Check a builder in Western Australia before you sign.

How do you check a builder is registered in Western Australia?

To check a builder in Western Australia, search the Building and Energy licence search by name, business name or registration number. It returns the registration held, the category it authorises, its status as at the day you look, and any conditions recorded against it. Registration is required where the work needs a building permit and is valued at $20,000 or more (or $50,000 or more for Class 10a buildings such as garages, sheds and carports), so an unregistered name on a quote for work above those thresholds is the first thing to reconcile.

Building and Energy administers builder regulation in Western Australia, and registration itself is granted by the Building Services Board under the Building Services (Registration) Act 2011. The register you search for a registration is the Building and Energy licence search, and it is free and public. You do not need the builder's permission to look, and confirming that a provider's registration is current before you engage them is the step this page is built around.

The single most useful thing the register shows you is the exact entity a registration is actually held under. A registration held by one company or person does not cover work you contract through a different trading name or a related company. Match the exact name and registration on the register to the name that will sit on your building contract and take your deposit.

What are the builder registration categories in WA?

Western Australia has two main registration types plus an owner-builder path. A building contractor registration is held by the individual, partnership or company that trades as a builder, and it authorises the business to provide building services to the public. A building practitioner registration is for individuals only: it lets a person be the nominated supervisor of a registered building contractor and use the title registered building practitioner, but it does not by itself authorise providing building services to the public.

The distinction matters when you read a quote. A person holding a building practitioner registration is not the same as a business holding a building contractor registration, and it is the contractor registration that authorises the company signing your contract to trade as a builder. Registration is required where the work needs a building permit and is $20,000 or more, or $50,000 or more for Class 10a buildings such as garages, sheds and carports.

Owner-builder approval is a separate path. It is required where the estimated project value exceeds $20,000 and is granted by the Building Services Board. The dwelling must be owner-occupied and generally cannot be sold within seven years of the building permit unless the owner takes out a Home Indemnity Insurance policy, and generally only one owner-builder approval is granted every six years.

Do you need builders or Home Indemnity Insurance in WA, and who pays for it?

In Western Australia, the builder must take out Home Indemnity Insurance for residential building work valued over $20,000, and must give you the certificate of insurance in your name before starting work, before asking for a deposit, and before asking for any other money. The policy is placed with a private insurer and the builder arranges and pays for it, taking it out in your name as the owner.

Home Indemnity Insurance is last-resort cover. It responds only where a relevant circumstance occurs, meaning the builder dies, disappears, becomes insolvent, or ceases to exist. Cover has a payout limit of $200,000, or the contract value if less, including defect claims for up to six years from practical completion; loss of deposit is covered up to $40,000; the insurer may charge a $500 excess; and cover runs for six years from practical completion.

This is why the certificate matters before the deposit leaves your account. If a builder asks for a deposit on residential work over $20,000 without giving you a certificate of Home Indemnity Insurance in your name, 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 registered entity you are actually contracting with.

What do WA contract and deposit rules require?

In Western Australia, the Home Building Contracts Act 1991 regulates fixed-price home building contracts valued between $7,500 and $500,000, and those contracts must be in writing. A home building work contract cannot require a deposit before work starts that exceeds 6.5% of the total cost of the work, and progress payments must be for work performed or materials supplied.

The 6.5% deposit cap is a consumer protection, not a guideline. A request for 10% or 20% up front on a fixed-price home build inside the regulated range is outside the WA rules and is worth pausing on. The contract should also name the registered entity, carry the registration details, and match the certificate of Home Indemnity Insurance where the residential work is over $20,000.

Where do building disputes go in Western Australia?

In Western Australia, Building and Energy, through the Building Commissioner, resolves disputes about regulated building services and home building work contracts. A complainant must first serve a Notice of proposed complaint on the other party at least 14 days before lodging a formal complaint, and generally a complaint cannot be considered more than six years after the work was completed.

The Building Commissioner can issue a home building work contract remedy order for rectification and payment, but cannot order more than $100,000 without the parties' consent, and can make an interim building service order to stop work. The State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) reviews certain Building Commissioner decisions, and applications for review must be made within 28 days. Knowing the path in advance changes how you read a builder before you sign: 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 WA builder different?

Western Australia ties two protections to the same $20,000 threshold: the compulsory Home Indemnity Insurance for residential work, and the registration requirement for permit-needing building work, both of which trigger at $20,000 (rising to $50,000 for Class 10a garages, sheds and carports). Reading a WA quote well means checking both at once against the value of the job.

The second WA-specific feature is what Home Indemnity Insurance actually pays on. It responds only on a relevant circumstance, meaning the builder dies, disappears, becomes insolvent or ceases to exist, and it is capped at $200,000 in total and $40,000 for loss of deposit, with a possible $500 excess. The third is enforcement reach: the Building Commissioner can directly order rectification or payment up to $100,000 without going to court or the tribunal, plus interim stop-work orders. For a buyer, these three features mean the registration line, the insurance certificate and the deposit cap all have to line up before the deposit moves.

What does a Property Assurance check cover in Western Australia?

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 WA builder licence itself is read in the instant pass or checked by an analyst depends on the state.

Where a check is marked analyst check, it is not yet part of the instant automated pass. If the builder does not fully match automatically, leave the name with us and an analyst runs the Building and Energy register and the wider checks by hand for the full report. You can also search the register yourself on the Building and Energy licence search.

What are the builder licence classes in Western Australia?

Western Australia 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.

What does our own WA data hold?

Western Australia builder records are not yet in our automated register index, so we do not publish a count here rather than imply coverage we do not hold. When you run a check for a Western Australia builder, our analyst team reads the Building and Energy register and the national company records by hand and reports what they find, sourced and dated.

What is worth checking before you sign in Western Australia?

Before you sign a building contract or pay a deposit in Western Australia, 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 registration matches the company and ABN that will sign your contract and take the deposit.
• For residential work over $20,000, a certificate of Home Indemnity Insurance in your name exists before any deposit is requested.
• The deposit asked for is within the 6.5% cap set for regulated WA home building contracts.
• The registration category actually authorises the work you are quoting: a building contractor registration for the business, not just an individual's practitioner registration.
• The trading name in the sales material resolves to a real, current registered entity, not a related name with no registration of its own.

Questions about checking a builder in Western Australia

How do I check if a builder is registered in WA?

Search the Building and Energy licence search by name, business name or registration number. It returns the registration held, the category 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 registration numbers on record.

Do you need Home Indemnity Insurance in WA?

Yes. For residential building work valued over $20,000, the builder must take out Home Indemnity Insurance in your name and give you the certificate before starting work, before asking for a deposit, and before asking for any other money. It is last-resort cover that responds only where the builder dies, disappears, becomes insolvent, or ceases to exist, capped at $200,000 in total and $40,000 for loss of deposit, with a possible $500 excess.

How much deposit can a WA builder ask for?

For a fixed-price home building contract regulated by the Home Building Contracts Act 1991, a builder cannot require a deposit before work starts that exceeds 6.5% of the total cost of the work. That Act regulates written home building contracts valued between $7,500 and $500,000, and progress payments must be for work performed or materials supplied.

When does a builder need to be registered in WA?

Registration is required where the work needs a building permit and is valued at $20,000 or more, rising to $50,000 or more for Class 10a buildings such as garages, sheds and carports. A building contractor registration authorises a business to provide building services; a building practitioner registration is for individuals to act as the nominated supervisor.

Who regulates builders in Western Australia?

Building and Energy administers builder regulation in Western Australia, and registration is granted by the Building Services Board under the Building Services (Registration) Act 2011. Building disputes are handled by Building and Energy through the Building Commissioner, and certain decisions can be reviewed by the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) within 28 days.

What does a free WA builder check show me?

Our instant check matches the builder name to the company and ABN on the ASIC and Australian Business Register records and reports the count of any external administration signals in the ASIC dataset. The WA registration itself is confirmed by an analyst on request against the Building and Energy licence search. Every fact is sourced and dated, and we never rate or score anyone.

What does the WA registration search not show?

The register records the registration as it stands, not the quality of a builder's work, and it does not by itself connect the registration 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 WA?

Western Australia has no public insurance register searchable by name. Home Indemnity Insurance is taken out in the owner's name before any money changes hands on residential work over $20,000, so ask the builder for the certificate and confirm it with the insurer. QBE is the main insurer and its certificate register confirms a policy by number or property address. Cover is last resort, up to $200,000 for non-completion and defects combined, with defect cover for six years from practical completion.