Qualified Supervisor Requirements for NSW Building Contractors

What it is

A New South Wales contractor licence held by a company or partnership requires at least one qualified supervisor at all times. The qualified supervisor is the person on the licence responsible for the technical work and for ensuring compliance with the Home Building Act 1989 (NSW) and the Home Building Regulation 2014 (NSW).

Section 25 of the HBA and the regulations govern the qualified supervisor requirement. Losing the supervisor without a replacement effectively suspends the company's operational capacity because the licence cannot be exercised without the qualified supervisor endorsement.

The qualified supervisor role

A qualified supervisor holds a supervisor certificate in the same or a broader work class as the contractor licence. The supervisor certifies that they are personally responsible for the day-to-day technical direction of the work.

Building Commission NSW issues qualified supervisor certificates on similar qualification and experience criteria to contractor licences. The supervisor must have the practical building competencies and pass the character and probity assessment.

Company or partnership contractor licences

Where the contractor licence is held by a company, the company itself is the licensee. But the company cannot personally carry out or supervise the work. The qualified supervisor is the natural person on the licence who does.

Section 25 requires the supervisor to be nominated on the licence and to actually supervise the work. A qualified supervisor listed on the licence but not actually involved in the work is grounds for licence action against the company.

The one supervisor per licence rule

A qualified supervisor can be nominated on more than one contractor licence, but Building Commission NSW guidance limits this to a small number in practice. A supervisor spread too thinly across multiple licences cannot genuinely supervise each project and risks losing the certificate.

The practical rule is that a company should have its own dedicated supervisor. Shared supervisors work only in specific structures (sister companies, group entities) and require clear evidence of actual supervision.

What happens when the supervisor leaves

Where the qualified supervisor leaves the company or ceases to hold the certificate, the contractor licence is at risk. Section 25(2) requires the licensee to notify Building Commission NSW within 7 days of any change to the qualified supervisor.

If no replacement supervisor is nominated, Building Commission NSW can suspend the licence or impose conditions requiring a replacement within a defined period. In practice, the company must have a replacement supervisor nominated before or immediately after the outgoing supervisor's departure.

Sole trader contractor licences

For a sole trader contractor licence, the individual is both the licensee and the supervisor. That simplifies the supervisor question but does not remove it: the sole trader must hold the appropriate supervisor certification for the work class.

Consequences of unsupervised work

Building work carried out by a company or partnership contractor without a nominated qualified supervisor exposes the company to:

• offence proceedings under section 25 of the HBA
• licence conditions, suspension or cancellation by Building Commission NSW
• possible contract enforceability issues under section 10

Owners contracting with a NSW company builder should verify the qualified supervisor's identity and appropriate class through the HBC Check portal before signing.

How NSW compares

NSW's qualified supervisor framework aligns with QLD's Nominated Supervisor requirement under Schedule 1A of the QBCC Act 1991 and with WA's Nominated Supervisor under the Building Services (Registration) Act 2011. VIC uses a comparable framework under the Building Act 1993 (Vic) domestic builder (manager) class.

The distinctive NSW feature is the section 25(2) 7-day notification requirement for supervisor changes, which is shorter than most states.