The Construction Occupations (Licensing) Act 2004 in the ACT

What it is

The Construction Occupations (Licensing) Act 2004 (ACT), A2004-12, is the licensing spine of the Canberra building industry. It creates the Construction Occupations Registrar, says who must hold a licence to provide a construction service, and gives the Registrar power to condition, suspend, cancel and discipline. The Registrar sits inside Access Canberra. Scope of work for each licence class is set by declaration rather than in the Act, so the classes move without the Act being amended.

The effect for a builder is blunt. Provide a construction service without the right licence class and you have committed an offence, and the Registrar can chase you and your directors for a decade after the building is finished.

The licensed construction occupations

The ACT licenses builder (including owner-builder), building surveyor (the ACT name for a private certifier), building assessor, electrician, plumber, drainer, gasfitter, gas appliance worker, works assessor and plumbing plan certifier. Medical gasfitter and medical gas technician licences became mandatory on 11 December 2024. Carpenters, bricklayers, tilers, painters and waterproofers are not licensed in the ACT today, though a reform project is under way to change that.

Builder licence classes

There are five builder licences. The class letter decides what you may legally build.

• Class A, unlimited. Any height, any Building Code of Australia class of building, other than specialist building work.
• Class B, medium rise. Buildings of three storeys or lower, plus basic building work.
• Class C, low rise residential. Buildings of two storeys or lower that are class 1, 2 or 10a, certain attached class 10b structures, plus basic building work.
• Class D. Non-structural basic building work only.
• Owner-builder. Class 1, 2 or 10 work on the licensee's own main home.

Demolition and swimming pool installation are specialist building work under section 9 of the Building Act 2004. There is no standalone demolition or pool licence. Both are endorsements applied to a class A, B, C or D builder licence.

Qualifications and the examination

Eligibility for each class sits in the Construction Occupations (Licensing) (Qualifications) Declaration 2024 (No 3), DI2024-276. Where a class offers several methods you need meet only one, but you must meet every component of it.

Class A, B and C applicants sit a written examination set by the Registrar. The pass mark is 80 per cent, and the paper also carries mandatory questions that have to be answered correctly regardless of the overall mark.

Building surveyors carry more. They need accreditation under the Australian Institute of Building Surveyors scheme, a Registrar assessment and professional indemnity insurance with a minimum limit of $1,000,000 for a single claim and $1,000,000 for all claims. Building assessors need at least $1,000,000 for a single claim.

The nominee rule for companies

A company or partnership that contracts, subcontracts or advertises a construction service in the ACT needs its own licence, and that licence only works if a nominee is attached to it.

The nominee must hold a current ACT licence in the occupation, must be a director or employee of the company (or a partner, in a partnership), must be able to adequately supervise the licensed services, and must agree in writing to the appointment. Resignation needs the Registrar's approval.

Two traps. A licensee must notify the Registrar in writing within one business day after a person becomes or stops being a director or nominee, under regulation 22 of the Construction Occupations (Licensing) Regulation 2004. The two week rule sits in regulation 21 and it only covers general changes to register information, so do not rely on it for a director change. And operating without a nominee is a standing ground for occupational discipline.

Insurance, discipline and rectification orders

Residential building work on buildings of three storeys or below needs residential building work insurance from an authorised insurer or an approved fidelity fund scheme. Part 6 of the Building Act 2004 does not apply where the work costs less than $12,000, the figure prescribed by the Building (General) Regulation 2008. The builder buys the cover before applying for a building commencement notice. From 1 January 2025 the minimum insurance amount is $200,000 and the claim window is 180 days.

Discipline runs on three tracks. Infringement notices cover unlicensed work, pretending to be licensed and allowing an unlicensed person to do licensed work. Demerit points cover the other grounds, sit on the register for three years, and at 15 points in three years the Registrar must serve a notice of suspension, serve a notice of disqualification, or take other action open to the ACAT. Serious matters go to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which can reprimand, order training, suspend, cancel and disqualify.

The sting is the rectification order. The Registrar can order a licensee, a former licensee or a company director to fix building work for up to 10 years after the building is complete, even where the company has been deregistered. Winding up the entity does not close the file.