How to check a builder’s licence in SA

How do you check a builder’s licence in SA?

The check is a search of a public register. The Law Handbook records that “The public can search an online register to ensure that a builder has a current licence”, and that it is reached through the Consumer and Business Services Public Register.

The sa.gov.au licence page, read here from an archived copy of 14 December 2025 of a page last updated on 1 July 2024, says a search needs one of two things: “the licence number of the service supplier” or “the surname or the trading name of the service supplier”. It adds that the name and licence number “should be on their business card, written quote, website or on other promotional material”.

The register itself could not be read for this note, so what a result displays is not described here. A separate note covers the wider choice of builder, including the questions to ask about quotes, variations and inspections.

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Does a builder need a licence for this work?

For most domestic work, yes, and the licence has to suit the work. The Law Handbook records that “Builders must be licensed to carry out most types of domestic building work”, citing Part 2 of the Building Work Contractors Act 1995 (SA), and that they face significant penalties for work for which they do not have an appropriate licence.

It describes domestic building work as having “a broad definition, including construction or renovation of, and repairs to, a house”, along with certain work prescribed by regulation, naming swimming pools, insulation, paving and fencing as examples.

Consumer and Business Services’ consumer guide of January 2025 tells owners to “Make sure the builder you select holds a current Building Work Contractor’s Licence and their supervisor holds a Supervisor’s Registration to carry out the building work you require”, and says subcontracted tradespersons “are also required to be licensed”.

The word “most” matters, and so does “appropriate”. A current licence is one question; whether it covers the job is another. The Act as consolidated at 1 January 2024, in an archived copy that predates the January 2026 changes, provided for a licence with conditions limiting the work that may be performed under it. A Lynch Meyer Lawyers update of 27 March 2026, a law firm’s summary used because the January 2026 version of the Act could not be read, tells builders engaging subcontractors to check for licence conditions, giving “supervision requirements or limitations on the scope of work” as examples. Whether a licence suits a particular job is a question for Consumer and Business Services or a legal adviser.

What does a builder need to get a licence in SA?

The Law Handbook lists the criteria as including appropriate qualifications and experience, sufficient business knowledge and financial resources to properly carry out the work authorised by the licence, and passing the fit and proper person test.

Those are criteria for holding a licence. They do not describe how a particular house will be built or managed; the quote, the specification and the contract do that.

Which names and numbers should match?

The name and number on the register, the quote and the contract should all point to the same person or business. The Law Handbook records that section 28 of the Act requires a domestic building work contract, other than for minor work, to include details about the builder, “such as their business name and licence number”.

The Lynch Meyer update, a law firm’s summary, puts this more fully: the contract must set out the name in which the contractor carries on business under the licence, the licence number, and the names and licence numbers of any business partners. The contract is the document to hold against the register, because it names the party the owner is actually signing with.

Consumer and Business Services, on a page archived before the changes commenced, lists new offences including “hiring unlicensed subcontractors to undertake licensed work” and “otherwise falsely holding out to be licensed or registered”. The Lynch Meyer update, a law firm’s summary, gives 15 January 2026 as the date these changes took effect and refers to sections 47A and 47C. The Law Handbook also records significant penalties, under Part 7 of the Act, for builders who contract with people who are not appropriately licensed or who hold themselves out as licensed when they are not.

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Can you check electricians and plumbers the same way?

Yes. The sa.gov.au page lists “plumbers, gas fitters and electricians” among the occupations that can be searched, alongside builders.

Smaller jobs are not outside licensing. On minor domestic building work, the contract-value category the Law Handbook records as raised on 10 November 2025, it says “builders and other trades such as electricians and plumbers must be appropriately licensed to do the work”. It also advises care “about paying a large deposit before work commences”. For renovations and home improvements offered door to door, it refers to the Australian Consumer Law, which it says includes “a mandatory 10 business day cooling off period”.

What else can be checked beyond the licence?

The insurance certificate and the quote can be checked too. The Law Handbook records that section 34 of the Act requires builders to hold building indemnity insurance for domestic building work, other than minor work, where development approval is required, and that a copy of the certificate of insurance must be supplied to the building owner. It adds that “Building work cannot commence without the insurance being in place”.

The Handbook page linked below gives the contract value involved. It says “over” that value, while the Consumer and Business Services consumer guide says “or more”, so a contract at exactly that value should be checked against the current Regulations.

Consumer and Business Services’ building indemnity insurance checklist, in its January 2025 consumer guide, says to “Ensure the names and licences of the builder or contractor match the insurance document”, and to ask the builder for an explanation if they do not. It says the insurance can be checked at bii.sa.gov.au, and that if the builder does not provide a copy, the owner can contact Consumer and Business Services on 131 882.

A line-by-line reading of the quote is a separate check, covered in its own note. It shows what a builder has priced, which a register entry does not.

The Handbook states that its content “should not be relied upon as a substitute for legal advice”, and gives a number for free and confidential legal advice in South Australia: 1300 366 424.

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