Your rights · Victoria & Cardinia Shire

Exterior cleaning warranties in Victoria, and what to do if it fails

There is no trade licence for pressure washing in Victoria, and a routine clean is not domestic building work, so the protection you actually rely on is the Australian Consumer Law: the service must be supplied with due care and skill and be fit for the stated purpose, and that cannot be signed away. Sitting on top of it is a workmanship warranty of typically 7 to 30 days for a re-clean, a roof biocide warranty of usually 12 months, and the contractor’s public liability policy for damage. Contract claims in Victoria generally run for up to 6 years. Start with a dated photo and a phone call, then a written defect notice within 14 days.

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Who covers what

What is covered, by whom, and for how long

Five separate things get called “the warranty” in this trade and they behave completely differently. Here is what each one actually is.

Cover	Who provides it	How long	What it actually covers
Consumer guarantees Statutory, cannot be excluded	Australian Consumer Law, in Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. Enforced in this state by Consumer Affairs Victoria.	No expiry on the guarantee itself. Contract claims in Victoria are generally limited to 6 years.	Services must be supplied with due care and skill, be fit for any purpose you made known, and be delivered within a reasonable time. A remedy can be a re-do, a refund or compensation for consequential loss.
Workmanship warranty on the clean	The cleaning contractor, in writing on the quote or invoice.	Typically 7 to 30 days.	Missed sections, streaking, detergent film left to dry on render or glass, tide lines where a surface cleaner stopped, marks caused by the process. Usually a free return visit.
Roof biocide performance warranty	The contractor, sometimes backed by the chemical manufacturer.	Commonly 12 months. Some systems 24 or 36 months when specified and reapplied.	Regrowth of moss, lichen and algae inside the stated window. Read the exclusions: overhanging trees void most of them, which matters under the gums in Pakenham Upper.
Sealer product warranty	The sealer manufacturer, not the applicator.	Commonly 5 to 10 years on penetrating sealers, conditional on the technical data sheet being followed.	The product performing, meaning water repellency. It does not cover the labour to reapply, and it is void if the slab was damp or under the manufacturer’s minimum cure age.
Sealer application warranty	The applicator.	Typically 12 to 24 months.	Peeling, blushing, uneven coverage, roller marks, anything caused by how it went on rather than what went on.
Public liability insurance	The contractor’s insurer. Ask for the certificate of currency.	Per policy year. Check the expiry date on the certificate matches your job date.	Damage they cause to your property and injury to other people. Commonly $10 million or $20 million of cover. This is the one that matters if a tile cracks or water gets into a ceiling.
Domestic building framework	Registered builders, the Victorian Building Authority, and domestic building insurance.	Set by the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 and the Building Act 1993.	Applies to domestic building work, such as a roof restoration, repointing or a repaint, once the contract price passes the thresholds in the legislation. It does not apply to a routine clean. Check the current thresholds with the Victorian Building Authority rather than taking a contractor’s word for them.

The escalation steps, in order, with timeframes

Work down this list. Most problems stop at step one or two, and almost nothing that is handled properly in the first fortnight ever reaches step five.

Step	Timeframe	What you do	What to expect
1. Photograph and phone	Same day, and no later than 7 days	Photos in daylight, one wide and one close, with something in shot for scale. Then ring while it is fresh.	Most operators come straight back and redo it. Costs you nothing.
2. Written defect notice	Within 14 days of noticing	Email it, so there is a date stamp. Contents are listed further down this page.	A written response and a date. Keep the whole email thread.
3. Give access to inspect and fix	Within the deadline you set, commonly 14 days	Let them on site to look. Be there, and take photos of the second visit too.	A re-clean, a repair, a partial refund, or a refusal you now have in writing.
4. Letter of demand	14 days after a refusal or silence	State which consumer guarantee was not met, the remedy you want, the dollar amount, and a final date.	A large share of disputes settle here rather than go further.
5. Consumer Affairs Victoria	Any time after step 4. Allow several weeks.	Lodge the dispute online with your quote, invoice, photos and email trail attached.	Free conciliation. Not binding, but a lot of traders resolve it once CAV is involved.
6. VCAT	If conciliation fails. Hearings are typically some months out.	Apply in the Civil Claims List. An application fee applies and VCAT publishes the current fee scale.	A binding, enforceable order. You do not need a lawyer for a straightforward claim.
7. Insurance claim, in parallel	As soon as physical damage occurs	Ask for the insurer, the policy number and the certificate of currency. Notify your own insurer too.	Property damage is handled by the insurer directly, separate from any dispute about the cleaning itself.
8. The outer limit	Generally 6 years for a contract claim in Victoria	Do not sit on it. Evidence and memory both decay.	A claim brought out of time is simply lost, however good it was.

General information for Victorian consumers, current for 2026. It is not legal advice. Consumer Affairs Victoria and VCAT both publish current procedures and fees, and both are free to read.

The Victorian framework, in plain terms

Two systems could apply to work on your house, and knowing which one you are in decides everything else.

The domestic building system

Victoria regulates domestic building work through the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 and the Building Act 1993, administered by the Victorian Building Authority. Once the contract price for domestic building work passes the threshold set in that legislation, you are entitled to a major domestic building contract with statutory warranties built in, and above a higher threshold again the builder must take out domestic building insurance before taking your money or starting work. Those thresholds are set by government and are worth checking on the Victorian Building Authority or Consumer Affairs Victoria website rather than relying on what a contractor tells you.

The important point for you is scope. Roof restoration, repointing ridge caps, rebedding tiles, painting and rendering are building work. A wash is not. If a quote bundles a clean together with a restoration or a repaint, the building work part of it can pull the whole job into that system, which is a good thing for you, and it is worth asking the question before you sign.

The consumer law system

A straight exterior clean lands under the Australian Consumer Law instead. The guarantees are simple and they are not optional: the service must be provided with due care and skill, it must be fit for any purpose you told the trader about, and it must be supplied in a reasonable time. No contract term, no sign in a van and no line at the bottom of an invoice can take them away. If the failure is major you can cancel and seek a refund. If it is minor the trader gets the chance to fix it first, which is why step three above matters and why refusing access can weaken your position.

The two other rulebooks that get overlooked

Work at height on a domestic roof is covered by Victoria’s occupational health and safety regulations, administered by WorkSafe Victoria, and a competent operator will have a safe work method statement, an anchor arrangement and harnesses. Ask to see it. And under the Environment Protection Act 2017 Victoria carries a general environmental duty covering what is allowed to enter the stormwater system, which in Pakenham drains to Toomuc Creek, Deep Creek and eventually Western Port. Our page on EPA rules and water restrictions covers what that means on a normal driveway.

One more honest note: there is no Victorian licence for pressure washing. If an ad says “licensed and insured”, the insured half can be verified and the licensed half is decoration. Our guide on how to choose a pressure washing contractor in Pakenham lists the checks that actually stand up.

Want a written scope before anyone touches your house?

Every quote we issue itemises the surfaces, the method, what is included and what is expressly not. That document is the whole ball game if anything ever goes wrong.

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What documentation to keep

Keep it all in one email folder or one photo album. It takes five minutes and it is the difference between a claim and an argument.

The written quote with the scope: every surface listed, the method for each, and anything expressly excluded.
Any text or email where you told them what you wanted, especially if you said “I need the oil stain gone before the open for inspection”. That is what makes a purpose known.
The tax invoice showing the ABN, the date, the amount and what it was for.
The certificate of currency for public liability, and the expiry date on it.
The product names and, for anything applied, the technical data sheet and safety data sheet.
Your own before photos, taken the day before, plus the crew’s before and after photos.
Dated photos of any defect, the first time you notice it and again a fortnight later.
The full email and SMS trail, unedited.
Proof of payment, and receipts for anything you had to spend fixing it.

What a defect notice should actually say

Short, factual, dated, and asking for one specific thing. No adjectives. Something like this:

Your name, the property address and the best contact number.
The date the work was done, the quote or invoice number, and what was quoted.
What is wrong, in plain language, surface by surface. “The north wall render has a 400 millimetre patch where the texture coat has come away, at eye height beside the meter box.”
When you first noticed it, and photos attached with the dates in the file names.
Which part of the agreed scope it relates to, quoted from the quote.
What you want: a return visit to re-clean, a repair, a partial refund, or payment of a repair quote you have obtained.
A reasonable deadline. Fourteen days is standard and is hard to argue with.
A line stating that you are relying on the consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law.
How and when you can give access.

Defect or fair wear?

This is where most disagreements live, and being clear-eyed about it saves everybody a lot of time.

These are defects

Zebra striping or etching on concrete from a turbo nozzle held too close or paused in one spot. Permanent, and grinding or resurfacing is $60 to $120 per square metre.
Render texture coat blown off, or paint stripped, from high pressure on a surface that should have been soft washed. A patch and repaint on one elevation is $1,500 to $4,000.
Cracked or displaced roof tiles, at $8 to $15 each plus a roof plumber call-out, and any water that got into the ceiling behind them.
Detergent burn on plants that were not pre-wetted or covered, or a dead strip of lawn along a wall.
Streaks, tide lines, a dried detergent film on glass or dark render, or a wall obviously cleaner at the bottom than at the top.
Water forced under a window seal or through a weep hole into a wall cavity.
A quoted outcome that simply was not delivered, such as an oil stain that was priced as removal and is untouched.

These are fair wear, or the surface itself

Algae or mould returning to a shaded south wall after 12 to 18 months. In a climate that hands Pakenham 750 to 900 millimetres of rain a year, that is the surface behaving normally, not a failed clean. Our page on how long pressure washing lasts in Pakenham sets out realistic cycles.
Lichen back on a roof under overhanging gums inside the warranty window, where the quote said trees were an exclusion.
Old spalled or previously etched concrete still looking patchy. Cleaning removes what is on the surface, it cannot restore surface that has already gone.
Rust bleed from reinforcement, efflorescence from within the slab, or tannin that has been soaking in for years, where the quote said these may lighten rather than disappear.
Colour variation between a cleaned area and one that was never dirty. That is the original concrete, revealed.
Paint that was already failing coming away during a low-pressure wash, where it was photographed and flagged before work started.

The honest summary is this: almost every exterior cleaning dispute we hear about is not a dispute about skill, it is a dispute about expectation. The stain was never photographed and discussed, the quote never said whether it would come out or only lighten, and nobody wrote down whether the eaves were included. A scope that says so up front, in writing, before anyone unrolls a hose, prevents nearly all of it. That is why we itemise, and it is why we would rather tell you at the quote that a stain will only lighten than surprise you with it afterwards.

What we do not warrant, in writing

Being upfront about the edges of a warranty is part of making the warranty mean something.

We do not warrant that every stain will come out. Deep oil, tannin, rust bleed and paint overspray often lighten rather than disappear, and we will say which is which at the quote.
We do not warrant regrowth on a roof with overhanging trees. We will still treat it, we will just price and describe it honestly, often as a 6 month rather than a 12 month expectation.
We do not warrant pre-existing failures we photographed and flagged before starting: perished window seals, flaking paint, rusted gutters, cracked tiles, loose mortar.
We do not do roof restoration, repointing, painting, rendering, gutter replacement or internal work, so nothing in those categories is ours to warrant.
We do not warrant the appearance of a surface that has already been damaged by someone else’s high pressure work. We can show you what it will and will not fix before you commit.

If you are still deciding who to use, read the budget tiers and what happens on the day first. Both pages tell you what a properly scoped job includes, which is the same list you should be checking any quote against.

Warranty and rights questions

Is there a warranty on pressure washing work in Victoria?

There are three layers. A workmanship warranty from the contractor, typically 7 to 30 days for a free re-clean of anything missed or streaked. A performance warranty on a roof biocide, commonly 12 months against regrowth. And underneath both, the Australian Consumer Law guarantees of due care and skill and fitness for purpose, which cannot be excluded and which in Victoria you can generally act on for up to 6 years.

Do pressure washing contractors need a licence in Victoria?

No. There is no Victorian trade licence for exterior cleaning, so the word licensed in an advertisement means nothing on its own. What you can verify is an ABN, a current certificate of currency for public liability insurance which is commonly $10 million or $20 million, WorkCover cover if they have employees, and a safe work method statement for any roof work.

My roof grew moss back after 8 months. Is that covered?

It should be, if a biocide treatment was quoted and the stated warranty was 12 months. Read the exclusions first, because overhanging trees void most regrowth warranties and Pakenham Upper and Nar Nar Goon roofs under gums are usually excluded or offered on a 6 month basis. Send dated photos and ask for the retreatment in writing.

Who pays if the contractor cracks my roof tiles?

Their public liability insurer, which is exactly what the certificate of currency is for. Concrete tiles are $8 to $15 each plus a roof plumber call-out, and water that got into the ceiling turns a $200 problem into a $600 to $1,500 repaint. Put it in writing within 14 days, ask for the insurer and policy number, and do not let anyone fix it quietly without a paper trail.

How long do I have to make a claim in Victoria?

Contract claims in Victoria are generally subject to a 6 year limitation period, so that is the outer edge rather than a target. In practice raise a cleaning defect within 7 days and put it in writing within 14 days, because the evidence fades fast once it rains and the argument about what caused it gets much harder after a season.

What is the difference between a defect and fair wear?

A defect is damage or a failure caused by the work: etched zebra stripes from a turbo nozzle, render texture blown off, cracked tiles, detergent burn on plants that were not pre-wetted, or streaking left behind. Fair wear is the surface behaving normally: algae returning to a shaded south wall after 12 to 18 months in a Pakenham winter, or old spalled concrete still looking patchy because the surface itself is gone.

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Send your details and within 1 business day you will have a written scope, our certificate of currency and a fixed price, before anything is booked.

A clear written scope prevents almost every dispute

Fully insured across Pakenham, Berwick, Nar Nar Goon and the wider Cardinia Shire.

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