PERTHOwner-builder rules: what you take on when you're the builder
WA owner-builder rules: Building Services Board approval, the owner-builder course, the six-year rule, and the seven-year home indemnity insurance obligation
Building your own home as an owner-builder can save money and give you control, but it also makes you the builder in the eyes of the law, with the responsibilities and the six-year liability that come with the title. If you are considering it, or buying a house that was owner-built, here is what the WA rules actually require.
What owner-builder approval is
Under the Building Services (Registration) Act 2011, an owner wanting to carry out their own building work must get owner-builder approval from the Building Services Board before a building permit can be issued. It is not a building licence and not the permit itself — it is approval to be named as the builder on the permit, and you still apply separately for the permit.
It applies where the work is over $20,000 and needs a permit, on Class 1a dwellings (a detached house, including an extension or a granny flat) and associated Class 10 structures like a carport or shed.
What you have to show
To be approved, you generally have to be an individual (not a company or trust), own the land, and intend to live in or occupy the home once it is finished — owner-builder approval is not for building to immediately sell or rent. You also have to demonstrate to the Board that you have sufficient knowledge of an owner-builder's duties and responsibilities, which is usually done by completing an approved owner-builder course, unless you are already a registered building practitioner.
There is a six-year rule: you generally cannot be granted an owner-builder permit if you have had one within the last six years, unless the Board waives that on the grounds of changed circumstances or hardship. It is there to stop the approval being used to run a serial building business without registration.
The liability you take on
This is the part that catches people. As an owner-builder you become the project manager and the responsible person for the work — obtaining approvals, ensuring compliance with the building standards, engaging licensed trades where required (a licensed electrician, a licensed plumber), and meeting your safety obligations. And you are responsible for the building work for a minimum of six years.
The obligation that surprises owner-builders most comes at sale. If you sell within seven years of the building permit being issued, the Home Building Contracts Act 1991 requires you to have home indemnity insurance in place that covers the subsequent owners, and to give the buyer a valid certificate of that insurance before entering the contract. You take on, in effect, the warranty a registered builder would have carried.
Buying a house that was owner-built
This is where it matters even if you never build a thing yourself. If you are buying a home built by an owner-builder within the last seven years, the home indemnity insurance obligation applies to that sale, and you are entitled to the certificate. Ask for it, the same way you would with a builder-built home.
Owner-built homes vary enormously in quality — some are meticulous, some are not — and the person doing the work was, by definition, not a registered builder. That is not a reason to avoid them, but it is a strong reason to have the work independently assessed. A pre-purchase inspection, and on most Perth homes the timber pest scope with it, tells you the condition of what was actually built, whoever built it. Where the work shows signs of being done outside the permit or to a poor standard, that is exactly what the inspection is for.
What taking on owner-builder status really means
Owner-builder approval lets an owner take on the role that a registered builder would normally fill for work on their own property, and it is worth being clear that this is a transfer of responsibility, not just a permission. When you build as an owner-builder, you step into the shoes of the builder for that work: you take on the responsibility for the work being done to standard, for coordinating and overseeing the trades, and for the obligations that would otherwise sit with a registered builder. The approval is not a light administrative step; it is the mechanism by which someone who is not a registered builder is permitted to carry that responsibility for their own project, The permission carries weight. It is the weight that normally rests on a professional.
This matters because the protections that normally attach to building work through a registered builder change when the owner is the builder. The home indemnity insurance that protects an owner against a builder's death, disappearance, or insolvency is a builder-provided protection, and its role is different when there is no separate builder to stand behind the work. The recourse a homeowner would ordinarily have against a builder for defective work is not available in the same way when the owner built it themselves. Owner-building can save money and give an owner control over their own project, but it does so by having the owner absorb responsibilities and risks that would otherwise sit with a professional, and that trade-off is the heart of the decision.
The liability that follows the house
One of the least understood aspects of owner-building is that the responsibilities it creates do not simply end when the work is finished; they can follow the property, particularly when it is sold. An owner-builder who sells the property within a defined period after doing the work can carry obligations to the buyer in relation to that work, and has to disclose the owner-builder status, because a buyer is entitled to know that the work was done by an owner-builder rather than a registered builder and to understand what that means for the protections available to them. The owner-builder does not get to do the work, sell the house, and walk away entirely free of the consequences, because the responsibility they took on when they stepped into the builder's role has a tail.
This is a genuine consideration for anyone contemplating owner-building as a way to add value before selling, because the liability and disclosure obligations continue past completion, and the work will be scrutinised by a buyer who knows it was owner-built. It is also a reason the quality of owner-built work matters beyond the owner's own satisfaction with it: the work has to stand up not just to living in but to a sale, a buyer's inspection, and the disclosure that it was owner-built, and work that does not stand up to that scrutiny is a problem that comes back to the owner-builder.
Buying a house that was owner-built
For a buyer, discovering that a house, or part of it, was owner-built is a reason for a closer look rather than alarm, but the closer look is warranted. Owner-built work varies enormously in quality: some owner-builders are meticulous and produce work as good as any professional's, while others take on more than their skills or attention could manage, and the results range accordingly. The point is that owner-built work has not passed through the quality-control of a registered builder and their supervision, so it deserves to be assessed on its own merits rather than assumed to be to standard. This is exactly the kind of situation where an independent inspection earns its place: an objective assessment of the condition and quality of the work, regardless of who did it.
Beyond the physical condition, the buyer needs to understand what the owner-builder status means for the protections available to them, and this is a matter for the settlement agent and the disclosure that owner-building requires. The combination, an inspection assessing the quality of the work and the disclosure and records establishing its owner-builder history and what protections attach, is what lets a buyer take on an owner-built house with their eyes open. It can be a perfectly good buy. The work simply needs checking. it is simply one where the ordinary assumption that a registered builder stood behind the work does not hold, and where checking the work and understanding the position is more important than usual.
Common questions
Do I need approval to be an owner-builder in WA?
Yes. Under the Building Services (Registration) Act 2011 you need owner-builder approval from the Building Services Board before a building permit can be issued, for work over $20,000 on a Class 1a dwelling and associated Class 10 structures.
What is the six-year rule for owner-builders?
You generally cannot be granted an owner-builder permit if you have had one within the last six years, unless the Board waives it for changed circumstances or hardship. Owner-builders are also responsible for the work for a minimum of six years.
Do I need insurance if I sell an owner-built home?
If you sell within seven years of the building permit being issued, the Home Building Contracts Act 1991 requires home indemnity insurance covering the subsequent owners, and you must give the buyer a certificate before the contract.
This comes up on every pre-purchase building inspection and building & timber pest inspection we carry out.
Read next: the name on the sign may not be the business building your house and home indemnity insurance: your protection if the builder fails.
Sources
Read rather than recalled. Summarised here; the documents themselves are Crown copyright and are linked rather than reproduced.