Any Plumbing and Drainage work that is not defined as Minor work or Unregulated work is Regulated work. You must be a licensed person to perform Regulated work and ensure you only perform the Regulated work covered by your license (ie a licensed drainer can perform regulated drainage work).

 

A Plumbing Application must be submitted to Central Highlands Regional Council to be assessed for compliance with the technical standards for Plumbing and Drainage, and approval must be issued by Council prior to the commencement of any Regulated work.

 

Council is required to assess the Regulated work at particular stages. It is the licensed person’s responsibility to arrange these mandatory inspections with Council.  Council has specific Inspection requirements that must be adhered to, for more information please see the Plumbing & Drainage Inspection Requirements fact sheet.

 

Please note inspections must be booked with Council giving 24 hours notice. To book an Inspection please contact the Plumbing Section on 07 4982 8378.

 

Any licensed person who performs Plumbing and Drainage work must ensure it is compliant with the Plumbing and Drainage Act 2002 which calls up the required regulations, standards and codes.

 

Once the Regulated work has been satisfactorily completed and inspected by Council, a Final compliance certificate will be issued.

 

Council has created a Checklist to aid the process of submitting a Plumbing Application. This Checklist details what must be submitted for a Plumbing Application to be accepted by Council.  For the Fees & Charges relating to submitting a Plumbing Application, please see our Fees & Charges page.

 

All Regulated work will require one or more of the following State Government forms to be completed and submitted to Council. These forms are available from the Department of Local Government and Planning website (formerly the Department of Infrastructure and Planning):

 

-      Form 1: Application for Compliance Assessment

-      Form 3: Verification of Covered Work

-      Form 4: Notifiable Minor Work

-      Form 7: Notification of Responsible Person

-      Form 8: Notice of Compliance On-Site Sewerage Work

-      Form 9: Report on Inspection and Testing of Backflow Prevention Devices, Registered Air Gaps and Registered Break Tanks

 

Minor work is Plumbing and Drainage work that you can perform without Council approval, providing the work is performed by a licensed person. There are two categories of Minor Work:

 

-      Notifiable Minor Work; and

-      Other Minor Work

 

 

Within 20 business of completing the work, a Form 4 (Notifiable Minor Work) must be submitted to Council by the licensed person who performed the work.   This form is available from the Department of Local Government and Planning website (formerly the Department of Infrastructure and Planning). Council is not required to inspect all Notifiable Minor Work; however they may choose to assess the work for compliance with technical standards.

 

Notifiable Minor Work includes:

 

-      Emergency work

-      Repairing or replacing a Plumbing or Drainage pipe that is broken or damaged unless the work involves repairing a drain at a connection point or replacing more than six (6) metres of pipe or three (3) metres of drain, which requires a full Plumbing Application to be submitted

-      Other work of a minor nature related to, and reasonably necessary for, repairing Plumbing or Drainage

-      Work necessary for replacing a Tempering Valve, water heater, cistern, pump or water meter

-      Work necessary to maintaining, repairing or replacing a Backflow Prevention device or Thermostatic Mixing Valve

 

 

 

Other Minor Work does not require notification to Council, but the work must be performed by a licensed person.

 

Other Minor Work includes:

 

-      Work necessary for maintaining, repairing or replacing a fitting or fixture

-      Work necessary for maintaining or repairing an apparatus other than a Backflow Prevention Device, Thermostatic Mixing Valve, Tempering Valve, water heater, cistern, pump or water meter

-      Work necessary for maintaining, repairing or replacing fire hydrants or fire hose reels

-      Unblocking a pipe that is Sanitary Plumbing or Sanitary Drainage

 

Unregulated work is Plumbing and Drainage work that does not require a license to perform, or any Council approvals or notification.

 

Some examples are:

 

Sanitary Plumbing and Sanitary Drainage:

 

-      Cleaning or maintaining ground level grates to traps on Sanitary Drains

-      Replacing caps to ground level inspection opening on sanitary drains

-      Maintaining an above or below ground irrigation system for the disposal of effluent from an On-Site Sewerage Facility.

 

Water Plumbing:

 

-      Installing or maintaining an irrigation or lawn watering system downstream from an isolating valve, tap or Backflow Prevention Device on the supply pipe for the irrigation or lawn watering system

-      Replacing a jumper valve or washer in a tap

-      Changing a shower head

-      Replacing, in a water closet cistern, a drop valve washer, float valve washer or suction cup rubber

 

Work on Stormwater Drainage is considered Unregulated Work.

 

If you have any queries on what category your work is classed as, please contact the Plumbing Section on 1300 242 686 or 07 4982 8378.