Selecting your tradie
What does a tradesperson do?
The term "tradesperson" includes all licensed concreters bricklayers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, roof tilers, plasterers, tilers, painters, fencers and gasfitters.
Make sure your tradesperson has a license
The golden rule is to make sure all builders and tradespeople have a valid licence. You can look up the licence details of any contractor on Department of Fair Trading Licence Check or call the Department on 133 220. Anyone doing residential work over $1,000 in value (or specialist work) must have a licence.
By law, all builders and tradespeople must display their licence number on any advertisement for their services. Specialist tradespeople who carry out any of the following must be licensed regardless of the cost of the work: electrical wiring plumbing, draining and gasfitting work air conditioning and refrigeration work (except plug-in appliances).
When looking for a tradesperson or builder, you may like to seek recommendations from people you know or those in the industry.
Roles of tradespeople on a job
If you want your gutters replaced, your plumbing fixed or your floors sanded, you need a tradesperson. If you want to add another bedroom or build a new home, you need a builder to organise the right tradespeople to do the work.
A builder's role
- manage and coordinate home building or renovation projects
- manage the purchase and delivery of materials
- coordinate the work of tradespeople such as plumbers, painters and carpenters involved in the project
A supervisor's role
A supervisor is an individual who is responsible for supervising the work under a building contract on behalf of a contracting company or partnership. They may hold either a qualified supervisors certificate (showing they are qualified to supervise but not enter into contracts) or a contractor licence.
Where an architect or other person (not being the building contractor) has been contracted separately to supervise the work of the builder, the roles and responsibilities of that person should be clearly defined in an appropriate contract separate from the building contract. This avoids confusion about what someone is paid to do.
Every person working on a residential building work (RBW) project for the property owner should itemise separately their responsibilities in writing, in case of future dispute about who was the principal person responsible (builder) for the whole project.
Plumbers and drainers
In accordance with the Australian Building Code and Plumbing Code of Australia, all plumbing and gas work requires the following forms to be submitted by plumbers, drainers and gas fitters:
- Notice of Work - submitted to us at council at least 2 business days before the work concerned is to be carried out
- Certificate of Compliance (submitted to us at council and to the person the work is being carried out for - on completion of the final inspection)
- Sewer Service Diagram (submitted to us at council and the owner of the land or the owner's agent)
A copy of the required forms can be downloaded below: Combined Notice of Work and Certificate of Compliance form for Plumbing & Drainage (Please note, this form will autofill any details you type into the first page onto the proceeding pages, ie address and name details) Gas Supply Certificate of Compliance form Sewerage Diagram Template Home Building Compensation Cover (Insurance)
Under legislation, both Licensed Builders and Owner Builders are required to take out domestic warranty insurance. Builders Home Warranty Insurance is required by law for all residential work over $12,000 (other than developments over three storeys) to protect homeowners from non-completion or defective workmanship should their builder disappear, become insolvent or die. Cover extends for six years from completion date.
Project homes
If you choose a design on display at an exhibition home, you will probably use that builder. Unless you have otherwise agreed, your new home must by law, be built to the same standard of work and materials used in the exhibition home. Before you sign a contract, find out what the standard inclusions are. You will have to negotiate with the project builder if you want any changes to the design, fixtures and fittings.