You’ve seen them—we all have. Hacks, tutorials, and timelapses showcasing DIY plumbing tips and tricks flooded all over your TikTok, Instagram, Youtube. While they’re a great repository of free information and may look very simple to do, there’s just one issue.
If you try to do most of these things by yourself, you might be breaking the law.
In Australia, plumbing is classified as a licensed profession. This means that it is illegal to do your own plumbing work save for a few minor tasks.
While this may seem restrictive, it’s to protect the general public from unaccredited plumbers, and yourself from sudden pipe explosions or massive leaks detection due to dubious repairs.
Illegal DIY Plumbing in Australia
The Australian Plumbing Code states that the following works must be carried out by a certified plumber. These include:
- The management of on-site wastewater systems
- Carrying out works involving sanitary drainage/sewage
- Carrying out works on stormwater drainage systems
- Any alteration to drinking water, hot water, or laundry systems
- Tinkering with heating and ventilation systems
- Installing appliances connected to water-based systems
Again, while these may be overly restrictive, you have to remember that these are for the safety of your property and yourself.
Plumbing You Can Do in QLD
You aren’t completely banned from handling your own plumbing. Here is a list of plumbing works unlicensed persons can do in their own homes as approved by the QBCC:
- Replace a showerhead
- Replace a jumper valve/washer in a tap. (I.e. fix a leaky tap in your home)
- Replace a drop valve washer, float valve washer, or suction cup rubber in a water closet cistern
- Replace caps to ground level inspection openings on a sanitary drain
- Clear or replace a ground-level grate for a trap or sanitary drain
- Install or maintain an irrigation/lawn-watering system downstream of a tap, isolating valve, or backflow-prevention device on the supply pipe of a backyard watering system
- Repair/maintain an irrigation system that disposes effluent from either a greywater-use facility or an on-site sewage facility
- Unskilled tasks like digging or backfilling a trench
Penalties for Doing Your Own DIY Work
There are a variety of reasons why you shouldn’t do your own plumbing work. Firstly—insurance purposes. If you do your own plumbing works without a license and something goes wrong, you’ll have blocked yourself from accessing the benefits of your insurance contract, as those stipulate that any plumbing works need to be done under a compliance certificate. Without one, you’ll have to fork up the cash for any damage yourself.
The second issue comes to property resale. Every time a property goes up for sale, a pre-purchase conveyancing check is carried out. It’s not difficult to find illegal plumbing, as it likely won’t have been lodged with the lodged building inspection plans, which is the main way illegal plumbing gets caught. When this happens, any illegal plumbing will have to be corrected by a licensed plumber, and paid out of your pocket before the property can be sold.
Not least of all, the practice of doing your own plumbing work can land you in deep legal trouble. The Queensland Plumbing and Drainage Act 2018 stipulates that illegal plumbing can receive a maximum fine of over $32,637, with repeat offenders even risking jail time.
Get the Help You Need
Don’t turn a plumbing headache into a migraine by trying to do hard stuff but yourself. If your issues fall outside the range of acceptable DIY works, getting professional assistance will help you in the long run. Save money and get peace of mind of a job well done by contacting our Brisbane plumbers. We have experienced from blocked drains to commercial plumbing solutions and Our fleet of highly trained, experienced, and drain camera inspection to hot water systems.Our professionals will be able to help you with whatever issue you have at the fairest price.
