Builder Registration Requirements in Tasmania

What it is

Tasmania does not run a separate builder accreditation register. Building practitioners are licensed as building services providers under the Occupational Licensing Act 2005 (Tas), and the regulator is Consumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS), a division of the Department of Justice.

The detail sits in one document. The Occupational Licensing (Building Services Work) Determination is made by the Administrator of Occupational Licensing and commenced on 1 January 2022. It carries every licensing requirement for designers, builders, building surveyors and council permit authorities: the minimum qualifications and experience for new applicants outside mutual recognition, and the continuing obligations on existing licensees for insurance, continuing professional development and codes of practice. It also covers licensing organisations and granting owner builder permits.

The Building Act 2016 (Tas) sits alongside it and governs the work itself.

The licence classes

The licensed occupations that matter on a residential job are builder, building surveyor, building services designer, building designer and engineer. Demolisher and fire protection services are separate licences again.

The builder licence is divided into sub-classes that set the scope of work the licensee may carry out. General construction runs Domestic, Low Rise, Medium Rise and Open. Domestic covers standard residential building work. Low Rise adds light commercial work at the same qualification and experience level. Medium Rise and Open extend upward from there. A licensee who takes on work above their sub-class is working unlicensed for that work.

Qualifications, experience and insurance

Every class runs on a minimum qualification plus a minimum period of supervised experience, and at least half of that experience must be gained after the qualification is awarded. That second half of the rule is the one applicants misread.

• Builder: the minimum qualification plus supervised experience for the sub-class sought
• Building surveyor: the minimum qualification plus three years of supervised experience
• Building services designer: advanced diploma plus three years for a restricted licence, diploma plus two years for a limited licence, certificate IV plus two years for a domestic licence
• Engineer: the relevant degree plus the experience requirement, or listing on the National Engineers Register, or recognition by Engineers Australia as a Chartered Professional Engineer

Insurance attaches to the licence, not to the job. A builder licence requires $5 million of public liability insurance, as do the fire protection services and demolisher licences. Builders also have to produce evidence of contract works insurance, on a new application and on renewal. A certificate of currency is required and a tax invoice is not accepted.

CPD and renewal

Licensees have to accumulate continuing professional development points and confirm they have met the CPD requirement as part of renewal. The minimum points are set by licence type in the Determination and must be completed inside the licence period, whether the licensee works full time, part time or from interstate.

Low risk, notifiable and permit work

The Building Act 2016 takes a risk-based approach and sorts building work into three categories.

• Low risk work needs no formal approval or permit. It may require the owner to lodge a notice of low risk work with the council, and it generally still has to be carried out by a licensed builder.
• Notifiable work is the medium risk category. It requires licensed practitioners such as a designer, an engineer and a builder. It also requires a Certificate of Likely Compliance from a building surveyor before work starts.
• Permit work is the highest risk category. It requires a Certificate of Likely Compliance from a building surveyor and a building or demolition permit from the council as permit authority.

The category sets the approvals, not the licensing. Low risk does not mean an unlicensed person can build it.

Penalties, and what Tasmania does not have

Section 22A of the Occupational Licensing Act 2005 makes it an offence to manage, carry out, or contract to manage or carry out, any building services work without holding a building services licence of the occupation and class relevant to that work. Penalties are set in penalty units, at different levels for individuals and bodies corporate.

The last point matters for anyone comparing Tasmania to the mainland. Tasmania has no compulsory home warranty or builders warranty insurance scheme. A Tasmanian homeowner relies on the statutory warranties in the Residential Building Work Contracts and Dispute Resolution Act 2016, which support proceedings for six years from practical completion, on the builder's solvency, and on the dispute pathway through CBOS. No last resort insurer stands behind a Tasmanian builder who collapses.