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Plumbers insurance protects plumbers, drainers and gasfitters against the claims that follow a job: water damage in a client’s home, a gas appliance that fails, an injury on site. It also covers tools, the ute and stock, plus the insurance a licensed Victorian plumber must hold before issuing compliance certificates. Fortis Risk Solutions arranges it from offices in Box Hill and Hawthorn and checks that your certificate of currency carries the wording your licence needs.
What Plumbers Insurance Covers
Plumbers insurance covers public liability, tools, vehicles and business property for plumbers, drainers and gasfitters who run their own business. It is built around the claims this trade actually sees. A joint lets go and water comes through a ceiling. A gas appliance fails after it is commissioned. A client trips over a hose in the hallway. The cost of each lands on the plumber unless the policy responds.
Victorian plumbers are registered and licensed by the Building and Plumbing Commission, which replaced the Victorian Building Authority on 1 July 2025. A licensed plumber must issue a compliance certificate for work worth $750 or more, and for some gas and drainage work whatever the value. That work must be insured under a Ministerial Order, with at least $5 million for public and completed work liability.
Water is the big claim. A slow leak behind a wall can ruin floors and cabinets before anyone notices, sometimes months after you leave. Your public liability insurance should cover damage that shows up after the job is finished, not only while you are on site. Tools, the ute and the stock in it sit under a business insurance package and a commercial motor policy.
Fortis Risk Solutions arranges plumbers insurance from offices in Box Hill and Hawthorn as part of our business insurance range. New builds and commercial fit-outs may also need contract works insurance under the head contract. If your business runs sparkies as well, see our electrician insurance page. Carpenters, tilers and other trades are covered on our tradie insurance page.
Who this covers
Plumbing businesses in this group include:
- Sole trader plumbers working from a ute or van
- Gasfitters installing and servicing gas appliances
- Drainers and drain cleaning businesses
- Maintenance plumbers working for property managers and owners corporations
- Plumbing contractors on new homes and commercial fit-outs
- Roof plumbers and hot water specialists
If your work is not listed, ask us. The sections below are the starting point for any plumbing business.
Plumbers Insurance: Cover Sections and Benefits
Plumbers Insurance FAQs
A licensed plumber must be covered by insurance that meets the Ministerial Order for any work that needs a compliance certificate. The minimums are $5 million for public and completed work liability, plus defects cover of $50,000 per certificate for domestic work and $100,000 for non-domestic work. Defects cover has to run for six years after the certificate. The Building and Plumbing Commission asks for a certificate of currency that refers to the Order.
It can. Plumbers liability insurance is designed to pay for damage to other people's property caused by your work, such as a flooded kitchen or a stained ceiling below a bathroom. It usually does not pay to redo your own faulty work. Some policies also limit cover for property in your care, so we check how the wording treats the room you were working in.
Only if the policy includes a portable tools section that extends to theft from a vehicle. Many wordings pay for theft from a locked ute or van only where there are signs of forced entry, and some exclude tools left in the vehicle overnight. Insurance for plumbers should list high value items such as pipe threaders and press tools, with their replacement cost.
The same policy can cover both, but the insurer needs to know how much of your work is gas. Under the Victorian rules a gasfitter is treated as a plumber, and gas appliance installation needs a compliance certificate whatever its value. Gasfitters insurance is rated on fire and explosion risk, so declaring gas work accurately matters more than the policy name.
Business interruption insurance can pay for loss of gross profit while your workshop or warehouse cannot be used after insured damage, for the indemnity period you choose. It suits plumbing businesses that hold stock, fabricate or run a yard. A sole trader working only from the ute may not need it, because the main loss there is the vehicle and the tools.
Plumbing wordings turn on activity declarations, gas work, care and custody limits and how completed work is treated. FRS helps you declare your work accurately, set liability limits that meet your licence and your contracts, compare insurers who write trade risks and act as your advocate at claim time. We also check that your certificate of currency carries the wording your licence needs.
Talk to a broker about Plumbers Insurance
Call 03 7046 3766 on weekdays between 9:30am and 6pm, email admin@fortisrisksolutions.com.au, or send an enquiry and a broker from our Box Hill or Hawthorn office will come back to you about plumbers insurance. Tell us what the business does and what the lease or contract asks for, and we take it from there.