Builders: public liability requirements in Western Australia

Verified for Western Australia

• Licence liability condition: Building contractor registration is assessed on financial capacity rather than insurance: the Board generally requires access to a minimum of $50,000 in cash or cash equivalent and a quick ratio of at least 1:1. Home indemnity insurance is separate and applies per residential job. WA · effective 2026-08-13 Consumer Protection WA · 2026-08-13
• Licence evidence required: Applicants lodge the application form matching their business structure, a Management and Supervision Questionnaire and a Business Profile Information statement with financial information. No certificate of currency is requested. WA · effective 2026-08-13 Consumer Protection WA · 2026-08-13
• Licensing body: The Building Services Board registers builders under the Building Services (Registration) Act 2011. The contracting class is builder contractor, available to an individual, partnership or company. WA · effective 2026-08-13 Consumer Protection WA · 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