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Duty of care (in Australian building)

Duty of care in building is the obligation to take reasonable care not to cause harm. It spans four regimes: NSW DBP Act, WHS law, QLD cultural heritage, negligence.

By Dan Waring. Last updated 30 May 2026. Verified 23 May 2026.

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In building, duty of care is the legal obligation to take reasonable care so that your work does not cause harm or loss to others. The phrase turns up in several distinct Australian regimes, and which one applies depends on the harm in question, so it is worth pinning down which duty someone means before relying on it. The four that matter most to builders are:

  • Statutory duty to owners (NSW). Under section 37 of the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (NSW), anyone who carries out construction work owes a duty of care to current and subsequent owners to avoid economic loss caused by defects. It reaches back to work completed from 11 June 2010.
  • Work health and safety. Under the WHS Act, the PCBU running a job owes a primary duty of care to ensure the health and safety of workers and others, so far as is reasonably practicable.
  • Cultural heritage (QLD). Under the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003 (Qld), every person owes a cultural-heritage duty of care: take all reasonable and practicable measures to avoid harming Aboriginal cultural heritage. The gazetted Duty of Care Guidelines set how to comply, and the duty applies regardless of what a database search returns. See Aboriginal cultural heritage in planning.
  • Common-law negligence. Separately, a builder can owe a common-law duty to take reasonable care; a breach can found a negligence claim, which is what professional indemnity insurance responds to.

The practical point: saying “I had a duty of care” means nothing until you say which duty. Each has its own test, its own limitation period, and its own consequences for getting it wrong.

Also known as: Statutory duty of care, cultural heritage duty of care (QLD), section 37 duty (NSW).

Category: Compliance / Legal concepts.

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Last updated: 2026-05-30. Verified: 2026-05-23. Quarterly review for currency.

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