Concreting licence in Australia: per-state rules for residential work

What it is

A concreting licence is a state-issued permission to contract for concrete work above a dollar threshold on residential sites. There is no single national concreting licence and the scope of what each state calls "concreting" varies. NSW and Queensland operate dedicated concreting trade licences. Victoria treats concreting as falling inside broader Domestic Builder classes rather than a standalone trade. WA does not licence concreting as a trade at all. SA folds concreting into the Building Work Contractor framework.

For a TradeLens audit the question is rarely "is concreting licensed" in the abstract. It is "is this specific concrete job, at this value, in this state, captured by a licence the contractor actually holds".

Who needs a concreting licence by state

NSW

NSW Fair Trading issues a General Concreting licence under the Home Building Act 1989. The licence is mandatory for any residential building or trade work that includes concreting, valued at more than $5,000 in labour and materials including GST. The scope covers formwork, reinforcement fixing and concrete placement for dwellings, garages, outbuildings, pools and similar structures. Concreting for a public road or commercial slab outside a residential context falls under different rules.

To get a NSW General Concreting licence the applicant needs a Certificate III in Concreting or equivalent qualification plus at least two years of relevant industry experience. Sole traders apply for both the contractor licence and a qualified supervisor certificate at the same time.

Queensland

QBCC issues a Concreting trade contractor licence. The scope includes installing formwork, fixing reinforcement and placing and finishing concrete. A QBCC licence is required for any building work valued over $3,300 in Queensland and concreting is explicitly named on the list of trades that need a contractor licence to operate independently. Sub-trade exemptions apply where the concreter works under a head licensee whose licence covers the concreting scope. Owner-builders are exempt up to $11,000.

Victoria

Victoria does not issue a standalone concreting licence. Concreting work for a domestic build falls inside the Domestic Builder Limited or Domestic Builder Unlimited classes registered through the Building and Plumbing Commission. A registered Domestic Builder can manage or arrange concreting as part of a project. A sole concreter who never contracts directly with a homeowner and only ever subcontracts to a registered Domestic Builder generally does not need their own registration. The moment they take on a direct domestic contract over $10,000 or a job needing a building permit they fall inside the registration requirement.

Western Australia

WA does not have a dedicated concreting licence. A concreter who contracts directly for building work valued over $20,000 must register as a Building Services Contractor through the Building and Energy division of DMIRS in an appropriate class. Below the threshold and as a paid employee of a registered builder, no licence is needed. WA's lighter touch regulation makes it easier to operate but does not remove the contractor's liability under the Building Services (Complaint Resolution and Administration) Act 2011 (WA) for defective work.

South Australia

SA treats concreting as "specified building work" under Consumer and Business Services. A Building Work Contractor's Licence is required for concreting work over $12,000. The applicant must hold a Certificate III in Concreting or equivalent, complete the prescribed business units, hold a current National Police Certificate, demonstrate at least $10,000 in net assets and carry public liability insurance of at least $1 million. Most sole concreters apply for the contractor licence together with a Building Work Supervisor registration.

Licensed versus unlicensed work

A trade can be "unlicensed" in one of two ways and the distinction matters for risk.

The first is jurisdictional. WA does not licence concreting as a trade, so a WA concreter operating wholly inside WA on jobs under the registration threshold is not unlicensed in any wrongful sense. They are simply outside the licensing regime.

The second is structural. A NSW or QLD concreter taking jobs over the state threshold without the relevant licence is operating illegally. Their contracts may be unenforceable for the value of unlicensed work, statutory warranty insurance will not respond, and any defect claim ratchets to the regulator.

Penalties for unlicensed concreting

In NSW the maximum penalty under the Home Building Act 1989 for unlicensed residential trade work is $22,000 for an individual and $110,000 for a corporation. Disgorgement of fees for unlicensed work is also available to the consumer. In Queensland the QBCC issues infringement notices and prosecutes for unlicensed contracting with escalating penalties for repeat offences. In Victoria the BPC can refuse, suspend or cancel registration and issue infringement notices.

TradeLens triggers

A TradeLens audit flags concreting risk on a residential job when:

• The slab subcontract value exceeds the state threshold and no licence number is recorded for the concreter.
• The concreter holds a NSW General Concreting licence but the job is across the QLD border without a QBCC mutual recognition lodgement.
• The concreter is engaged on an ABN for a value that would require contractor licensing in the state but is treated as a wages employee for tax purposes, creating a sham contracting overlay on the licensing issue.
• A Victorian concreter is contracting directly with a homeowner above $10,000 with no Domestic Builder registration on file.

The fix is usually a licence lookup against the state regulator before the subcontract is signed. The cost of fixing it after the slab is poured is rectification orders, refunded fees and uninsurable defects on the structural element of the build.