Can I do this plumbing job myself?

What the law allows a householder

Where a place does allow it, the list is short and specific, and it is a list of tasks, not of trades. In Western Australia, a homeowner or occupier may take on certain basic tasks at their own home, and another person may do them for you as long as no payment is involved. On that list: maintaining, repairing or replacing a shower head; maintaining or repairing a tap, a thermostatic mixing tap excepted; replacing a cistern washer; and clearing a blocked fixture or waste pipe with a plunger. Building and Energy Everything else stays with a licensed person: any other water supply, sanitary or drainage plumbing work is for a licensed plumber or a permit holder.

Queensland draws the line with its own word, unregulated. Replacing a shower head or a domestic water filter cartridge is unregulated, and so is replacing a jumper valve or washer in a tap, repairing or replacing a drop valve washer, float valve washer or suction cup rubber in a toilet cistern, replacing the caps of ground level inspection openings on a sanitary drain, cleaning or maintaining a ground-level trap grate, installing or maintaining an irrigation or lawn watering system downstream of a tap, isolating valve or backflow prevention device, and incidental unskilled tasks such as excavating or backfilling a trench. Queensland Building and Construction Commission Unregulated work needs no licence and no report to the QBCC or to local government, though the work still has to meet the minimum standards under the legislation and codes.

Victoria's law names its own small list. A water efficient shower head may be changed over in a dwelling by someone who holds no licence or registration at all, and tap washers may be repaired or replaced, with other minor tap repairs, in a dwelling, whether or not the person doing the work owns or occupies it. A person without a licence or registration may also repair a tap in any dwelling they own or occupy. Plumbing Regulations 2018

Tasmania publishes a Category 1 list for owners, and it applies to your own home only: the owner may do the listed work there, or have it done by a qualified contractor without a licence, or by a licensed plumber. Building Standards Tasmania Work that is not on that list has to be done by a licensed plumber, and unlicensed work draws penalties. The permit rule sits underneath: low and medium-risk work (notifiable work) needs no permit, higher-risk work needs one from the council permit authority.

In the Northern Territory, minor maintenance work that changes nothing about the building, the drainage or the plumbing system or its structure is not considered plumbing or drainage work: no building regulations and no building permit apply, as long as the layout does not change. Northern Territory Government The same page says a licensed plumber should always do plumbing work, fixtures and fittings included, whether a plumbing certificate is needed or not. Mechanical tools can be used to clear a blockage, and that work needs neither certification nor notification. If tiles have to come up, the Territory's own advice is to bring in a professional, so the waterproof membrane underneath survives.

Two places answer without a list. South Australia's official campaign tells households to avoid doing plumbing work themselves, because an unskilled attempt can make things worse and end in severe leaks or other problems. Consumer and Business Services In the ACT the rule is the short one: plumbers, drainers and gasfitters must be licensed to perform any plumbing, drainage or gasfitting work. ACT Government

The lists are lists of tasks, not of businesses. Western Australia's is for the owner or occupier at their own home, and it says outright that a second person may do the same tasks for you only where no payment is involved; Tasmania's applies to the owner's own home only.

Two pages that read differently

Two official New South Wales pages read differently on how far a householder may go, so both are set out here, each named, rather than one being chosen for the reader. Building Commission NSW is the plumbing regulator in New South Wales under the Plumbing and Drainage Act 2011, so where the two pages differ, the body that decides is the regulator. Building Commission NSW

The first page is Building Commission NSW's own. In its words, you need a licence or certificate to do any plumbing, draining or gasfitting work in New South Wales, regardless of the cost of the work, and whether it is residential, commercial or industrial. Building Commission NSW On that page there is no householder list and no minor-work exception, and working without a licence or certificate is itself a breach of the Home Building Act 1989.

The second page is Sydney Water's, written for its customers. It says a customer who feels confident with minor plumbing, such as changing a tap washer, can do that themselves, but that a licensed plumber must be called for bigger problems, for renovations, and to replace a toilet or a hot water system. Sydney Water

The two pages do not say the same thing. Where the work you are planning sits between them, the deciding voice is the plumbing regulator's, and Building Commission NSW publishes which body regulates which area. Building Commission NSW

Work that is never a householder's job

Gas work is the clearest case. In Victoria the advice is blunt: never undertake gas work yourself, and never hand it to a tradesperson without specialist gas knowledge and skills, because gas work is not a do-it-yourself project. Energy Safe Victoria Energy Safe Victoria Gasfitting is licensed work everywhere on this site, and the gasfitter guide links each state's and territory's own page for a gas emergency rather than writing steps here. Building Commission NSW

Outside the short householder lists, the pattern holds everywhere. In Queensland most plumbing work is regulated and needs a licensed plumber or drainer, and a person must not carry out plumbing or drainage work without holding a licence for it. Queensland Building and Construction Commission Plumbing and Drainage Act 2018 Permit work in Queensland must not even begin without the permit, and a plumber must not work outside the class the licence covers. In Western Australia anything beyond the householder list is a licensed plumber's or permit holder's job, Building and Energy and Tasmania says the same of anything outside Category 1. Building Standards Tasmania What happens after an unlicensed job also runs the same way: South Australia's campaign notes that unlicensed and illegal work can affect insurance claims. Consumer and Business Services

Before you start

First, settle whose job it is. Check the licence before you engage anyone, and do not rely on advertising, business cards or quotes: the commission says to check them before you sign a contract or let the work start. Building and Plumbing Commission In Queensland it is your responsibility to confirm the person is licensed for the work, even when someone else recommended them. Queensland Building and Construction Commission In the ACT, ask to see a certificate of currency for public liability insurance before the tradie starts. Access Canberra

Then settle the money. New South Wales' own advice to households: get more than one written quote, and do not pay any money without a written contract. Building Commission NSW South Australia's campaign asks for quotes from three different businesses before you hire a plumber, and says to make sure the amount you are asked to pay matches the quote or contract. Consumer and Business Services