If you build retaining walls, dig out for footings or put up fences and gates for homeowners in Victoria, there's a date worth writing on the whiteboard. The domestic building contract changes Victoria passed in September 2025 are due to kick in by 1 December 2026.
Now I'm a landscaper, not a lawyer, I haven't sat down with the Act and worked through its definition of domestic building work line by line. So this isn't me telling you the new rules definitely apply to your jobs. It's me explaining why I reckon it's worth checking, how I'd check, and what I'd tidy up on the next quote while I find out.
Domestic building contract changes in Victoria: what's actually in them
According to Consumer Affairs Victoria, the amending Act passed Parliament on 11 September 2025, and the new laws take effect by 1 December 2026. Until then the current laws stay as they are. That page dates from September 2025, though, so check whether Consumer Affairs Victoria has published anything newer before you act on any of this.
The parts of their summary that jumped out at me:
- Deposit limits, progress payment stages and progress payment limits can be set in regulations. The page doesn't give figures, so don't trust anyone quoting numbers until they've actually been published.
- Some basic document requirements that currently apply only to major domestic building contracts will apply to all domestic building contracts.
- Major domestic building contracts get a single process for variations.
- Cost escalation clauses will only be allowed for contracts worth $1 million or more.
- Builders and clients can make their own preliminary agreements for plans, specifications and bills of quantity, separate from the main contract.
- The Building and Plumbing Commission takes over building regulation, insurance and dispute resolution.
The HIA backs up the date, saying the changes will affect major domestic building contracts from 1 December 2026. It also says several preliminary services are excluded from the definition of building work. Most of the HIA's detail sits behind its paywall, so I've only gone off its summary.
Does any of this touch landscape construction?
This is the bit I can't answer for you, and to be honest it's the bit that matters most.
What I can tell you is what the Building and Plumbing Commission says about domestic building work. It lists earthworks and excavation as a limited class of domestic builder, and one of the purposes it names is digging a hole or trench for structural landscaping work. Its carpentry class covers work on homes and associated class 10 structures, and it lists construction of gates and fences. On a separate landscaping page, the Building and Plumbing Commission says some landscaping work must only be done by a registered building practitioner, and some isn't legally required to be.
Now, that's about registration classes, not the contract Act. They're not the same thing and I'm not going to pretend they are. But it does tell me the regulator doesn't see all landscaping as gardening. If you're doing structural work, there's a fair chance some of your jobs sit closer to building than you'd assume. The Building and Plumbing Commission also treats working out when a major domestic building contract is needed as part of a builder's job. So "I didn't know" probably isn't going to cut it.
As landscapers we don't tend to think of ourselves as builders. And we're islands. You're never on site with another landscaper, so nobody's leaning over the fence telling you which contract they use or what's changed. A law like this can sail straight past us.
How I'd work out if it applies to you
I'd pull up the last ten or so jobs I'd quoted and sort them into two rough piles. One pile is the softer stuff: planting, turf, mulch, irrigation. The other is anything structural: retaining walls, excavation for footings, fences and gates, block walls, decks and pergolas.
That second pile is the one to take to someone who actually knows. A building lawyer, Landscaping Victoria if you're a member, or the Building and Plumbing Commission itself. Ask two plain questions. Does this kind of job count as domestic building work under the Domestic Building Contracts Act? And if it does, what in my contract needs to change before 1 December?
Then keep an eye on Consumer Affairs Victoria and the Building and Plumbing Commission for the regulations on deposits and progress payments. That's the part that could change how and when you get paid, and right now the figures aren't on the page.
What I'd change on the next quote anyway
Here's the thing, even if half your work turns out to sit outside the Act, most of what's in these changes is just good practice.
Stop copying the old template forward. For years I built proposals by finding an old one for a similar job in Word, changing the words, deleting bits and swapping the photos. Hours of it, typing with one finger. The trouble with copying forward is you carry the old stuff with you. If your contract has been copied from job to job for three years, now's the time to get it looked at properly.
Itemise in the order you build. If progress payment stages end up being set in regulations, you'll want a quote that's already broken into stages. Say the job is a sleeper retaining wall, 30 square metres of paving and some turf. Excavation and base, then the wall, then the paving, then turf and cleanup. When your line items follow the job, matching payments to stages is easy.
Put every variation in writing. Major contracts are getting a single variations process. Whether or not that catches you, every variation should be written down, priced and signed before the guys start on it. More than once I've been halfway through a job and realised the thing in front of me never made it into the price. That's margin walking out the gate.
Rethink any escalation clause. If you've got a rise-and-fall clause in there and your jobs are under $1 million, Consumer Affairs Victoria's summary says it won't be allowed. Price the risk properly up front. Know your numbers so you're not leaning on a clause to save you.
That last point is a big part of why we built Ask Willow. It prompts you on site for the things people forget, like soil expansion, skip bins and access, and turns the site walk into an itemised proposal. It's a pricing tool, not a contract tool, and you still have to check the numbers. But when you are working from a a tight, itemised quote you have a good foundation for whatever contract ends up sitting in front of it.
The takeaway
Don't panic, and don't assume. Sort your recent jobs, take the structural ones to someone qualified, and get a clear answer on whether the Domestic Building Contracts Act covers them. Watch for the deposit and progress payment regulations. And whatever the answer, get your template checked and have your quotes itemised in build order before 1 December. It's a pain in the backside for an evening or two, but it's a lot less painful than finding out mid-job that your paperwork was out of date.