01-A · Behind the card
What stands behind each kind of licence
The licence check shows the holder’s name, licence numbers, categories and expiry dates, and whether the licence is current. The kind of licence tells you something the record does not spell out: how much training and experience NSW asked for before it was issued, and whose supervision the person works under.
| On the record | What NSW asks for first | On the job |
|---|---|---|
| Individual contractor licence | A Certificate IV in Plumbing and Services (Operations), plus at least two years’ combined industry experience in the work. | May supervise others and sign off their work. |
| Qualified supervisor certificate | The same Certificate IV and two years’ experience as a contractor licence. | May supervise others and sign off their work. |
| Tradesperson certificate | A Certificate III in Plumbing. | Works under the general supervision of a contractor licence or qualified supervisor certificate holder, who must also sign the work off. |
| No licence, including an apprentice | An apprentice or trainee cannot be issued a licence or certificate. | Works under the immediate supervision of a contractor licence or qualified supervisor certificate holder. |
A company or partnership can hold a contractor licence too, and a provisional tradesperson certificate is issued for 3 years and cannot be renewed. Every individual applicant has to submit a National Police Check no older than 4 months.
For a contractor licence or supervisor certificate in draining or gasfitting on its own, NSW accepts a Certificate III (or, for draining, a Certificate II in Drainage) with extra units of competency, again with two years’ experience. The full list is on the government’s licence page.
01-B · The categories
Match the category to the job in front of you
A person needs to be licensed in every category they intend to work in, or to work under the supervision of someone who is. The category names are short, but the definitions behind them answer some everyday questions:
Roof plumbing (gutters and downpipes) is not in the plumbing category at all: the government’s definition of plumbing says it “does not include draining work or roof plumbing.”
01-C · Gas
Gas work has its own certificate, and its own emergency
The NSW Government’s advice is to always use a licensed gasfitter for any repair or renovation involving gas, including relocating or replacing a gas appliance. All gas appliances must be tested, certified and labelled before they can be sold and installed in NSW, and gasfitters may only install certified appliances and products.
When the gas work is finished, the gasfitter must give you a certificate of compliance for network gas, or a certificate of inspection for bottled gas, and it must include the licensee’s name and licence number. That number is one you can put straight into the licence check.
If you smell gas
The NSW Government says to treat any gas leak as a potential lethal risk. Its list of what to do, in full, in its own words and order, with one safety condition added from its gas safety page:
- “Exit the building immediately, call 000 and ask for the NSW Fire and Rescue”.
- “If safe to do so, turn off the gas at your gas meter or cylinder”.
- If it is safe to do so, “turn off all appliances (including electrical) and pilot lights”.
- “Open all doors and windows for ventilation – only if it is safe to do so”.
- “Extinguish all naked flames and cigarettes”.
- “Contact a licensed gasfitter”.
- “Contact your gas supplier, their phone number can be found on your gas bill.”
The added condition comes from the NSW Government’s gas safety page, which puts turning off gas appliances and isolating the power supply under “if you smell gas, and [it is] safe to do so”. The same page says not to use lighters or matches to light gas appliances or to detect a gas leak.
01-D · The paperwork
The name on the licence should be the name on the contract
In the NSW Government’s words, “A licence in the name of an individual does not permit the individual’s company or partnership to make the contract, even if the individual is a director of the company or member of the partnership.” If the company or partnership is contracting, it needs a licence in its own name.
NSW’s contract rules for home building work, which its dispute guide applies to specialist trades as well, apply to jobs over $5,000 including GST. A small job contract (for work worth between $5,000 and $20,000) must carry the contractor licence holder’s name as shown on the licence and the contractor licence number, and a larger contract must also name the licence holder as shown on the licence. So before you sign:
- check that the business named on the quote is the one named on the licence record;
- check that the licence number on the contract is the one the licence check shows;
- be wary of a contractor who suggests you get an owner-builder permit while they organise the work, which the NSW Government calls a possible ploy where someone lacks the right licence or wants to avoid responsibility.
The government also runs an owner-builder permit check, which shows whether a property had an owner-builder permit for residential building work in the last 10 years.
01-E · When it does not check out
Where a licence problem goes
Building Commission NSW runs a free complaint handling service, and it covers the quality of specialist trade work, plumbing and gasfitting included, in residential or commercial buildings. It asks you to try to resolve the matter with the contractor first.
Some complaints are sent to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal without the Commission stepping in. One of them is any matter involving an unlicensed contractor, “including a licensed contractor working outside the scope of the licenses they do hold”. That is why the category matters as much as the licence: someone licensed only for water plumbing who repairs a sanitary drain would be doing draining work, a category their licence does not cover.
Doing plumbing, draining or gasfitting work without a licence or certificate is a breach of the Home Building Act 1989. For the steps when work goes wrong, see the NSW Government’s page on resolving building disputes.
The number the NSW Government’s gasfitter page gives for checking a gasfitter’s licence details.