Tradie Forms: finish the QLD Form 5 while the test dates, permit number, and party details are still in front of you, then hand a clean report up the chain before it turns into a chase. These guides help Queensland plumbers keep records straight as we add more Australian trade templates.
The test or commissioning is done, the gear is back in the ute, and now the Form 5 has to move. In Queensland the testing or commissioning report does not just sit in a job file. It has a chain to travel, with a clock on each step, and the report has to be complete before it leaves your hands. Get the party details, the tested installation dates, and the declaration right and the report closes the job. Leave a gap and it comes back from the responsible person or the council.
This guide covers who prepares the Form 5, the handover timeframes set in the regulation, and how to keep the record clean so it lands the first time.
If you are writing one up today, open the Queensland Form 5 testing or commissioning report. Use the Form 5 on-site guide for the field-by-field workflow, or see where the report sits beside permit and inspection paperwork in the QLD plumbing forms list. If backflow is also on the job, use the annual Queensland Form 9 backflow test report.
What does Form 5 record, and who prepares it?
Form 5 is the approved testing or commissioning report under section 77 of the Plumbing and Drainage Regulation 2019. It records that plumbing or drainage work, or the relevant part of it, has been tested or commissioned. It is not the permit application and it is not a design or inspection certificate. It sits later in the job, after the work is in and the relevant testing or commissioning has happened.
Section 77 puts the report in the hands of the competent person. That is a person who holds a licence authorising them to carry out the testing or commissioning, or a person the local government considers competent to do it. The competent person prepares and signs the report. Completion of all applicable sections is mandatory, so a partly filled form is not a report you can hand on.
The point of getting this straight up front is the signature. The person who signs the declaration is the person standing behind the test result. If you did the testing, the Form 5 is yours to complete and sign, not something to leave for the office or another crew member who was not on site.
The reporting chain and the two clocks
This is the part that catches people out, because two timeframes run off the same event.
5 business days
Competent person to responsible person
After the testing or commissioning is finished.
10 business days
Responsible person to local government
Also measured from when the work was finished, not from when the report arrived.
Once the testing or commissioning is finished, the competent person must give the testing or commissioning report to the responsible person within 5 business days. That is the first clock. If you tested the work, the responsible person needs a usable, complete report from you inside that window.
The responsible person then must give the report to the local government within 10 business days after the testing or commissioning is finished, unless the local government agrees to a longer period. That is the second clock, and note that it runs from when the work was finished, not from when the responsible person received your report. A slow handover on the first step eats into the time available on the second.
Step 1
Testing or commissioning finished
On site
Both clocks start here, not when the report changes hands.
Step 2
Report to the responsible person
Competent person, within 5 business days
Complete and signed, with every applicable section filled.
Step 3
Report to the local government
Responsible person, within 10 business days
Unless the local government agrees to a longer period.
Where the same plumber holds both roles, both duties still apply on the same two deadlines.
Where the competent person and the responsible person are the same licensed plumber, both duties land on you, but the deadlines still apply. Treat the Form 5 as a completion record with a due date, not a piece of paper for the drawer.
Description of land, permit, and action notice
The top of the form ties the report to a specific site and approval. Getting these fields right is what lets the local government match the report to the work it approved.
The description of land must identify all the land the work relates to. The permit section takes the permit number and the date the permit was issued, so the report links back to the approval the work was carried out under. Copy the permit number from the permit itself, not from a text thread or memory, because a transposed digit is enough to have the report questioned.
The action notice section only applies when an action notice has been issued for the work. If one applies, record its reference number and the date it was issued. If none applies, leave it blank rather than guessing a number. These three blocks frame everything below them, so it is worth confirming them against the paperwork before you record a single test date.
Testing section: date each installation type
The testing section is a list of installation types, each with a date of testing or commissioning. You enter the date each relevant installation was tested or commissioned and leave the non-relevant rows blank. The types on the form include:
Water plumbing and hot water. Water plumbing installation, hot water service, and hot water delivered below 50 degrees each get their own dated row when they apply to the job.
Sanitary plumbing and drainage. Sanitary plumbing, sanitary drainage, and floor waste gully branches are recorded separately so the report shows exactly what was tested and when.
Reticulated water static pressure. Reticulated water static pressure tested below 500 kPa, other than a fire service, has its own row. There is also an "other" line for details that do not fit the listed types.
The habit that keeps this section clean is dating each row on the day it happened. If different parts of the work were tested on different days, the form is built to show that. Filling every date from one guessed day, or leaving a tested installation blank because the date felt obvious, is exactly what turns a report into a query later.
The three party blocks
Form 5 carries up to three party blocks, and they are easy to blur when you are moving quickly between jobs.
The responsible person is the licensed person who performs or supervises the performance of the work. Their block takes the name, occupational licence number, contractor licence number where it applies, phone, email, and postal address. The contractor licence block is used when the responsible person is not the contractor, so the contractor company name, licence number, and contact details go there instead of being crammed into the responsible person block.
The competent person is whoever carried out the testing or commissioning, with their name, licence numbers, and contact details. When the same plumber is both responsible and competent, the details repeat, and that is fine, but the blocks still need to be filled so anyone reading the report can see who did what. Mixing the responsible person and competent person details is one of the more common reasons a report gets a follow up call.
Declaration and keeping your copy
The declaration is the signature and the declaration date. It is the competent person putting their name to the test result, so it should only go on once the site, permit, testing, and party details are in and correct. Signing first and filling the rest later is how blank rows and wrong dates survive to the version that leaves site.
On record keeping, the sensible move is to keep your own copy of the completed Form 5 with the job file when you hand it up the chain. The regulation sets who receives the report and by when. It does not make your copy optional in practice, because if a question comes back weeks later, the report you signed is the record you rely on. Store it against the job so it is not a loose PDF in someone's phone.
How Tradie Forms helps with Form 5
Tradie Forms turns the Form 5 into sections you work through one at a time that follow the order of the official report. You confirm the description of land, permit, and action notice, date each tested installation type in its own row, and complete the responsible person, contractor, and competent person blocks without mixing them up.
Your business and licence details are saved and reused, so the responsible person, contractor, and competent person fields are not retyped on every job. The form flags missing fields before you download, which is what catches a blank test date or an empty licence number before the responsible person or council does. You preview the entries mapped onto the official Form 5 PDF layout, then download the finished report to hand to the responsible person and keep with the job.
Tradie Forms maps your entries onto the official layout. The licensed competent person still checks the work, the test dates, and the downloaded PDF before it goes up the chain.
Start the Queensland Form 5 testing or commissioning report on site, or browse more QLD plumbing forms for the rest of your Queensland paperwork. See the plumbing forms hub for the rest of the Australian set.
Official references
Check the Business Queensland plumbing and drainage forms and templates page for the current Form 5, the Form 5 testing or commissioning report (PDF) for the official layout, the Business Queensland inspection certificates guidance for how testing reports sit with the plumbing inspection trail, and the Plumbing and Drainage Regulation 2019 for section 77 and the reporting timeframes. Local government processes vary, so confirm the lodgement method and any agreed timeframe with the relevant council before you rely on it.
