New South Wales builder check
Check a builder in New South Wales before you sign.
See what the public registers hold for a NSW builder in about 60 seconds, then decide whether to sign, dig deeper, or walk away.
Building work in New South Wales is state law. This page explains how a NSW builder is licensed, where their record lives, when home building compensation cover is required, and what our free check reads for you against the public registers.
In short, as at 17 Jul 2026
In New South Wales, residential building work over $5,000 must be done by a licensed builder, and the licence sits on a public register anyone can search through Verify.Licence. Home building compensation cover is required before the builder takes a deposit on work over $20,000. You can check the company, licence numbers and external administration signals for a NSW builder for free before you sign.
How do you check a builder is licensed in New South Wales?
To check a builder in New South Wales, search the licence on Verify.Licence, the NSW Government register, by name, business name or licence number. It returns the licence held, the class of work it authorises, its status as at the day you look, and any conditions recorded against it. Residential building work valued at more than $5,000 in labour and materials must be done under a licence, so an unlicensed name on a quote is the first thing to reconcile.
New South Wales moved its building regulation into a dedicated regulator, Building Commission NSW, with functions transferred from NSW Fair Trading from 1 December 2023. Consumer complaints still run through Fair Trading channels, but the register you search for a licence is Verify.Licence, and it is free and public. You do not need the builder's permission to look.
The single most useful thing the register shows you is the name a licence is actually held under. A licence held by one entity does not cover work you contract through a different trading name or a related company. Match the exact name and licence on the register to the name that will sit on your building contract and take your deposit.
Do you need builders insurance in NSW, and who pays for it?
In New South Wales, the builder must take out Home Building Compensation (HBC) cover, formerly called Home Warranty Insurance, for residential building work valued at more than $20,000, and must give you the certificate of insurance before starting work or taking any money, including the deposit. The cover is administered by icare through the Home Building Compensation Fund and is paid for by the builder, not by you directly.
HBC is last-resort cover. It responds where the builder cannot finish or fix the work because they have died, disappeared, become insolvent, or had their licence suspended for failing to comply with a compensation order. It runs for six years for major, structural defects and two years for other defects, measured from completion of the work.
This is why the certificate matters before the deposit leaves your account. If a builder asks for a deposit on a job over $20,000 without giving you a certificate of home building compensation cover, that is a gap you can close before you sign, not after. You can confirm a certificate exists and then reconcile the name on it against the licensed entity you are actually contracting with.
What do NSW contract and deposit rules require?
A written contract is required in New South Wales for residential building work where the price is more than $5,000, and the maximum deposit a builder can ask for is 10% of the contract price. There are two contract tiers: a small-jobs contract for work over $5,000 up to $20,000, and a full contract for work over $20,000.
The deposit cap is a consumer protection, not a guideline. A request for 20% or 30% up front on a standard home build is outside the NSW rules and is worth pausing on. The contract should also name the licensed entity, carry the licence number, and match the certificate of home building compensation cover where the work is over $20,000.
Where do building disputes go in New South Wales?
In New South Wales, a home building dispute is generally lodged first with NSW Fair Trading, which investigates and attempts to resolve it, and then, if it is not resolved, with the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) in its Consumer and Commercial Division. Evidence of the Fair Trading step usually has to accompany an NCAT application.
Knowing the path in advance changes how you read a builder before you sign. A builder with matters already on record, or one whose licensed entity differs from the one on the quote, is harder to pursue later. The point of checking first is to make the decision while you still hold the deposit, not once it has moved.
What makes checking a NSW builder different?
New South Wales has the strongest pre-occupation building regulation in the country, built around Building Commission NSW and two Acts most states do not have. This matters because it means there is more public record to read for a NSW builder, especially on apartment and multi-unit work.
The Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 requires design, building and engineering practitioners working on class 2 and certain class 3 and 9c buildings, broadly apartments and multi-unit housing, to be registered, and imposes a statutory duty of care owed to owners. The Residential Apartment Buildings (Compliance and Enforcement Powers) Act 2020 gives the Building Commissioner power to issue building work rectification orders, stop-work orders, and to prevent an occupation certificate being issued where serious defects are found. For a buyer, these regimes mean the register and enforcement footprint for NSW apartment builders runs deeper than a licence line alone.
Checking their insurance in New South Wales
In New South Wales you can check a builder's insurance yourself, by name. The icare Home Building Compensation (HBC) Check lets anyone search by builder name, licence number, certificate number or address, and it lists the compensation certificates on record, the work each one covers, the contractor named on it, and any claims paid. HBC cover must be in place before a builder takes any money on residential work over $20,000.
HBC is last-resort cover, which is narrower than most people expect. It does not resolve a dispute over quality, price or delay while the builder is still trading and able to fix the work. It responds only where the builder cannot complete or rectify the work because they have died, disappeared, become insolvent, or had their licence suspended for failing to comply with a money order. Cover runs up to $340,000, and the defect periods are six years for major defects and two years for other defects, measured from completion.
Because the register is searchable by name, the practical step is to search the builder on the HBC Check before you pay a deposit, then match the contractor and licence on the certificate to the exact entity that will sign your contract. A certificate held by a related company, or one issued for a different project, does not cover the contract in front of you. If no certificate is on record for work over $20,000, that is a gap to close before any money moves, not after.
Where to verify: icare HBC Check (NSW Home Building Compensation) Search by builder name, licence number, certificate number or address to see the certificates on record and any claims paid.
What does a Property Assurance check cover in New South Wales?
A free Property Assurance check reads the public registers for the builder you name and reports what they hold, sourced and dated. Company identity and external administration signals come from national records, so they are part of the instant check everywhere. Whether the NSW builder licence itself is read in the instant pass or checked by an analyst depends on the state.
| Check | How it is run | What it reads |
|---|---|---|
| Company and business identity | Instant check | The instant check matches the trading name to the company and ABN records held on the national ASIC company register and the Australian Business Register. |
| External administration signals | Instant check | The instant check reports the count of external administration or strike-off signals on record in the national ASIC company dataset. Counts only, sourced and dated. |
| NSW builder licence on the register | Instant check | The instant check reads the Verify.Licence NSW register register and reports the licence numbers on record for the matched entity, with the date checked. |
The full human-reviewed report adds the checks the instant pass does not cover: licence status, class and conditions, director and related-company history, disputes and the insurance position, each sourced and dated.
What are the builder licence classes in New South Wales?
New South Wales issues building licences in classes, and the class sets what work the holder is authorised to do. Matching the class to the work in your quote is part of reading a licence properly, not just confirming one exists.
| Licence or registration | What it authorises |
|---|---|
| Contractor licence | Authorises the holder to contract for, advertise and carry out the residential building or trade work described on the licence. Available for general building work or specific trades. |
| Qualified supervisor certificate | Authorises the holder to do and supervise the work described, but not to contract for or advertise it. A company or partnership contractor licence must nominate a qualified supervisor. |
| Tradesperson certificate | Authorises a person to do the trade work described under supervision, without contracting for the work in their own right. |
What does our own NSW data hold?
Our register index already holds 3,701 New South Wales building companies and contractors, published as individual pages. Of those, 3,701 carry a building licence number on a state register, and 514 carry at least one external administration signal in the national ASIC company dataset. These are aggregate counts only, sourced and dated, and we never make an adverse claim about a named business here.
You can browse every New South Wales builder page from the New South Wales builder register hub, or run a free check on the exact builder you are considering.
What is worth checking before you sign in New South Wales?
Before you sign a building contract or pay a deposit in New South Wales, a short list of checks reconciles the sales material with the public record. None of these characterise a builder. They confirm the paperwork matches the entity.
- The name on the licence matches the company and ABN that will sign your contract and take the deposit.
- For work over $20,000, a certificate of Home Building Compensation cover exists before any deposit is requested.
- The deposit asked for is within the 10% cap set for NSW residential building work.
- The licence class on the register actually authorises the work you are quoting, not just building work in general.
- The trading name in the sales material resolves to a real, current licensed entity, not a related name with no licence of its own.
Questions about checking a builder in New South Wales
- How do I check if a builder is licensed in NSW?
- Search Verify.Licence, the NSW Government register, by name, business name or licence number. It returns the licence held, the class of work it authorises, its status as at the date you check, and any conditions. Our free check also matches the trading name to the company and ABN records and reports the licence numbers on record.
- Do you need builders insurance in NSW?
- Yes. For residential building work valued at more than $20,000, the builder must take out Home Building Compensation cover, administered by icare, and give you the certificate before starting work or taking any money, including the deposit. It is last-resort cover for where the builder dies, disappears, becomes insolvent, or loses their licence for failing to comply with a compensation order.
- How much deposit can a NSW builder ask for?
- For residential building work in New South Wales the maximum deposit is 10% of the contract price. A written contract is required where the work is priced over $5,000.
- Is the NSW builder licence register free to search?
- Yes. Verify.Licence is public and free, and you do not need the builder's permission to search it. It shows the licence as at the date you look, which is why the date you checked matters.
- Who regulates builders in New South Wales?
- Building Commission NSW regulates the NSW building industry, with functions transferred from NSW Fair Trading from 1 December 2023. Home building disputes are generally lodged first with NSW Fair Trading and then, if unresolved, with the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).
- What does a free NSW builder check show me?
- Our instant check matches the builder name to the company and ABN on the ASIC and Australian Business Register records, reads the NSW licence register for the licence numbers on record, and reports the count of any external administration signals in the ASIC dataset. Every fact is sourced and dated, and we never rate or score anyone.
- What does the NSW licence register not show?
- The register records the licence as it stands, not the quality of a builder's work, and it does not by itself connect the licence to the company taking your deposit, the directors behind it, or matters on other registers. That connective work is what the full report and an analyst check add.
- How do I check a builder's insurance in NSW?
- Search the builder on the icare Home Building Compensation (HBC) Check at verify.licence.nsw.gov.au. It searches by builder name, licence number, certificate number or address, and shows the certificates on record, the work covered and any claims paid. HBC cover is required before a builder takes any money on residential work over $20,000, so ask for the certificate before you pay a deposit and match the name on it to the entity signing your contract.
14,722 Australian companies entered external administration in the 2024 to 2025 financial year, the highest annual number on record.Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Corporate Insolvency Update (issue 37)
Reads the public registers directly. Sources named and dated.
Sources
The regulatory facts on this page were read from primary government sources and last reviewed on 17 Jul 2026. Registers and rules change, so confirm any figure on the source before you rely on it.
- Verify.Licence - NSW Government licence register (as at 16 Jul 2026)
- NSW Government - checking your contractor or tradesperson is qualified (as at 16 Jul 2026)
- Building Commission NSW (as at 16 Jul 2026)
- icare - Home Building Compensation Fund (do I need HBCF) (as at 16 Jul 2026)
- NSW Government - contracts for residential building work (as at 16 Jul 2026)
- NCAT - home building disputes (as at 16 Jul 2026)
- Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (NSW) (as at 16 Jul 2026)
- Residential Apartment Buildings (Compliance and Enforcement Powers) Act 2020 (NSW) (as at 16 Jul 2026)
- icare - Home Building Compensation Check (verify a certificate) (as at 17 Jul 2026)
Property Assurance is an independent Australian information service. It is not a government body, insurer or credit provider, and it does not rate, rank or score any builder. It reports what the public registers hold, with the source and the date, so you can draw your own conclusion before you sign.