From 1 July 2026, Victoria replaced last-resort domestic building insurance with a Home Warranty Scheme for eligible new contracts. The official description is on vic.gov.au, updated 27 October 2026. It changes the protection sitting behind a domestic building contract. It does not rewrite how a site cut is measured.
This is general information, not insurance or legal advice. Whether a particular contract is "domestic building work", and whether the scheme responds to a particular defect, is a question for the Building and Plumbing Commission and for the policy schedule. Do not treat this page as the schedule.
What started on 1 July 2026
The Victorian Government says builders must now purchase Home Warranty Insurance for eligible projects. The scheme is administered by the Building and Plumbing Commission. It applies to building contracts over $20,000 for homes of three storeys or less. Cover described on the page includes lost deposits, incomplete building work, and non-compliant or defective building work.
The page contrasts that with the previous Domestic Building Insurance model. Under the old model, a consumer could claim only as a last resort, and only in narrow cases: the builder became insolvent, disappeared or died. The new scheme is described as available when a building issue is first identified, rather than only after the builder is gone.
Eligibility follows the contract date. Home Warranty applies to eligible contracts signed on or after 1 July 2026. If the work is already covered by a Domestic Building Insurance policy issued before that date, the page says the cover remains with the insurer who issued it and does not transfer across.
Where a site cut fits
On a volume-builder job, the site cut is usually inside the builder's contract and the builder's site costs. The insurance question, if there is one, is about that building contract, not about a side quote from an excavator crew. Our note on why site costs move separates the earthworks lines from the slab lines. Insurance does not turn a provisional sum for rock into a fixed price.
If you are engaging earthworks yourself, do not assume our quote is a domestic building contract, and do not assume it is outside one either. That classification has dollar thresholds and definitions we are not going to apply to your job from a blog post. Owner-builders in particular should ask the Building and Plumbing Commission before they rely on either the old or the new scheme to cover a pad.
Nothing on the government page says an earthmoving contractor's public liability policy was replaced on 1 July 2026. We carry our own insurance for the work we do. That is a different product from Home Warranty, and we do not publish the policy schedule on this site. Ask for a certificate of currency when you are comparing contractors. The checks in how to choose an earthmoving contractor still apply: who is on site, what is excluded, and what the price does not include.
What to ask the builder
- What date was the domestic building contract signed?
- Is the contract over $20,000, for a home of three storeys or less, so that the government's eligibility description might apply?
- Can you see the notice of cover, and which scheme is named: Home Warranty, or a pre-1 July 2026 domestic building insurance policy?
- Is the site cut inside that contract, or a separate engagement you are signing yourself?
We will still want the cut sheet, the soil report and access photos before we price a site cut. The warranty scheme does not set the level of the pad.
Home Warranty sits on an eligible building contract. It is not a line item on an earthworks quote.
Frequently asked questions
Does an earthmoving quote include Home Warranty insurance?
Not as a matter of course. The Victorian Government says the scheme applies to eligible domestic building contracts signed on or after 1 July 2026. A standalone earthworks quote is not that contract. Ask the builder for the notice of cover, and ask the Building and Plumbing Commission if you are unsure whether your contract has to have it.
What if the building contract was signed before 1 July 2026?
The vic.gov.au page, updated 27 October 2026, says a Domestic Building Insurance policy issued before 1 July 2026 stays with the insurer who issued it. It does not transfer into the new scheme. The old cover was last-resort cover, available if the builder became insolvent, disappeared or died.
Sources
- The Home Warranty Insurance, vic.gov.au, updated 27 October 2026. States commencement on 1 July 2026, the $20,000 and three-storey eligibility description, and the treatment of policies issued before that date.
Insurance scope, exclusions and claim steps are in the scheme rules and the policy, which can change. Read the current government page and the cover schedule. This article is not a claim guide.