2005 the Victorian Building Authority (VBA) passed an amendment to the law, that stated – any work in excess of $5,000.00 needed to be carried out by a landscaper who is a licensed/registered builder. The VBA then created a sub-category to the main Domestic Builder license and named it Domestic Builder Limited – Structural Landscaping.

Any landscape company that is a registered builder is obligated to

• Provide you with a 6 year warranty on all work.
• Draw up and sign a contract that outlines the work to be undertaken, clearly states the payment terms and includes a cooling off period.
• If your project is in excess of $16,000.00 they must take out warranty insurance on your behalf.

Warranty Insurance

I have found that there is some confusion and hesitation surrounding warranty insurance, so hopefully this post can clear things up.

Warranty insurance is only needed if the total cost of the works is in excess of $16,000.00

As I mentioned earlier in this post, as a licensed/registered landscaper by law I need to guarantee all my work for a 6 year period from the completion date of the project.

Warranty insurance is insurance that is taken out by the Landscaper in the clients name.

Let’s say we finished a project today, and in 3 years time there was a problem that needed to be repaired. The client would phone us and we would return and repair the problem free of charge, end of story.

However if in that time period we had either gone into bankruptcy, I was deceased or I had moved to Tibet and become a monk, the client would claim on the insurance and QBE (the underwriters) would pay for other landscapers to carry out the repairs. Warranty insurance is a legal document that can be added to a section 32, and transferred into the names of the new home owners.

Whilst warranty insurance is a great idea and covers the client from all angles, it does add to the cost of the project, and this unfortunately, is where the hesitation comes in.

Happy Landscaping