Plumbing Compliance Certificates Explained | Roof Plumbers

VBA Plumbing Industry Commission Compliance Certificates Explained

Have you every wondered about when you can or can't ask for plumbing compliance certificates? Do you know who can and can't provide them? Read on...

Plumbing Compliance Certificates and Licensed Roof Plumbers

There are two levels of plumbers!

Yes, that's correct, there are two levels of plumbers. There are Registered Plumbers and then there are Licensed Plumbers. So what's the difference?

Registered Plumbers

A registered plumber has finished their four year apprenticeship. They have passed their Journeyman exam. They have qualified to work only under the supervision of a licensed plumber. Registered plumbers cannot work for themselves because they are unable to certify their work.

Licensed Plumbers

Licensed plumbers have a higher standard of knowledge and experience than a registered plumber. Licensed plumbers are able to issue a Compliance Certificate. This certifies that their work complies with the relevant plumbing standards, codes and regulations. A Compliance Certificate must be issued where the plumbing work has a value of $750 or more.

Licensed plumbers must also hold insurance cover to maintain their licence. The insurance held by licensed plumbers covers your project for:

rectifying defective non-compliant workmanship.
trade practices liability.
consequential loss and non-completion. For example:
- if the licensed plumber dies,
- develops a legal incapacity, disappears,
- becomes bankrupt or insolvent,
- has their licence suspended or cancelled,
- or the consumer ends the contract due to the licensed plumbing practitioner wrongfully failing or refusing to complete the work (domestic only),
- failure to complete the work or where the plumbing practitioner is unable to carry out the plumbing work.
public liability. Events covered include:
- where the work carried out results in personal injury to the consumer or another person,
- or damage occurs to the consumer’s property or another person’s property either during or for the specified period after the work finishes.

It doesn’t matter until it matters…

“It doesn’t matter until it matters,” was probably coined by someone who chose the cheapest roof plumber. Perhaps they didn’t ask if the plumber was licensed or had insurance. And then, something went wrong! Only at that point did the client realise that there was no insurance policy to fall back on. Any rectifications or resolution could only come about through recourse to costly legal channels.

Don’t let this be you!

More About Compliance Certificates

Lucy Parker

The team at Roofrite were fantastic and so professional, making sure the job was done properly. Very trust worthy and will use them again.

Damon

After spending ages sifting through reviews online as well as listing the job on a website, I finally found a decent business to replace rusted box guttering as well as repair a separate roof leak next to the Air conditioning unit. When it rained hard enough, water would pour into the ceiling and exit through the downlights. After dealing with some of the "cowboys"out there, (some even had good reviews), my opinion has been that if they can come around at short notice and want cash with no paperwork, then avoid at all costs. I'm a few hundred dollars lighter for this life experience. Some didn't even bother to call back. Fortunately I found Roofrite. The whole process was well managed from start to finish. Someone did the quote with an estimated start date as well as ensuring the dimensions of the new gutter would comply with building code. Then someone else came to measure up the job. The tradies arrived on the date they said they would and did the job, to a very high standard and took away the old Guttering. Finally the office sent me photos taken of the job and a VBA certificate. I can definitely recommend these people who were very professional and friendly. I no longer need to race for the buckets when there is a downpour! Update I was waiting for a really bad storm to hit before doing a follow up review to my original August 2022 post above. Well we got that recently. I am happy to report that after the morning storm that hit Melbourne last week there were no leaks. Excellent quality workmanship is all I can say. Damon

Cathy Harris

We had a large job to replace existing boxed in gutters, fix leaks and replace asbestos lining. The team at Roofrite did a great job to sorry out all the issues, even the ones found after starting the job. They kept us informed of start dates, progress and any issues found. Communication from all of the team was exceptional. We feel like we have had a very high quality job done and feel assured if we have any issues, we can call them to come back anytime. Would definetly use again and recommend for trustworthiness and good value.

Rosemary Jones

Excellent workmanship, communication and lovely people. Highly recommend every part of the organisation.

Bec Wood

Roofrite were great to deal with every step of the way, from the quote through to install. The admin team were equally lovely and responsive, our whole experience was extremely positive and we'd definitely recommend them and use them again in the future.

David Brown

Roofrite re-did the roof at the front of our house and installed 9 skylights. They are an extremely well run organisation who communicate very well. The workers are neat, tidy, polite and extremely high quality. We had no problems with anything they did and they took great pride in their craft. Absolutely love our seemingly leak proof and bright new home!

Tatiana Mauri

Jamie and the team did a wonderful job installing our skylight. We have used Roofrite a number of times and have been very happy with the outcome. They're very professional and we highly recommend them. Karen and Tatiana

Erin Paterson

2. Just wanted to provide some feedback -; From the outset I felt great confidence with Kym, he certainly knows his stuff and made me feel assured that what we wanted could be achieved and actually delivered. It wasn’t as simple as putting on the cladding but we had various issues with leakage and the lack of water proofing by the correct placement of flashing's etc. Then the day finally came were the boys showed up to do the job. The “boys” consisted of Jamie, Jermain, James and ( Chris on occasion). I have to say as a business owner, all of them are very impressive, punctual, hardworking and good at what they do… In particular Jamie is excellent as the leader of the gang and his knowledge and eye for detail is impeccable, he is an absolute asset to your business. I was so impressed by him and his ability to communicate with me what some of the issues were and how he was going to fix them. So overall I am beyond happy with the work and the outcome and it was my pleasure dealing with the boys. Kind regards, Erin.