As at 10 October 2026, the NSW Government puts the line at residential building work valued at more than $5,000 in labour and materials, including GST. Specialist work needs a licence regardless of its cost, and the Government says it includes “electrical wiring, plumbing, drainage and gasfitting work and air conditioning and refrigeration work (except plug-in appliances)”.
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The NSW Government’s licence pages direct questions about building and trade licences to Building Commission NSW, the place to check a particular job.
A repair is residential building work
The NSW Government describes residential building work as “any work involved in the doing or the supervision or the co-ordination of the construction of (or alterations, repairs or additions to, or protective treatment of) a dwelling”. The Act’s own definition names repairing alongside renovation, decoration and protective treatment, so a repair is measured against the same line as a renovation.
The dwelling reaches past the house walls. When they are built for use with a dwelling, the Government counts a swimming pool or spa, a garage, a shed, cupboards, a driveway and a fence as part of it, along with other structures the Home Building Regulation 2014 prescribes. The Act also brings in detached decks, porches, verandahs and pergolas, and driveways, paths and other paving. A repair to any of these is a repair to the dwelling.
What the definition adds, and what it leaves out
Clause 2 of Schedule 1 to the Home Building Act 1989 lists work that is always inside the definition and twelve kinds of work outside it; the five nearest home repairs are below. This summary is of the Act as it stood on 18 January 2026; the regulations can declare further work in or out.
Always inside
- Roof plumbing done in connection with a dwelling.
- Specialist work on or for a dwelling.
- Installing fixed equipment that heats or cools water, food or air, ventilates, or filters a pool or spa, and adding to, altering or repairing such an installation.
Left outside (five of twelve)
- Work other than specialist work whose reasonable market cost in labour and materials is no more than the amount the regulations prescribe: the dollar line.
- Internal painting, unless it is only one part of a contract for other residential building work.
- Laying the top layer or wearing surface of a floor without structural change, though floor tiling stays inside unless the regulations say otherwise.
- Demolition.
- Installing or maintaining a lift, escalator, inclinator or garage door that moves along fixed guides.
The Act sets no figure of its own: it leaves the amount to the regulations. The $5,000 used on this page is the figure the NSW Government publishes on its licence pages.
Counting a job against the line
The Government’s measure takes labour and materials together, with GST included. Two examples show how that plays out.
Example one: a deck repair (figures invented for this example)A contractor prices the replacement of rotten deck boards and a damaged step. Every figure includes GST.
| Labour | $3,080 |
| Timber, fixings and oil | $2,035 |
| Labour and materials | $5,115 |
$5,115 is more than $5,000, so on the Government’s measure the job is residential building work that needs a contractor licence. Counted as labour alone, the same job would have looked $1,920 under the line.
Example two: a small electrical repair (figure invented for this example)Replacing a damaged section of wiring costs $400 in all. The dollar line does not apply, because electrical wiring is specialist work and needs a licence whatever it costs.
Doing, contracting and offering
The NSW Government says a contractor licence is needed to “carry out, advertise or contract for” building or trade work valued at more than $5,000, counting labour and materials and including GST. The Act spreads that across three sections.
| The act | Section | What it says, in short |
|---|---|---|
| Contracting | Section 4 | Only a holder of a contractor licence covering the work, or someone acting for one, may contract for specialist work or residential building work. |
| Offering | Section 5 | An unlicensed person or business may not represent that it is prepared to do that work, and no one may represent that another is prepared to do it while knowing the other holds no licence for it. |
| Doing | Section 12 | An individual may do that work only as a contractor licence holder (or a partner or company officer of one), under an owner-builder permit, or as an employee of a licence or permit holder. |
As at 10 October 2026, the Government’s licence page says unlicensed work can bring a fine of $22,000 for an individual or $110,000 for a company under the Act.
One licence, different roles
NSW issues different licence types depending on whether a person contracts for the work, supervises it, does it, or combines those roles. An apprentice or trainee cannot be issued a licence or certificate, and needs a contractor licence once qualified to do or contract for building or trade work.