As at 10 October 2026, the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) says a QBCC licence is required of individuals (sole traders, partners and trustees) and of companies that carry out, or contract for, building work valued over $3,300. Below that figure the licence still applies to a listed set of trades, which need it at any value.
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The QBCC is the place to check a particular job. Its page on when a licence is needed was last reviewed on 11 August 2021, and it notes that other circumstances can remove the need for a licence.
Repair is in the definition
Schedule 2 of the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991 defines building work widely. Among its paragraphs are the erection or construction of a building, its “renovation, alteration, extension, improvement or repair”, and “the provision of lighting, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, water supply, sewerage or drainage in connection with a building”. Site work related to any of these, including retaining structures, is in as well.
The definition is then narrowed by regulation. The QBCC points to 53 exemptions in Schedule 1 of its Regulation that take work out of the definition of building work, and to situation-specific exemptions in Schedule 1A of the Act, including ones for owner-builders and consumers.
Work that needs a licence at any value
The QBCC lists the work that needs its licence whatever the job is worth:
- drainage, and plumbing and drainage
- gas fitting
- chemical termite management
- fire protection
- site classification
- inspections of completed residential buildings
- building design work, whether low rise, medium rise or open
- mechanical services.
Hydraulic services design has its own, lower line: a licence is needed where it is valued over $1,100. Electrical work sits with a different regulator: the QBCC says an electrician does not need a QBCC licence to carry out electrical work, but cannot carry out building work without one, and sends electrical questions to the Electrical Safety Office.
Who may work without a QBCC licence
The QBCC lists the people who do not need its licence when carrying out building work. Five of them touch repairs and maintenance on a home.
| Who | Conditions set by the QBCC |
|---|---|
| A handyman | The value is no more than $3,300, the work is not electrical or plumbing work, and it does not need an occupational licence. |
| An owner working on their own property | The work is valued at no more than $11,000, or the owner holds an owner-builder permit for it. |
| An insulation installer | Installing home insulation in Queensland does not need a licence. |
| An employee of a licensed contractor | In most cases no licence is needed, though an employee who supervises the work, or answers for its standard, needs one. |
| An unlicensed partner of a licensee | The licensed partner holds the right licence for the work, and the unlicensed partner may not offer to tender for or contract for building work. |
Offering work counts, not only doing it
Section 42 of the Act says that “unless exempt under schedule 1A, a person must not carry out, or undertake to carry out, building work” without a contractor’s licence of the appropriate class. The Act’s dictionary gives “undertake to carry out” three meanings: entering into a contract to do the work, submitting a tender for it, or making an offer to do it. Someone who carries out work in breach of section 42 is not entitled to payment or other consideration for it, subject to an exception in subsection (4).
Section 53C deals with advertising. A person without a contractor’s licence must not publish an advertisement that they are available to carry out building work unless it complies with the section, and its main requirement is short:
“The advertisement must state the value of the work the person is entitled to carry out without a licence.”
Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991, section 53C(2)
For this section, building work includes work of any value, even where a regulation leaves work below a stated value out of the definition. So an advertisement for small jobs is still caught.
Subcontractors on a builder’s job
- $3,300 or moreA subcontractor engaged by a builder needs the appropriate QBCC licence for building work valued at $3,300 or more. Apprentices, trainees and labourers are not included.
- Any valuePlumbing, drainage, gas fitting and fire protection work need a QBCC licence regardless of value.
The QBCC adds that the builder is responsible for making sure its subcontractors meet licensing and quality standards. The subcontractor figure is worded “$3,300 or more”, while the line for individuals and companies is “over $3,300”; each is given here in the QBCC’s own words.