Residential building work includes constructing, altering, or adding to a residence. It also involves renovating, decorating, repairing, or applying a protective treatment. NSW residential building work that costs more than AUD $5000 (including GST) requires a building licence to proceed. This applies to both labour and materials. 

Do you need guidance on how to get a builder’s licence in NSW? Here’s a full wrap of the important things to consider. 

Requirements in Getting a Construction Licence in NSW 

Licence applicants must meet three criteria:

1. Financial or criminal checks 

NSW Fair Trading requires the submission of personal information related to criminal checks and previous businesses. Additional documents are mandatory for those with a bad financial history, name change, or criminal records. 

2. Adequate experience

An applicant is considered to have adequate experience if they have at least two years of building construction work experience. The majority of that work must have been done within 10 years prior to the date of application. 

The experience of the applicant must be any of the following: 

• 2.1 As an employee – they were hired by a building contractor.
• 2.2 As a subcontractor – they were a holder of an endorsed contractor licence and have contracted this to a building contractor.
• 2.3 As a holder of a qualified supervisor certificate and functioning as a nominated supervisor:
• 2.3.1. The contractor licence must include the category of full general building. There is another supervisor nominated to cover the building category OR 
• 2.3.2. The contractor licence has been subcontracted to a general building contractor.

For all options stated above, all the following must also be satisfied:

• The building contractor must hold a contractor licence for full general building work.
• The applicant must be supervised by a holder of a qualified supervisor certificate or contractor licence. This must be documented on the referee’s statement form. 
• The applicant must be compensated monetarily for the work done. 

3. Qualification

Applicants must meet two qualification criteria:

• Has a certificate IV in Building and Construction – specific units are needed. The full list of units is found on the NSW Fair Trading Website.
• A degree holder of any of the following:
• Construction
• Building
• Construction
• Construction management
• Construction Project Management
• Construction economics 
• Applied Science (Building)
• Quantity

The list excludes an honorary or associate’s degree.