Increased coverage during the building of your new home
We’re providing more reassurance that your new home is covered while it’s being built and making sure that you have better access to insurance if things do go wrong – eliminating the need for complex and costly legal claims against builders who do the wrong thing.
The new First Resort Domestic Building Warranty for building contracts over $20,000 and under 3 storeys will be administered by the powerful new Building and Plumbing Commission.
Consumers are automatically covered by the first resort domestic building warranty when they enter into an insurable domestic building contract - even if the builder hasn't paid the insurance premium.
Cover available includes lost deposits, incomplete building work, and non-compliant or defective building work.
Domestic Building Insurance (DBI) protects consumers, but currently, they can only access this insurance as a last resort under very limited circumstances: when their builder becomes insolvent, disappears or dies.
It will ensure consumers get access to a ‘first resort’ insurance scheme allowing them to make a claim when a building issue is first identified, so you won’t have to face huge out-of-pocket costs for fixing defects.
When will insurance requirements begin?
The First Resort Domestic Building Warranty will begin from 2026.
For more information visit Building reform(opens in a new window)
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