Bathroom Renovation Leaking, Cracked or Half-Finished? Here’s How to Make the Builder Fix It or Pay

You paid $28,000 for a new bathroom. Twelve weeks later there’s a damp patch spreading across the hallway ceiling below, the grout is cracking, the shower screen doesn’t seal, the floor doesn’t fall to the drain so water pools in the corner, and the “renovator” who was so responsive when he wanted the deposit has stopped picking up. His last message was “that’s normal settling”.

Bathrooms are the most complained-about renovation in Australia because they’re the hardest to get right and the easiest to get wrong invisibly. Waterproofing is the big one, and the law gives you years to hold the builder to it.

Your rights

• Statutory warranties. In New South Wales, the Home Building Act 1989 (s 18B) implies warranties that the work will be done with due care and skill, comply with the plans and the law, use suitable materials, and be fit for purpose. The warranty period is 6 years for major defects (which includes waterproofing failures) and 2 years for other defects. Contracts over $5,000 must be with a licensed contractor; over $20,000 require Home Building Compensation Fund insurance. Victoria’s Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 implies similar warranties for 10 years (s 8). Queensland’s Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991 provides statutory warranties (6 years 6 months structural, 12 months non-structural) and the QBCC’s Home Warranty Scheme. Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory have their own equivalents.
• The Australian Standard. Waterproofing must comply with AS 3740 Waterproofing of domestic wet areas and the National Construction Code. A leak in a new bathroom almost always means non-compliance.
• Australian Consumer Law (ss 60–62). Services with due care and skill and fit for purpose apply on top of the building legislation. For a major failure, you can have the work fixed by someone else and recover the cost (s 267).
• Licensing. Waterproofing and plumbing work must be done by licensed tradespeople (in New South Wales, a specific waterproofing licence class). Unlicensed work is unlawful and the contractor can’t enforce payment for it.

What to do right now

1. Stop paying. If any final payment or retention is outstanding, hold it. Put in writing that it’s withheld pending rectification of defects.
2. Document the defects. Photos and video, dated. Moisture-meter readings if you can get them. The contract, the quote, the plans, every text message, and the licence number the builder gave you.
3. Check the licence. NSW Fair Trading, the Building and Plumbing Commission (BPC), QBCC and the Western Australia Building Commission all have public registers. Unlicensed, or licensed for the wrong class, changes everything.
4. Get an independent report. A licensed building inspector or waterproofing specialist (typically $400–$900) will identify the defects, the standard breached, and the rectification cost. This report is the backbone of your claim and often ends the argument on its own.
5. Serve written notice to rectify. Email: “The following defects exist: [list]. They breach the statutory warranties and AS 3740. You are required to rectify within 14 days. If you don’t, I will engage another contractor and recover the cost from you.”
6. Send a formal defects claim. Once the notice period expires with no fix, a formal letter citing the statutory warranties, the ACL, the inspector’s report, and the rectification quote, with a deadline before a regulator complaint and tribunal claim. If they’ve walked off and you’ve already had it fixed, the letter demands that cost.

The dispute path in each state

• New South Wales: NSW Fair Trading building dispute service first (free, an inspector may attend and issue a rectification order), then NCAT’s Home Building division (claims up to $500,000). If the builder is insolvent or has vanished and the contract was insured, claim on the HBCF.
• Victoria: The BPC’s dispute resolution service is compulsory before VCAT for most disputes. Free, and it can issue binding dispute resolution orders.
• Queensland: QBCC complaint. QBCC can direct the contractor to rectify and, if they don’t, the Home Warranty Scheme may cover the fix. Then QCAT.
• Western Australia: Building Commission (Building and Energy) complaint, then the State Administrative Tribunal.
• South Australia: Consumer and Business Services, then the Magistrates Court (minor civil).

“It’s normal settling.” Cracked grout at movement joints within weeks, lifting tiles, and any water where it shouldn’t be are not settling. They’re defects. Get the report.

If you already paid in full. That’s most people, because the defects show up after the last payment. It doesn’t weaken your claim; it just means you’re claiming the rectification cost rather than withholding it. Get two quotes for the fix from licensed contractors and claim the reasonable one. Don’t start the rectification before the builder has had a fair chance to respond to the notice (14 days is usually enough), unless the leak is causing ongoing damage, in which case do the emergency work, document why, and claim it.

If the builder blames the tiler, the plumber or “the substrate”. If you contracted with one renovator, they’re responsible for the whole job including their subcontractors. If you engaged trades separately, you claim against whichever trade did the failing work, and the inspector’s report will say which.

Who to complain to

NSW Fair Trading and NCAT; the BPC’s dispute resolution service and VCAT; the QBCC and QCAT; the Western Australia Building Commission and SAT; CBS SA. The licensing regulator in each state for unlicensed or substandard work. For unlicensed operators who’ve taken your money and vanished, also the police and the ACCC.

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