What is a direction to fix on a pool build in Victoria?

The seven days that most owners never see

The distinctive feature of a direction to fix is that the first one may not be a document at all.

Where the surveyor becomes aware that a precaution measure has been moved or altered so that it no longer complies with the requirements in the building permit, they issue a direction to fix under sections 37A to 37F of the Building Act 1993, to the builder or the person in charge of the site, either orally or in writing. If given orally and the work is not rectified within 7 days, the surveyor must then issue a written direction to fix in the approved form.

So a conversation on site is a formal enforcement step with a statutory clock attached. As the owner you may hear nothing about either, because neither is addressed to you. That is the practical reason to ask your surveyor directly whether any direction has issued on your job — it is the earliest visible signal that a build is drifting, and it appears a week before anything lands in writing.

Why it has to come first

The ordering is not administrative politeness. A direction to fix must be issued prior to the issue of a building notice, a building order or a building order for minor work.

That has a consequence worth holding on to: if a building notice or order has arrived on your job, a direction to fix has already been through the system, whether or not you saw it. The ladder does not start at the top. If the first thing you know about a problem is an order, the question to ask is not “why has this escalated” but “what was the direction to fix, when was it given, and what was done about it”.

Two steps sit outside the ladder because they respond to different facts. A stop work order should issue where a builder continues working without a valid building permit — that is not a compliance defect, it is unpermitted work. And where incomplete work would be a danger to young children entering the pool area, the surveyor should contact the municipal building surveyor about an emergency order. Neither waits for a direction to fix.

What actually triggers one on a pool site

On pool jobs the recurring trigger is the site fence, because it is temporary, it is in the way, and it gets moved.

The permit must contain details of the precaution measures required during construction and before the shell is filled, along with details of the final barrier. Regulation 116(3) requires any excavation to be fenced or otherwise guarded against being a danger to life or property. Once those measures are written into the permit, moving them is a departure from the permit — not an informal adjustment.

The most common versions are ordinary and unglamorous: the hoarding between the house and the pool area opened up to get a bobcat through and not restored; a gate propped for a delivery; panels taken down for a concrete pour and stacked against the fence overnight. Each is a moment where the site stops complying, and the trigger for the surveyor is finding it that way.

There is a safety reason this is policed harder than it looks. An open excavation holding 300mm of water — and rain is enough — requires a barrier complying with AS1926.1-2012, maintained. The four mandatory inspection stages covers where in the build each of those obligations lands.

At final inspection, the same tool does a different job

The direction to fix also appears at the end of the build, in a form that matters directly to you.

Where the pool and safety barrier have been completed in accordance with the permit, a final inspection can be undertaken, and if the work fully complies, a certificate of final inspection is issued. Where it does not, the non-compliant work can be the subject of a direction to fix or a building order for minor works instead.

That is the fork in the road on handover day. A certificate of final inspection is the document that says the job is done; a direction to fix at the same visit means it is not, and the pool cannot be filled. For a concrete pool the practice note is explicit that it must not be filled until the surveyor certifies a complying barrier is in place.

The items that fail at this point are consistent and mostly cheap to fix in advance: gate closing and latching, non-climbable zones, the gap under the barrier, and climbable objects inside the 900mm zone. What an inspector checks and why a pool gate stops latching cover the two that come up most.

What an owner can usefully do

You are not the recipient of a direction to fix and you cannot rectify it yourself — it is directed at the builder or the person in charge of the site. But there are three things worth doing.

Ask, in writing, whether any direction has been issued. Your surveyor's role is to enforce the permit, and the answer is a fact about your job. Asking by email creates the record.

Treat it as a schedule signal, not just a safety one. A direction to fix means work has to be redone before the build moves on. If the site is also quiet, the two facts together are worth more than either alone.

Do not pay a progress claim for work that is under a direction to fix. A progress payment should be proportionate to work properly completed. Non-compliant work is not completed work, and in Victoria no money should be changing hands ahead of the schedule in the contract. Deposit limits and progress payments covers how to stage the money, and comparing quotes before you sign is where the temporary fencing and the inspection stages should have been priced in the first place.

Common questions

Sources

• VBA Practice Note 05-2018 — Swimming Pool & Spa Safety
• Building Act 1993 (Vic), sections 37A–37F
• Building Regulations 2018 (Vic)
• VBA Practice Note 05-2018, as published by Mornington Peninsula Shire

General information only, current at 2026-09-16. Pool rules differ by state and by council, and penalty amounts are updated regularly. Confirm your own obligations with your council or a registered inspector before acting.