Victoria’s regulatory landscape is changing — and interior designers need to act
The Design Institute of Australia has been advised that the regulatory environment for building practitioners in Victoria is shifting rapidly. The Building and Plumbing Commission (BPC) has significantly stepped up enforcement and credential checks across the building sector, just as the arrangement that has allowed many interior designers to document projects under a builder’s registration is coming to an end. Victoria has 3,825 interior designers, yet just 185 are registered in the Building Design (Interior) category. The time to act is NOW.
Established on 1 July 2025, the BPC has made its enforcement position clear. Its first-year figures, published on 13 August, show penalties reaching $2.12 million — up 55 per cent on the previous year and more than double the figure from two years ago. Suspensions, cancellations and disqualifications rose from 49 to 103. The immediate suspension power, reserved for the most serious cases, was used 24 times, a six-fold increase. Directions to fix non-compliant work under construction rose from 12 to 71. Prosecutions, which the BPC describes as predominantly focused on unregistered and unlicensed practitioners, more than tripled, from 21 matters finalised through the courts to 68.
A month later the method was on display. On 10 September the BPC reported a week-long statewide blitz across nearly 350 residential and commercial building sites, with close to 700 individuals asked to produce their credentials and 24 unregistered practitioners identified. Commissioner and Chief Executive Anna Cronin has been direct about the posture: the BPC has increased the use of its full regulatory toolkit, and those who do not do the right thing can expect it to act. Further enforcement powers commenced on 1 July 2026.
Be clear about one thing. All 24 practitioners identified in the September blitz were carrying out plumbing work, and much of the rectification activity sits on the plumbing side. This was not a sweep of design practices. Not yet anyway. But what it establishes is method and appetite: proactive, on site, at scale, checking credentials against a public register, supported by a TIP-OFF FORM any consumer or competitor can use.
Meanwhile, the arrangement that has kept most interior designers out of the system is ending
The Domestic Building Contracts Amendment Act 2025 removes the preparation of plans, specifications and bills of quantity from the definition of domestic building work. Agreements for design documentation will then sit outside the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 entirely.
The timing moved on 26 August 2026, when Parliament passed the Consumer Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 and delayed the forced commencement date from 1 December 2026 to 31 March 2027. Provisions can still be proclaimed earlier. The planning date is not March 2027. It is any time between now and March 2027.
This matters because so much design documentation in Victoria has travelled under someone else's registration. The BPC estimates that around 70 per cent of Victorian building permits currently name a builder's registration number as the person who prepared the plans. That has worked because the design formed part of the domestic building work the builder was contracted to carry out. Take documentation out of the definition and it becomes a standalone service, contracted directly with the client, standing on its own.
The exposure, in numbers
Jobs and Skills Australia counts 3,825 interior designers in Victoria. The BPC register records 185 individuals in the Building Design (Interior) category and 21 company registrations. Fewer than five per cent of the state's interior designers hold registration in their own right.
That is not a capability problem. It is the predictable result of a system that has let qualified practitioners work without registration of their own. That system is now being dismantled, at precisely the moment the regulator has tripled its prosecutions and started checking credentials at scale.
Four things to do before commencement
Confirm your position with the BPC. If you document domestic projects under a builder's or building designer's registration, ask specifically what your status will be once the amendment commences. Do not assume the arrangement carries over.
Check the register. Confirm your own or your company's standing at bpc.vic.gov.au/check.
Apply now if you need to. Individual registration in the Building Design (Interior) category uses form SD-APP-062. Applications require evidence of qualifications, experience and professional standards, and assessment takes time. A March 2027 deadline is not a March 2027 application date.
Review your client agreements. Design-only agreements will no longer sit within the Domestic Building Contracts Act. Scope, fees, variations, dispute resolution and professional indemnity cover will all have to carry more weight in your own contract.
The DIA continues to work with the BPC and with regulators nationally on the recognition of interior designers as building design practitioners. We will keep members updated as commencement dates are proclaimed.