission is blunt about this. Even when only a small component of the landscaping work is domestic building work, a contract price over $10,000 means you need a registered practitioner. Its own worked example: a $2,000 deck plus $9,000 of lawn. The deck is the only building work, but the $11,000 total crosses the line.

Nor can the job be broken up to stay under it. Where landscaping is carried out in stages under separate contracts, the initial agreement and the later contracts are treated as a single contract.

What counts, and what does not

Generally domestic building work: verandahs, pergolas attached to the home, decks associated with the home, retaining structures, and fencing that needs a building permit.

Where the contract covers only these, the BPC says a registered practitioner is not legally required whatever the price: planting trees, shrubs, lawns and other vegetation; ornamental ponds and water features; outdoor furniture, sculptures, garden beds and borders; cubby houses and play equipment; driveways and paving.

The complication worth knowing: paving and driveways are named in the Domestic Building Contracts Act as domestic building work when done as part of building or renovating a home. Standalone landscaping contract, and they generally sit outside. Same paving, different contract, different answer.

What to do with this

1. Add up the whole contract price, including the planting. 2. Ask whether any part is building work — a deck with a subfloor, a retaining wall, a permit-requiring fence. 3. If yes and the total is over $10,000, check the practitioner is registered for that class of work on the BPC register before you sign. 4. Get the contract in writing and read the cooling-off clause before you pay a deposit.

This guide is general information about Victorian law, not advice about your job. If real money or a structural element is involved, have the contract read by a lawyer before you sign — that is cheaper than the dispute.

This is legal information, not legal advice.