Plumber Guide

How it works

1. Map the wet side

   Name every fixture, every waste and any gas appliance sharing the booking. A single word such as bathroom has not yet described a scope.

2. Separate sanitary from gas

   On the register for the property's state, read sanitary plumbing and gasfitting as distinct classes when a cooker, heater or bayonet is part of the same day.

3. Write the isolation

   Record how water or gas is shut off, who restores it, and what you will run, flush or light before the plumber is off the street.

Services

• Fixtures and fit-off

  Mixers, toilets, showers and tubs, from the first rough-in through to recommissioning once water is back.

• Hot-water changeovers

  The unit, its tray, tempering and a drain that reaches a proper point, not a changeover that stops at the cylinder.

• Blockages and drains

  Stacks, floor wastes and stormwater, with a clear line about what sits past the boundary and is no longer this booking.

• Gasfitting

  Cookers, space heaters and bayonets connected or disconnected under the gas class, rather than treated as a favour.

• Leak tracing in walls and slabs

  Finding a weep that has stained a ceiling or a slab, then saying what must be opened before anyone guesses at a repair.

What a plumber does

Plumbers keep supply water in pipes and send waste on its way. The ordinary list is taps, mixers, toilets, showers, tubs, a hot-water unit and its tray, tempering so a bathroom outlet does not scald, plus the vents and traps that keep sewer gas out of a room. On a renovation they rough in while the frame is open, then return to fit off after the wet area is finished. Gasfitting, when it is booked, connects cookers, heaters and bayonets, and it is its own class to read beside sanitary plumbing. Note the fixture, the floor, and whether the water is clean or waste before anyone opens a wall. That note keeps a tap repair from being priced as a drain.

Drains sit next to the fixtures. A blocked stack, a slow floor waste, a boundary trap that surcharges in rain, or stormwater crushed under a driveway is diagnosed rather than dosed from a supermarket bottle. Gutters, downpipes and roof flashings are often roof plumbing, so a general plumber may stop at the wall. Septic and on-site wastewater are another speciality again. Read the paperwork for the words sanitary, drainage and gas, then match those words to the classes the register shows for that holder. If the street connection is part of the visit, say so in the quote. A boundary trap is not the same job as a washer under a basin. Name that difference in the written quote now.

• Cookers and heaters need the gas class beside sanitary work.
• Cylinders, trays and tempering are their own booking.
• Flashings and downpipes often move to a roof specialist.
• Spouting and downpipe runs may be quoted apart.

Licensing by state

When you need a licensed plumber

Sanitary plumbing and gasfitting in New South Wales are categories on the NSW Fair Trading search; read both if the booking includes a tap and a cooker.

Victorian sanitary plumbing and gasfitting are checked through the Building and Plumbing Commission plumbing entries, not by a logo on the van.

Queensland sanitary plumbing, drainage and gasfitting are read on the QBCC licensee register against the holder named for the job.

South Australian sanitary work and gasfitting are held by Consumer and Business Services; the endorsements on that search are the ones that count.

Western Australian sanitary plumbing and gasfitting are Building and Energy classes inside the combined licence search.

Tasmanian plumbing licensing is handled through CBOS, where sanitary plumbing or gasfitting should be named on the tradesperson you select.

In the Australian Capital Territory, Access Canberra publishes the construction registers that carry plumbing classes.

Put Northern Territory questions about sanitary plumbing or gasfitting to NT WorkSafe before you treat the booking as licensed.

What changes the price

• A cylinder in a tight cupboard, a crawl under the floor, or a plant shelf on an upper landing changes how the work is done.
• Same-day attendance for a burst pipe is arranged differently from a renovation rough-in that already has a date.
• After-dark attendance, when a household has no water, is not the same arrangement as a morning booking.
• Paperwork for gas, tempering and drainage is part of finishing, not a sticker added as an afterthought.
• Tapware the household already bought is a different materials path from fittings the plumber supplies.
• A crushed stormwater line under a driveway is a scope change the first phone call may not have included.
• A locked plant room, a strata form, or a side gate that will not open are conditions to mention early.

Hiring checklist

• Sanitary, drainage and gas classes on the register match the words used for this booking.
• Each fixture is named, including any that will be reused rather than replaced.
• Shut-off of water and gas, and who restores each, is on the page.
• A hot-water line names the unit, the tray, tempering and the drain point.
• A blockage visit says how far clearing goes and what is excluded beyond that point.
• Gutters and roof flashings are either in this booking or passed to a roof plumber.
• Openings in walls or floors, and who closes them, are described.
• Supply of tapware, the pan and the hot-water unit is assigned.
• You know the next step if a leak inside a wall was not part of the original brief.
• Filling, flushing and a check for weeps are included before the plumber leaves.

Questions to ask

• Does this booking cover sanitary plumbing only, or gasfitting as well?
• How will the supply be isolated, and who turns it back on?
• Are the tray, tempering and drain written into a cylinder changeover?
• What happens if a slab is hiding a broken pipe the brief never mentioned?
• Which class covers drainage once the fault is past the boundary trap?
• Will flashings be done here or handed to a roof plumber?

Plumbers in your city

City pages open when a city has enough published listings. See plumbers near you.

Featured plumbers

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  9 Yards Plumbing

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  A1 Heat Pumps

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• ACM Plumbing

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  Aad Plumbing Services

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Search plumbers in the directory

Common questions

Sources and review

Reviewed 2026-10-22.

• NSW Fair Trading licence search Checked 2026-10-22.
• Victorian practitioner check Checked 2026-10-22.
• QBCC licensee register Checked 2026-10-22.
• South Australia licence holder search Checked 2026-10-22.
• Western Australia licence search Checked 2026-10-22.
• Tasmania licensed tradesperson search Checked 2026-10-22.
• Access Canberra construction registers Checked 2026-10-22.
• NT WorkSafe licensing contact Checked 2026-10-22.
• PGDB public register Checked 2026-10-22.