Victoria
In Victoria, the notice is the variation. Everything else is conversation.
Victoria runs variations to major domestic building contracts through a notice-and-consent machine: the person wanting the change gives written notice stating what it is, what it costs and what it delays, and the other side consents in writing before the work starts. Skip the machinery and the Act limits what you can recover. Here's how it fits together.
Notice in writing, s 37–38 Consent signed before work starts Special conditions don't override it
01 — Which contracts
“Major” domestic building contracts — most real building work.
The Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 (Vic) attaches its detailed rules to major domestic building contracts — defined by the Act as contracts over a price threshold, which regulations have lifted over the years, so check the current figure on Consumer Affairs Victoria rather than trusting any article, this one included. In practice it captures the homes, extensions, renovations and significant trade work Victorian builders actually do.
Below major, the Act's warranties still apply and the practical advice doesn't change: written, priced, signed before the work starts is the safe answer at any size.
02 — The mechanism
Sections 37 and 38: who's asking decides who notices.
Builder asks (s 37)
The builder gives the owner a written notice: what will change and why, the effect on the works and any permit, the expected delay, and the cost effect on the contract price. The owner's signed consent comes back before the varied work is carried out.
Owner asks (s 38)
The owner gives the builder written notice of the change. If it won't affect a permit, won't cause delay and adds no more than 2% to the contract price, the builder may simply carry it out; otherwise the builder responds with its own written notice covering delay and cost, and consent follows.
Price follows (s 39)
When plans or specifications vary in accordance with the sections above, the contract price varies accordingly — the paperwork and the money move together.
03 — Enforcement is real
Courts apply it even when the contract tries to dodge it.
Two things make the Victorian machinery worth respecting. First, recovery is conditional: a builder who hasn't complied with the notice-and-consent steps generally can't recover payment for the variation unless VCAT is satisfied there are exceptional circumstances or significant hardship, and it wouldn't be unfair to the owner. Second, contracts can't contract out: in Stewart v Sherridon Homes ([2024], County Court of Victoria), a special condition reserving the builder a unilateral right to amend plans didn't save a variation done without a compliant notice — amended drawings weren't notice in writing, so there was no valid variation at all.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Live dispute, unusual contract — get someone qualified.
04 — Doing it fast
The notice is one screen. The consent is one tap.
Nothing in ss 37–39 requires ceremony — it requires writing, specifics and a signature before work starts. On site that's a phone: build the notice with the fields filled, send the link, take the owner's signed consent on their own device, keep the timestamped copy.
Bias declared: that's ScopeLock end to end, free under A$500, and it slots in beside VBA obligations rather than replacing anything. Whichever tool carries it, the Victorian sequence is fixed — notice, consent, work. Reverse it and the Act decides what you recover.
Straight answers
Questions people actually ask.
What is a major domestic building contract in Victoria?
One where the contract price for the domestic building work exceeds the threshold set under the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 — the Act originally drew the line at $5,000 and allows regulations to lift it, so confirm the current figure with Consumer Affairs Victoria. Major contracts carry the full rulebook: written form, contents, cooling-off and the ss 37–38 variation procedure.
Can a builder vary plans without the owner's signed consent in Victoria?
Only within narrow statutory exceptions — such as certain surveyor-required changes the owner doesn't dispute within five business days. Generally, no: s 37 requires the written notice and the owner's signed consent before the varied work is carried out, and courts apply the requirement even where the contract grants the builder discretion (Stewart v Sherridon Homes, 2024).
What happens if a Victorian variation wasn't done by the book?
The Act limits recovery: the builder typically can't claim payment for the variation unless VCAT finds exceptional circumstances or significant hardship, and fairness to the owner. The safer path costs minutes: written notice, signed consent, then work.
Does the 2% rule let small changes through without paperwork?
Only in one direction: under s 38, an owner-requested variation that affects no permit, causes no delay and adds no more than 2% to the contract price is the case where the builder may proceed on the owner's notice. Builder-requested changes run through s 37's notice-and-consent regardless of size. When in doubt, paper it.
Method
Where these answers came from.
Vendor screens and features are taken from each publisher's own website or help centre on the date shown. Nothing here is sponsored and no vendor has reviewed this page.
If something's changed, tell us and we'll fix it — an out-of-date guide is worse than none.
The next one's coming
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Price it on your phone, they sign on theirs, you both keep the PDF. Under A$500 it costs you nothing, ever.
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