Three warranties cover your Victorian deck at once, and the one that matters most is free
Your deck is covered by the statutory warranties implied into every domestic building contract by the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995, by the builder’s own written workmanship warranty (commonly 7 to 10 years on the substructure), and by the manufacturer’s product warranty (25 years on capped composite, nothing on natural timber). Underneath all three sit the Australian Consumer Law guarantees, which no contract can exclude. If the builder will not fix it, Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria is free and is usually the required first step before VCAT.
What is covered, by whom, for how long
| Cover | Who provides it | What it covers | How long | What it will not cover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Statutory warranties | Implied into your contract by the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 (Vic) | Work carried out in a proper and workmanlike manner, to the plans and specification, with good and suitable materials, complying with the law. | Cannot be contracted out of; a building action generally cannot be brought more than 10 years after the occupancy permit or final inspection certificate | Damage you caused, changes you directed against advice, and normal wear. |
| Workmanship warranty | Your builder, in writing on the quote or contract | The substructure, the framing, the fixing, the flashing and the finish being right. | Commonly 7 to 10 years on the substructure in this trade; read the actual document | Boards you damaged, maintenance you skipped, work another trade later altered. |
| Product warranty, composite | The board manufacturer | Excessive fade, staining and structural failure of the board itself. | Typically 25 years residential on capped composite, often pro-rata in later years | Labour to replace, in many cases. Boards installed outside the specified joist centres. Unregistered purchases. |
| Product warranty, timber | Nobody | Natural timber carries no product warranty. Treated pine carries a treatment warranty only, against rot and termite attack in the treated timber. | Treatment warranties vary by supplier | Anything to do with appearance, movement, checking or greying. |
| Coating warranty | The oil or stain manufacturer | The coating film performing for its stated period on a correctly prepared surface. | Usually 2 to 4 years on a deck, conditional on the stated maintenance schedule | Any deck that missed a recoat. Keep your dates and product receipts. |
| Australian Consumer Law guarantees | Federal law, Competition and Consumer Act 2010 Schedule 2 | Services supplied with due care and skill and fit for purpose; goods of acceptable quality and durable. | No fixed expiry, measured by what is reasonable for the price and the product | Nothing can exclude these, but they are judged on reasonableness, not on your expectations. |
| Domestic building insurance | Required of the builder above the Victorian threshold, currently $16,000 | Last resort cover, paying to complete or rectify work. | 6 years structural, 2 years non-structural, from completion | Everything, unless the builder has died, disappeared or become insolvent. It is not a general warranty. |
The escalation steps, in order, with timeframes
| Step | What you do | Timeframe | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Call and email | Tell the builder plainly what has happened, with photos. Most defects are fixed at this step. | Expect a reply within 2 to 5 business days | Free |
| 2. Written defect notice | Formal list of defects with dated photos, the term you rely on and what you want done. | Give 14 to 21 days to respond and agree a plan | Free |
| 3. Rectification window | Give reasonable access and a workable date. Confirm in writing what was agreed. | Usually 28 days to rectify or to start | Free |
| 4. DBDRV conciliation | Apply to Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria. Assessment, then conciliation, and a dispute resolution order can be issued. | Weeks to a few months | Free |
| 5. Insurance claim | Only if the builder has died, disappeared or become insolvent. Claim on the domestic building insurance policy for the job. | Within 6 years structural, 2 years non-structural | Free to claim |
| 6. VCAT | With a DBDRV certificate, apply to the Building and Property List. | Months, sometimes longer | Application fees, plus any expert report |
| 7. Compliance route | For a genuine building code breach, the relevant building surveyor or the council’s municipal building surveyor can act on non-compliant work. | Varies | Free to raise |
Victoria has been consolidating its building regulator and dispute bodies, so check the current name and contact details before you lodge anything. Call (03) 9022 6418 if you want a hand reading your paperwork.
The framework, in plain language
Decking in Victoria sits under the Building Act 1993 and the Building Regulations 2018 for compliance, and under the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 for your contract. That last one is the important one for a homeowner, because it writes a set of warranties into your contract whether or not the builder mentions them. Those statutory warranties say the work will be done in a proper and workmanlike manner, in accordance with the plans and specification, using good and suitable materials, and in compliance with the law. They cannot be signed away, and they run with the property, so the person who buys your house also gets the benefit of them.
Above certain dollar thresholds, two more obligations kick in. Domestic building work above a threshold that currently sits at $10,000 has to be done under a written major domestic building contract by a registered building practitioner, and domestic building insurance is required above a higher threshold that currently sits at $16,000. Those figures do get reviewed, so confirm the current numbers with the Victorian building regulator rather than taking them from any website, including this one. What matters more than the exact number is the principle: a builder who suggests splitting one job into two contracts to duck under a threshold is removing your protection, not saving you money.
Underneath all of it sits the Australian Consumer Law, in Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. It guarantees that services are supplied with due care and skill and are fit for the purpose you told the supplier about, and that goods are of acceptable quality and reasonably durable. There is no expiry date on those guarantees. A composite board sold on a 25 year warranty that fails in year eight is a strong ACL case regardless of what the warranty document says about pro-rata reductions, because a reasonable consumer would expect more.
Keep these documents, because a claim lives or dies on them
Every successful claim we have seen started with a folder. Every failed one started with a memory. Put these in one place, digital or paper, on the day the job finishes.
- The signed contract or quote, including the written specification: species, board size, treatment levels, joist and bearer centres, footing type and depth, and fixing type.
- Every variation, in writing, even the ones agreed verbally on site. A one line email confirming what was agreed is enough.
- Invoices and receipts showing the ABN, and proof of what you paid and when.
- The building permit and the final inspection certificate or occupancy permit, if a permit applied. The 10 year long stop under the Building Act is measured from that date.
- The engineering certificate for elevated decks.
- Product warranty certificates plus proof of any registration, which composite manufacturers often require within 30 to 90 days of installation.
- Photos of the frame, the ledger fixing and the footings taken before the boards went down. Five minutes with a phone is the best insurance you will ever get.
- Maintenance records: the date of each oiling and the product used. Coating and treatment warranties ask for exactly this.
Got a deck that has moved, stained or gone soft and you are not sure whether it is a defect or wear? We inspect and give you a written opinion you can use.
☎ Call (03) 9022 6418Defect, fair wear or maintenance failure
This distinction decides most disputes before they start, so it is worth being honest with yourself about which one you are looking at.
It is a defect if the deck bounces or moves underfoot, the ledger is pulling away from the house or was never flashed, footings have heaved or sunk, water pools on the surface instead of running off, screws are backing out, boards are stained black around galvanised fixings in hardwood, the frame is undersized or joists are at 600mm where the board needed 450mm, or the balustrade does not meet the code requirements of a minimum 1m height with no gap that passes a 125mm sphere. Those are build failures and they are what a workmanship warranty and the statutory warranties exist for.
It is fair wear if untreated timber has greyed, hardwood has fine surface checking, board gaps open and close by 2 to 5mm between a wet July and a dry February, merbau bled tannin over the paving in its first season, colour varies between boards, a shaded hills deck has grown some mould, or the surface has scratches from furniture and dog claws. None of that is a defect and no builder will fix it for free, though a sand and re-oil at $25 to $55 per m² makes most of it disappear.
It is a maintenance failure if a pine deck that was never oiled has splintered and rotted, or a composite deck has never been washed and has grown a slippery film. Warranties are void in that direction, and the coating manufacturer will ask for your recoat dates.
The grey area is the first winter. Timber moves. A deck laid in a dry February will have wider gaps by August and a customer who has never owned a deck will reasonably think something is wrong. That is why we tell people what to expect at handover, and why the build week page covers the handover walk. If your existing deck is genuinely soft, the spongy boards guide tells you what is underneath it.
The honest bit: most of this is settled before the job starts
In our experience almost every deck dispute traces back to a scope that was never written down. Someone assumed the stairs were included. Someone assumed the old deck removal was included. Someone assumed the price covered oiling, or a balustrade, or the permit. Nobody wrote it down, and by the time the invoice arrives the two sides genuinely remember different conversations. A quote that names the species, the board size, the joist centres, the footing type and depth, the fixing type, what is excluded and what the warranty says removes almost all of that risk for the cost of ten extra lines. Our quote comparison guide and the pricing page give you the lines to insist on.
Two honest constraints from our side. First, we do not take over another builder’s warranty. If your deck was built by someone else and it has failed, the rectification claim belongs with them, and touching it ourselves can weaken your position. We will inspect it and give you a written opinion for your defect notice, and we would rather do that than sell you a rebuild you may not have to pay for. Second, if the builder is still trading and the defect is real, do not go straight to VCAT. Step two and step four of the table above resolve the large majority of these matters for nothing, and a tribunal application before you have given a proper chance to rectify tends to go badly. If you are still choosing who to hire, the builder selection guide and the permit page are the two to read first, and the board specification guide covers which product warranties are actually worth something.
Get a written opinion on a deck that has failed
Send photos and your suburb and we reply within 1 business day with whether it reads as a defect, wear or maintenance.