What this checks, and what it cannot
The Guide to Standards and Tolerances sets how long after completion a particular defect is treated as outside tolerance. The periods are much shorter than most people assume, and two editions now run side by side.
Victoria onlyThe Guide to Standards and Tolerances is a Victorian document, and every period on this page comes from it. Other states set their own tolerances and their own periods. We are building those next.
Put in your completion date and what has gone wrong, and this tells you which edition governs your build, what period that edition sets, whether you are still inside it, and the exact clause and page number to quote. Every figure below is transcribed from the two Guides themselves.
Check your dates
The occupancy permit date, or the certificate of final inspection if no occupancy permit issued.
Decides the edition. On or after 1 August 2026 is the 2026 Guide.
Listed by the Guide's own categories.
Outside tolerance if it appeared before 15 November 2026 — you are inside that window today.
Every period the Guide sets
Both editions, side by side, with the clause and page for each. Claim numbers point at the verbatim quote in the register behind this page.
Floors
Floor out of level
More than 10 mm in any room, more than 4 mm in any 2 m, and no more than 20 mm across the whole footprint. The numbers are unchanged between editions.
Squeaking floor
The 2026 edition extends the clause to stairs. The datum differs: 2015 says handover, 2026 says completion.
Nail popping
Nail heads detectable through floor coverings, or clearly visible in exposed flooring.
Springy or bouncing floor
Neither edition sets a time limit. Under 2015 you must also show the substructure was not built to the BCA and AS 1684; the 2026 test drops that and is far easier to meet.
Doors and windows
Door or window binds or jams
Three months, not two years. This is the clock most people get wrong.
Door leaf twisted or bowed
Both editions test by table, but the tables are different documents with different numbers. 2026 uses Table 11.5, p 37.
Handle, lock or latch fails
The 2015 clause carries a tail that most summaries drop. After the maintenance period a failure is still defective where it results from the builder's faulty installation. Three months is the default only where the contract is silent.
Door clearances wrong
Uniform, between 2 mm and 5 mm, and not more than 20 mm to the floor finish once the covering is down.
Door edges not sealed or painted
All sides plus the top and bottom edges. Neither edition attaches a time period.
Water
Closed window or door lets water in
No time period in either edition.
Roof leaks
No time limit in either edition. The 2015 clause required the leak to be due to the builder's workmanship; the 2026 clause drops that limb.
Shower recess leaks
A real divergence. 2015 covers leaking during normal usage with no time limit. The nearest 2026 provision tests scratches, cracks or leaks at completion.
Deck or balcony leaks
No time period in either edition.
Wet-area waterproofing
The 2015 Guide has a dedicated clause requiring compliance with the BCA and AS 3740. The 2026 Guide has no wet-area waterproofing clause at all and does not mention AS 3740 anywhere.
Finishes
Cracking in walls, ceilings or cornices
Outside tolerance if the crack exists at handover/completion, or exceeds 1 mm within 24 months and is visible from a normal viewing position. Cracking at a junction of dissimilar materials gets 12 months, not 24.
Gaps in mouldings or internal fixing
Three limbs: any gap at handover/completion at all, then more than 1 mm within 12 months, then more than 2 mm after that. The zero-tolerance limb has no width threshold and is the one most often dropped.
Tiles cracked, chipped, loose or drummy
The sharpest divergence in the Guide. 2015 gives 24 months after handover where the builder's workmanship caused it. The 2026 clause tests at completion only.
Paint or coating failed early
2026 only, and it is a table: exterior acrylic 36 months, exterior enamel 24, exterior semitransparent stains 12, interior all finishes 36. Exterior clear finishes are not recommended. Table 16.5, p 47.
Benchtop, cabinet door or drawer front
New in 2026 and there is no 2015 counterpart. Six months from completion, with a separate six-month window for benchtop joints at cl 13.8, p 42.
Appliance or fitting does not operate
2015 only. Defective during the documented maintenance period after handover, defaulting to three months where the contract does not document one.
Where these numbers come from
The 2026 Guide applies to domestic building contracts entered into, or building work that commences, on or after 1 August 2026. It does not apply retrospectively.
In the 2026 Guide every time period runs from the date of completion.
The 2015 Guide's governing rule says every period starts at the date of completion of the building work, and defines completion as contractual completion or the day the owner is given the Occupancy Permit or Certificate of Final Inspection.
The Guide's purpose is to assist in the identification of tolerances for building work. It does not consider any party's responsibility to rectify building work. It may be a useful tool to facilitate dispute resolution, but the allocation of responsibility is beyond the scope of this Guide.
A worked example
A house with an occupancy permit dated 15 November 2024, built under a contract signed 2 March 2024. Eighteen months after moving in the owner notices the kitchen floor is visibly out of level, and a survey records a 22 mm fall across the footprint.
- The contract predates 1 August 2026, so the 2015 Guide governs. The 2026 edition is expressly not retrospective.
- Floor levels sit at cl 14.08, p 61, and the period is 24 months.
- Twenty-four months from 15 November 2024 ends 15 November 2026.
- The defect appeared around May 2026, inside the window.
- The tolerance is 20 mm across the footprint. A 22 mm fall is outside tolerance by 2 mm.
What would have to change for the answer to flip. If the same fall had been noticed in December 2026 the 24-month window would have closed and the Guide would no longer treat it as outside tolerance on that clause. If the fall had measured 19 mm it would be inside the tolerance today and the date would not matter. Both the clock and the measurement have to be against you, and the measurement is the part almost nobody records at the time.
What we see, again and again
Across thousands of inspections, the same few things decide whether a homeowner can use any of this.
- The short clocks are the ones that run out. Doors that bind get three months, not two years. By the time most people accept that a sticking door is not going to settle down, the clause has closed.
- Almost nobody has a dated measurement. "It has always been a bit sloped" is not a record. A floor level survey with an instrument, a datum and a date is, and it is the difference between a position and an opinion.
- The 2015 Guide argues with itself about when the clock starts, and people lose months to it. Its clauses say handover 28 times and never define it, while its own governing rule at Item D runs every period from completion. Where those two dates differ, that gap is worth writing down early.
- Tiles are the trap in the new edition. The 2015 Guide gave 24 months after handover where workmanship caused it. The 2026 clause tests at completion. Anyone reading the current Guide against an older build will reach the wrong answer.
- Delay is a defence, and the Guide says so. The 2015 edition records that a builder may not be liable where the owner unreasonably delayed notifying the defect. Waiting to see whether it gets worse is the most expensive thing you can do.
What this tool does not do
- It does not decide whether anyone has to fix anything. The Guide disclaims that, and so do we.
- It does not measure your building. The periods are only half the test — the other half is a measurement against the tolerance, taken properly.
- It does not cover the insurance clocks, which are separate, run on different triggers, and after Fall-Armytage require the loss to have occurred inside the period rather than merely been discovered in it.
- Where a clause has no time limit, that is what the Guide says, not an oversight here.
- It does not cover any state but Victoria. The Guide to Standards and Tolerances is a Victorian document. New South Wales, Queensland and the rest each set their own tolerances and their own periods, and applying a Victorian clause to a build in another state will give you a confident answer that is wrong. Those states are coming.