How to check a NSW builder or contractor licence

To check a NSW builder or tradesperson, use the free Service NSW licence check, which opens Verify NSW. Match the licence holder to your quote or contract, then check the credential type, authorised work, conditions, status and expiry. A licence check and a check of project-specific insurance answer different questions; complete both where cover is required.

When is a NSW building or trade licence required?

Residential building and general trade work requires the appropriate contractor licence when its value is more than $5,000 in labour and materials, including GST. Specialist work has its own licensing or certificate requirements regardless of price and can include residential, commercial and industrial work. Electrical wiring, plumbing, drainage, gasfitting, and air conditioning and refrigeration are among the specialist categories. Check the official categories and scope for the proposed job.

Three steps to check a NSW licence

What to look for in the result

• Holder: match the person, company or partnership that will contract with you.
• Credential: distinguish a contractor licence from a qualified supervisor or tradesperson certificate.
• Work and conditions: check the categories and restrictions against the actual job.
• Status and expiry: review both. Do not infer current authorisation from an expiry date alone.
• Public compliance information: read any published warnings or disciplinary details in their context.

If a record is expired, suspended, cancelled or does not clearly match, confirm the position with Building Commission NSW before proceeding with work requiring a licence. A copied card or saved search result is not a guarantee of future status.

Contractor licences and certificates are different

Standard licences and certificates can have 1, 3 or 5-year terms; provisional certificates have different rules. Always inspect the actual credential. The NSW licence and certificate guidance explains the distinctions.

General building and specialist work

A general building licence relates to residential building work. An overall building contract can include specialist work, but the builder needs the relevant specialist category or must subcontract that work to an appropriately licensed contractor, with the required specialist supervision. Do not assume that a general building entry authorises someone to personally perform every trade. Read the general building scope and the relevant specialist category.

Check Home Building Compensation cover separately

Home Building Compensation (HBC) cover, previously called home warranty insurance, is generally required for qualifying residential work over $20,000 including GST, subject to exemptions. SIRA regulates the scheme. A contractor licence is not evidence that your particular project has cover.

Where cover is required, the contractor must arrange it and provide the homeowner with the certificate before requesting or taking a payment, including a deposit, and before starting work. Match the certificate to the project and contracting business. SIRA’s homeowner guidance and HBC Check pathway explain how to confirm it.

HBC is a last-resort scheme for specified losses when the builder cannot meet its obligations because of death, disappearance, insolvency, or a licence suspension following failure to comply with a court or Tribunal money order in the homeowner’s favour. Policy conditions, exemptions and time limits matter. It is not ordinary insurance for every dispute while a builder is trading. See SIRA’s HBC overview.

Statutory warranties and disputes

Statutory warranties are different from HBC cover. They concern matters such as care and skill, materials and completion of residential building work. NSW guidance describes a 6-year period for major defects and 2 years for other defects, generally measured from completion. Additional timing rules can apply. Review the official contract and warranty guidance rather than using a licence result to decide your entitlement.

An unlicensed or expired record does not, by itself, mean that every consumer remedy is lost. Unlicensed-contractor matters can follow a different route from ordinary Building Commission investigation or mediation. NCAT lists these claims among the exceptions to its prior-investigation requirement. Check the Tribunal’s home building requirements and time limits and seek advice about the particular contract and circumstances.

The Home Building Act 1989 and Home Building Regulation 2014 provide the framework, with Building Commission NSW administering building-licensing and consumer functions. Unlicensed work can have enforcement, contract and insurance consequences. For current rules and dispute pathways, use the Commission’s legislation inventory and complaint-handling guidance.

Using checks in onboarding or procurement

Teams can integrate supported checks through the contractor verification API or review the builder API workflow and integration documentation. Preserve the source, scope and available check evidence. Handle unknown or unavailable results explicitly and provide a manual review path; an automated match is not a guarantee of licensing, insurance or overall compliance.

Official sources reviewed

This review uses the linked Service NSW, Building Commission NSW, SIRA and NCAT guidance. For owner-builder eligibility and sale obligations, see when a permit is needed and working and selling as an owner-builder.