Verify Any Australian Tradie's Licence Instantly

Australia does not have a single national licensing system for tradespeople. Each state and territory runs its own register, sets its own rules, and enforces its own standards. A plumber licensed in Queensland holds a QBCC licence. The same trade in Victoria requires VBA registration. In New South Wales, it falls under the NSW Building Commission (formerly Fair Trading). The requirements, licence classes, and even the terminology differ from state to state.

For homeowners, this fragmented system makes verification harder than it should be. If you are hiring an electrician in Sydney, you need to check the NSW register. A builder in Brisbane means the QBCC register. A painter in Melbourne means the VBA register. Each has a different website, a different search interface, and different data formats. TradieVerify solves this by pulling licence records from all eight government registers into one search.

Across Australia, more than 50 trade categories require some form of licensing or registration. The most heavily regulated trades are electrical, plumbing, gas fitting, and building work, where unlicensed work is a criminal offence in every jurisdiction. Other trades like painting, tiling, fencing, and landscaping have licensing requirements that vary by state. Queensland regulates the most trade categories through the QBCC, while the Northern Territory and ACT regulate fewer.

Licensing exists to protect homeowners. A licensed tradesperson has completed accredited training, passed competency assessments, holds insurance (including government-backed warranty insurance above certain dollar thresholds), and is subject to disciplinary action if they do substandard work. When you hire a licensed tradie, you have access to state-backed dispute resolution and consumer protections under Australian Consumer Law. When you hire someone without a licence, you lose most of those protections.

Read our hiring guides for trade-specific advice →