You hired a tradesperson — electrician, plumber, painter, builder, tiler, gardener, anyone — and the work is defective. Leaks, paint runs, exposed wiring, uneven tiling, missed scope, plain-bad workmanship. You’ve contacted them. They’ve made excuses. Now they won’t return your calls.
The Australian Consumer Law (ACL) gives you guarantees on tradespersons’ services that they cannot exclude. Specifically, the work must be:
- Provided with due care and skill — competent, professional standard
- Fit for purpose — achieves the result you contracted for
- Provided within a reasonable time if no time was specified
If the work fails any of these, the tradesperson must remedy it — at their cost — or you’re entitled to a refund or compensation for the cost of getting someone else to fix it.
The right opening move: Notice to Remedy Breach
For tradesperson disputes, a Notice to Remedy Breach is usually stronger than a generic Letter of Demand. It does two things at once:
- Identifies the specific breach (the defective work, the failed guarantee)
- Demands the breach be remedied within a clear timeframe (typically 14–28 days for trade work)
The remedy demanded is usually one of two options: come back and fix it properly, or pay you the cost of having another tradesperson fix it (typically with quotes from two other tradies attached).
Why this matters more than you think
Tradespersons in most Australian states are licensed under state schemes — Master Builders, electrical safety regulators, plumbing inspectorates. A formal Notice to Remedy Breach establishes the record needed to either:
- Lodge a complaint with the relevant state licensing authority
- File a tribunal claim for the cost of remediation plus consequential losses (water damage, ruined floors, etc.)
- Trigger the tradesperson’s home warranty insurance (in many states this is mandatory for builders)
What the Notice covers
- The job (date, address, scope, price paid)
- The specific defects with reference to the ACL guarantees breached
- The remedy demanded (return and fix, or compensate)
- The deadline (typically 14–28 days)
- The escalation pathway: licensing authority complaint, tribunal application, home warranty claim
Flat fee
Claim Done’s Notice to Remedy Breach is $79. The wizard asks about the trade type, the defects, what you’ve already tried, and what remedy you want. The AI drafts the notice citing the right ACL provisions and the relevant licensing scheme for your state. Sent to the tradesperson on your behalf.
If they still refuse to act, the next step is either a complaint to the state licensing body (free, but slow) or a tribunal application ($79 plus filing fee, faster and enforceable). Both paths are stronger when the formal Notice has been served.