Check a tradie's licence yourself

Carpentry counts as building work, so a carpenter shows up on the builders' register for your state. Whether they need a licence depends on the state and the price of the job.

• Queensland, building work over $3,300, and QBCC has a carpentry class.
• New South Wales, residential work over $5,000 in labour and materials, GST included.
• Victoria, a registered builder for domestic work over $10,000.
• Western Australia, work that needs a building permit and is worth $20,000 or more.
• Northern Territory, residential work over $25,000.
• South Australia, building work needs a licence at any price.
• Tasmania, it goes by the type of work, not the price.
• ACT, carpenters don't need a licence yet.

Over the line, check the class on the licence covers carpentry. A licence for one trade doesn't cover another.

From our state guides, each read at the regulator in September 2026. Queensland · NSW · Victoria · WA · NT · SA · Tasmania · ACT

Every state licenses gas fitting at any price. None of them sets a dollar line for it, so the rule is the same however big or small the gas work is.

Gas fitters sit on the same register as plumbers, so the state searches above find them. In Queensland that's the QBCC register, and in Western Australia the online licence search.

From our state guides, read at each regulator in September 2026, NSW · Queensland · WA · Tasmania · ACT

Pest controllers are licensed by the state's health or environment department, not the building regulator.

• New South Wales, search the EPA's public register of pesticide licences. The EPA also says to check they have a photo licence card, the photo matches the person doing the work, and it hasn't expired.
• Victoria, the Department of Health's pest control licence holder register shows every current operator's name and expiry date.
• Queensland, a pest management licence under the Medicines and Poisons Act 2019. Termite treatment also needs a QBCC licence, at any price.
• Western Australia, the business has to be registered with the Department of Health and the technician licensed. Ask for the business registration number, it should be on the van.

Anywhere else, ask to see the licence card and check the name, the expiry and that it covers the treatment you're paying for.

NSW EPA, Engaging a pest management technician (updated 13 November 2024), Victorian Department of Health, Find a licensed pest control operator, Business Queensland, Pest management technicians, HealthyWA, How to choose a pest management business, all read 25 October 2026. QBCC termite management, our Queensland guide.

Scaffolding work with a platform someone could fall more than 4 metres from needs a high risk work licence, in basic, intermediate or advanced. The state's work health and safety regulator issues it, not the building regulator.

• New South Wales, check a high risk work licence by name or licence number. It shows current, expired, suspended and cancelled licences.
• Western Australia, WorkSafe's licences are on the online licence search.
• ACT, high risk work licences are on WorkSafe ACT's public register.

Anywhere else, ask to see the licence and check it with the state's regulator, Safe Work Australia lists them all.

Safe Work Australia, Scaffolding, Service NSW, Check a high risk work licence, WA Government, WorkSafe licensing and registration, WorkSafe ACT, Public register, all read 25 October 2026.

Mowing, planting, mulching and garden care need no licence anywhere. A licence comes in when the landscaping turns into building work, the retaining walls, decks, pergolas, fences and paving.

Queensland is the clearest. QBCC's structural landscaping class covers carports, decking, fences, pergolas, low retaining walls and paving cars don't drive on, and it's needed over $3,300. Everywhere else the same work falls under the builder's rule in the carpenter fold above, so a big deck can need a licence where a garden tidy up never does.

QBCC, Structural landscaping (trade), read 3 October 2026, in our guide to QBCC classes.

Removing more than 10 square metres of bonded asbestos, like fibro sheeting, needs a Class B licence. Any amount of friable asbestos, the kind that crumbles to powder in your hand, needs a Class A. The state's work health and safety regulator issues both.

• New South Wales, the Verify NSW register lists asbestos licence holders with their status, conditions and any prosecutions.
• Queensland, WorkSafe keeps a register for each class.
• Western Australia, the online licence search.
• Tasmania, WorkSafe's find a licensed asbestos removalist.
• ACT, WorkSafe ACT's public register.

Anywhere else, ring the state's regulator. And if a quote is for more than 10 square metres of fibro with no licence number on it, that's the question to ask first.

WorkSafe Queensland, Asbestos and Which businesses are licensed to remove asbestos, WorkSafe Tasmania, Asbestos removal licensing, SafeWork NSW, Check a licence, WorkSafe ACT, Asbestos licensing, all read 25 October 2026.

Alarms, CCTV and access control are licensed as security work, by the police or the state's fair trading office, not the building regulator. In New South Wales an electrician's licence isn't enough on its own, NSW Police say an electrician installing security cameras needs a security licence too.

• New South Wales, a Class 2C licence covers selling, installing and servicing security equipment. Verify a NSW security licence.
• Victoria, look for Security Equipment Installer on Victoria Police's public register.
• Queensland, a security equipment installer licence from the Office of Fair Trading, on its free online register.

Anywhere else, ask for their security licence number and check it with the state's licensing office.

NSW Police, Class 2 licences and the electrician question, Victoria Police, Private security (updated 18 October 2026), Queensland Government, Security technical licence and Check a security licence, all read 25 October 2026.