There are around 500,000 technicians and trades workers in NSW, and if you want to join their ranks there are certain steps you’ll need to take to become qualified and to gain the licence you’ll need to practice your chosen trade.
If you’re a practical problem solver, mechanically minded, and the prospect of tackling a variety of jobs in a variety of settings excites you, then a trades career in NSW could be a great fit for you. The first step is gaining your NSW tradie licence. Whether you want to become a licensed builder in NSW, gain your NSW plumber licence, or pursue a more niche trade, read on to find out how to get your NSW tradie licence.
Who needs a tradie licence?
Tradie licences in NSW provide proof that an individual is thoroughly trained and holds the relevant qualification to practice their chosen trade. In NSW if you accept and perform individual residential building jobs where you charge your client more than $1,000 for labour and materials, you’ll need to hold a licence for your chosen trade.
However, certain tradies – including electricians, plumbers/drainers, gasfitters, and air conditioning and refrigeration technicians – are required to be licensed regardless of the cost of the work they’re delivering.
Which NSW trade licence should you apply for?
Trade certificates and licences in NSW are grouped into four general categories:
- General Building Work: Building work only.
- Other Building Work: Prefabricated metal-framed home additions and structures; kitchen, bathroom and laundry renovation; Structural landscaping; and swimming pool building.
- Specialist Work: Air conditioning and refrigeration; disconnection and reconnection of fixed electrical equipment; medical gases; and plumbing, draining and gasfitting.
- Trade Work: Includes specific types of trade work, such as bricklaying, carpentry, fencing, glazing, joinery, metal fabrication, painting, roof plumbing; roof tiling, stonemasonry, wall and floor tiling, and more.
Trade licence requirements in NSW
There are a number of regulatory bodies in NSW that issue and regulate tradie licences. These licensing authorities include:
- NSW Architects Registration Board;
- NSW Fair Trading;
- Security Licensing & Enforcement Directorate (SLED); and
- SafeWork NSW (formerly Workcover Authority of NSW).
The vast majority of trade licences in NSW are issued by NSW Fair Trading, though architects, and those requiring security clearance and asbestos removal licences, are governed by different authorities.
Trades Recognition Australia
Do you already hold all your required trade qualifications in another Australian state or in another country? Well, the good news is that if you want to practice your trade in NSW, thanks to Trades Recognition Australia (TRA) you don’t have to do your trade training all over again.
Trades Recognition Australia is a skills assessment service for people with trade skills gained overseas or in another Australian state or territory that require a skills assessment for the purpose of migrating their qualification to another jurisdiction, such as NSW.
As a tradie operating in NSW, you can help your business to keep on keeping on by protecting it with tradie insurance* (also known as contractor insurance). These types of business insurance* have been created specifically for the risks tradies and contractors face every day. BizCover offers quick and pain-free insurance solutions online. Get a quote for your tradie insurance today or call us on 1300 920 864 for a chat.
