Building Disputes in Victoria: A Step-by-Step Guide

Where your dispute is heading

The builder has stopped returning calls, or the owner has stopped paying, and you are trying to work out what happens next. Almost every Victorian building dispute follows the same path, so what follows is each step and what to do at it, so you come out the other end with money rather than regrets.

Step 1: put the problem in writing

Before the government conciliation service, formerly Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria (DBDRV) and now run by the Building and Plumbing Commission, will touch your dispute, you must show you took reasonable steps to resolve it directly. Write to the other side, describe the problem specifically, say what you want done and give a realistic deadline to respond.

That letter matters more than it looks. A conciliator will read it, and a tribunal member might. Write it in anger and you hand the other side ammunition. Write it properly and it either fixes the problem or becomes the first exhibit in your favour. If you get a lawyer involved at one point in this whole process, make it here.

Step 2: build the evidence file

Gather the signed contract, the variations, every email and text, dated photos of the work, and your payment records. If the dispute is about defective work, an independent building inspector or engineer should see it while the evidence is fresh. Do not let the builder patch over the problem before it is documented.

If the trigger was an incident on site, add the incident report, the site diary and your insurer notification to the pile, because a construction accident is fought over the contract chain and the policies behind it rather than over a defect list.

Building disputes are mostly decided long before anyone reaches a hearing room. Turn up at conciliation with a complete file and a costed rectification figure and you set the terms. Turn up with a grievance and you take whatever you are offered.

Step 3: conciliation

Conciliation is free and open to building owners, builders, subcontractors, architects and building surveyors. A conciliator brings both sides together, can arrange a technical assessment of the work, and can issue dispute resolution orders. A large share of disputes end here, which is the cheapest outcome on offer: you pay no filing fees, sit through no hearing, and save yourself months.

If conciliation fails or the dispute is assessed as unsuitable, the service issues a certificate. Keep it, because you cannot get into the tribunal without it.

Step 4: VCAT

With a certificate, you can apply to VCAT’s Building and Property List. Plan on around a year from filing to a final hearing, longer for complex defect claims heavy with expert evidence, with a compulsory conference or mediation along the way where most remaining matters settle. Expert evidence usually decides defect claims, so the inspection money you spent at step two now earns its keep. Running the Domestic Building List well is its own skill, and VCAT building disputes walks through what representation there actually involves.

If you are the builder: the fast money track

Owed money on a construction contract? You may not need any of the above. The Security of Payment regime lets you serve a payment claim that the other side must answer with a payment schedule within ten business days, failing which the full amount becomes payable. Adjudication then resolves disputed claims in about a month. Our building dispute lawyers page covers the regime in detail.

The clocks you cannot argue with

Building actions are barred ten years after the occupancy permit or certificate of final inspection. Hidden defects get no extension. Insurance adds shorter deadlines again, and the rules changed on 1 July 2026 with the new first-resort home warranty scheme, which is covered on our domestic building disputes page.

Where we fit in

Some clients hire us for one letter. Some hand us the whole file through conciliation and VCAT. Either way the first call on 1800 130 120 is free, and you will finish it knowing exactly which step you are on and what to do this week.