Builders: public liability requirements in New South Wales

Verified for New South Wales

• Licence liability condition: No public liability condition attaches to a NSW builder licence, but insurance does condition the licence itself: new building-category licences are restricted to contracts not requiring home building compensation cover, capping contracts at $20,000 until insurance eligibility is granted. NSW · effective 2026-08-13 Building Commission NSW · 2026-08-13
• Licence evidence required: A certificate of eligibility to obtain insurance, where applicable, is a supporting document at application. The contract-capping condition is removed once the licensee or the insurer advises Building Commission NSW that insurance or eligibility has been granted. NSW · effective 2026-08-13 Building Commission NSW · 2026-08-13
• Licensing body: Building Commission NSW issues builder licences under the category of general building work, lodged through Service NSW. A contractor licence is required for residential building work valued over $5,000 in labour and materials including GST. NSW · effective 2026-08-13 Building Commission NSW · 2026-08-13

What contracts commonly ask for

Principals and head contractors set their own insurance requirements, and those are frequently higher than a licence condition. The requirement that binds is the higher of the two, and both have to be read from the actual document.

• What the limit figure on a certificate means
• Cover for the principal for your work
• When a certificate falls short of the contract

What this cover costs

This site publishes no cost benchmark for this cover. A benchmark needs a real sample of documents, and none is published until the sample is large enough to compute a median honestly. A benchmark from a handful of policies is a guess with a decimal point.

Sources

• Building Commission NSW — Building Commission NSW — building and trade licences
• Building and Plumbing Commission — Building and Plumbing Commission (Victoria)
• WorkSafe Queensland — WorkSafe Queensland — regulator portal (WHSQ, Electrical Safety Office, WCRS)
• Consumer Protection WA — Consumer Protection, Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety (WA)
• Consumer and Business Services SA — Consumer and Business Services (South Australia)
• Consumer, Building and Occupational Services Tasmania — CBOS Tasmania — occupational licensing
• ACT Construction Occupations Registrar — ACT construction occupations licensing
• NT Building Practitioners Board — Northern Territory Building Practitioners Board — registration