The five-minute insurance check every Canberra owner should run.
Before you pay a single dollar of deposit on a Canberra kitchen renovation over $12,000, two free online checks tell you whether the builder is licensed and whether your money is protected if they go under. Here’s exactly how to run them, and why ‘we’ll get the cover before site start’ is the answer that should make you walk away.
The ACT has its own version — and most Canberra owners don’t know it exists.
Victorian owners are usually familiar with Domestic Building Insurance (DBI), the mandatory cover on residential building work over $16,000 in that state. In the ACT, the same protection works a little differently. The Building Act 2004 (ACT) requires residential building work valued at more than $12,000 to be either covered by the builder’s Statutory Warranty under section 88 (the mandatory two-year non-structural / six-year structural warranty) or, more commonly for kitchen and bathroom renovations, backed by a Fidelity Fund certificate from an approved fidelity scheme. At the time of writing the Master Builders Association ACT runs the active fidelity scheme.
The product does the same job as Victorian DBI: if the builder dies, disappears or goes insolvent before the job is complete or before the warranty period expires, the scheme covers the homeowner’s loss up to the policy limit. For a kitchen renovation in Reid, Forrest, Yarralumla, Manuka or Kingston where the contract value routinely crosses $40,000–$80,000 once cabinetry, stone and appliances are in, this is not optional and it is not theoretical. The MBA Fidelity Fund processes claims against insolvent ACT builders every year.
Why the public-service-buyer market matters here.
A large share of Canberra kitchen renovations are bought by long-tenured public service households — SES staff, defence professionals, and senior policy advisers in their 50s and 60s with established equity, paying for a job at the higher end of the renovation market. That market profile is exactly the one that attracts builders who over-extend on quoting, take large deposits to fund the previous job, and quietly fold when the cabinetry arrives. The Fidelity Fund certificate is the only thing standing between an owner and a $30,000 deposit walking out the door.
Two free lookups. Five minutes. Done before deposit.
Check 1 — Access Canberra builder licence register.
Search the builder by name or licence number on the Access Canberra public register. You’re looking for three things: the licence is current (not expired, not suspended), the licence class covers the work (Class A or B for a kitchen renovation that touches structure or wet areas), and the disciplinary history is clean. A licence under a different name to the trading company is not necessarily a problem — many builders trade under a brand while the licence sits with the nominee director — but the name on the contract should match the name on the certificate.
Check 2 — Master Builders Fidelity Fund certificate.
Ask the builder for a copy of the Fidelity Fund certificate that names your specific address and the contract value. Verify it through the Master Builders Association ACT. The certificate should be in your hand before you transfer any deposit. We hand ours over at contract signing as a matter of routine — not because it’s special, but because that’s the rule.
The red-flag answers.
“We’ll arrange the cover once we start on site” means six to ten weeks of unsecured deposit while cabinetry is in the queue. “Our cover is at the company level, not per-job” is not how the ACT scheme works — each job over $12,000 needs its own certificate. “The licence is in someone else’s name but don’t worry about that” should make you walk. None of these answers are paranoid concerns. They are the exact patterns that show up in every MBA Fidelity Fund claim file.
Compliance questions we get every week.
Is DBI required in the ACT like it is in Victoria?
The ACT has its own scheme. Residential building work over $12,000 must be covered by Statutory Warranty plus a Fidelity Fund certificate from an approved fidelity scheme. MBA runs the active scheme. Same job as Victorian DBI — protects the homeowner if the builder fails.
Why does the cover need to be in place before deposit?
The scheme protects the deposit and progress payments. Between deposit and site start can be six to ten weeks. Without an active certificate, an insolvency in that window leaves the deposit as an unsecured claim against the liquidated company.
How do I verify the builder?
Access Canberra public licence register (current, correct class, clean history) and Master Builders Fidelity Fund certificate (names your address, names the contract value). Five minutes, both free.
Does Fidelity Fund cover cosmetic defects?
No. The Fidelity Fund activates on builder failure, not on workmanship complaints. Cosmetic and minor defects go through the builder’s own defects liability period (usually 12 months) and escalate to ACAT if unresolved. We walk every kitchen at 90 days and again at 11 months.
We’ll hand you the certificate at contract signing.
That’s the rule. Send us your job and we’ll quote with the Fidelity Fund line item, the licence number, and the certificate details on the page — before you’re asked for a deposit.