Tapware landed in Melbourne

The tapware we priced

A house set: 4 basin mixers, 1 pull-out kitchen mixer, 2 shower sets with concealed mixers, 1 laundry tap, floor wastes. Lead Free WaterMark and WELS.

Landed in Melbourne, line by line

Every line from the factory gate to your site. Low, middle and high use the low, middle and high of every published rate at once. Estimate: no delivered Elje job sits behind this figure yet.

Shipped with a kitchen

On its own, a house set of tapware pays the full set of fixed charges and Elje's minimum fees. Added to a kitchen in the same shipment it adds about $2,342 to the kitchen's landed price ($1,850 to $3,171), because the port, broker, delivery and Project Plan are already paid. Estimate.

Against Melbourne prices

Supply only is the fair comparison with a landed price; installed prices include labour, which you pay either way.

Tapware is priced nationally online. Reece shows prices only after a postcode is entered, so it may vary by region; not captured.

The per-mixer estimate takes the factory price of a Lead Free WaterMark basin mixer from a 2026 order and adds its share of freight, inspection, Assured and GST when it rides with a kitchen. Estimate.

Is it worth it?

Only in the same shipment as something bigger. On its own, a house set of tapware lands at several times its factory price. With a kitchen, each mixer costs a fraction of an Australian brand at the same spec, if it holds Lead Free WaterMark and WELS. Estimate.

The Melbourne market

Melbourne sits about 5 percent above Brisbane on the cost index, level with Perth. Rider Levett Bucknall forecasts a flat 4 percent a year rise in building costs, the gentlest of the capitals. Stone fabricators charge 15 to 20 percent more per metre than in Brisbane or Adelaide, and Melbourne's big tile houses do not publish online prices.

How it gets to Melbourne

Foshan factory to Nansha, Shekou or Yantian, a direct service to the Port of Melbourne, then a short run to the suburbs.

Australia's busiest container port, with terminals at Swanson Dock (DP World, Patrick) and Webb Dock (VICT), a few kilometres from the city.

Outer suburbs and growth corridors: container at the kerb. Inner suburbs: depot unpack and a small truck is usually easier.

What moves the number

• Never on its own. A tapware set weighs almost nothing, so on its own it pays the full set of port, broker and delivery charges for a few hundred dollars of freight.
• Finish. Chrome is cheapest. Brushed nickel, brass and gunmetal PVD finishes cost more at the factory, but the gap is a fraction of the gap here.
• Internals. Ask which cartridge and aerator brands are inside. A good factory names them.
• Certificates. A cheaper tap without WaterMark is not cheaper. It cannot be installed.

What it has to comply with

• Every mixer, shower set and waste needs a current WaterMark certificate in the maker's name, checked on the WaterMark register before the deposit.
• Taps and showers need WELS registration and the label before they are supplied in Australia.
• Taps: tariff 8481.80.90, general duty 5 percent, Free from China with a certificate of origin.

Notes for Melbourne

Cool and changeable. Kitchens and bathrooms run cooler and drier than in Queensland, so standard moisture-resistant board in wet rooms is normal.

• Melbourne gets the most sailings from South China of any Australian port, so there is more choice of vessel and shared container.
• Inner-city Victorian and Edwardian houses have narrow side lanes and laneway access. Plan the delivery before the container is booked.
• Plumbing and building practitioners are registered with the Victorian building regulator. Imported certified products are installed the same way as local ones.

Questions