How to check a tradie in NSW before you hire

Six checks cover almost every job a homeowner books. In order: confirm the business exists and its ABN is active; work out whether the job needs a licence and, if it does, find it on the NSW public register; see a current public liability certificate; look at recent work and speak to a referee; get the quote in writing with the scope spelt out; and, for anything over the Home Building Act's $5,000 mark, make sure the contract rules are followed. The checklist table further down puts all of it on one page.

None of this needs special access. The registers are public and free, and an insurance certificate is a one-page document any insured tradie can email you within the hour.

Start with the name on the quote. Every tradie operating as a business must have an Australian Business Number, and ABN Lookup, run by the Australian Business Register, confirms it for free with no login. It shows whether the ABN is active or cancelled, the type of entity (sole trader, company, partnership or trust), whether the business is registered for GST, and any historical trading names on record.

What you should see: an active ABN whose entity name matches the name on the quote, or a registered business name linked to it. A sole trader will appear under their own name, which is normal. A quote in a company name should be backed by a company ABN, and the licence and insurance later in this guide should be in that same name. If the ABN is cancelled, belongs to a different business, or the tradie cannot give you one, stop there.

For the person who actually turns up, ask for photo ID and ask whether they are the licence holder, an employee or a subcontractor. Each is fine as long as the paperwork covers them.

NSW licenses building and trade work in two ways. The Home Building Act 1989 sets the first rule: once the labour and materials on residential building work together exceed $5,000 including GST, a contractor licence is required. The second rule covers specialist work, which needs a licence at any value: plumbing, drainage and gasfitting, electrical wiring, and air conditioning and refrigeration. Most of the jobs on this site, from house washing to gardening to rubbish removal, sit below the threshold and outside the specialist classes, so no contractor licence applies and the checks that matter are the ABN and insurance. Water filter installation is the clear exception: any connection into the mains is plumbing work, so it is always a licensed plumber's job.

Where a licence is needed, check it on the Service NSW licence search. Any one detail starts a search: the person's or business's name, the licence number or type, an ABN or ACN, or a suburb, postcode or council area. Confirm the name matches the quote, the licence is current, and its classes cover the work; a carpentry licence does not cover plumbing. Many tradies also carry a digital licence in the Service NSW app, which you can ask to see on the doorstep. If the search finds nothing, Service NSW directs you to NSW Fair Trading, and building complaints go to Building Commission NSW.

Request the public liability certificate of currency before work starts, not after something breaks. It is a standard document issued by the insurer or broker, and a tradie who carries cover will have it to hand.

What you should see:

• the insured name matching the ABN entity or business name on the quote
• the insurer, policy number and period of insurance, with today's date inside it
• the policy limit, which should suit the work and your property
• a business description that matches the job: pressure cleaning, window cleaning at height, tree work and deck sanding are different activities, and some policies exclude work above a stated height

Public liability covers damage to your property and injury to others. It does not cover poor workmanship, which is a consumer law matter, or the tradie's own staff, who need workers compensation.

A licence and an insurance certificate say a tradie is allowed to do the work. Recent jobs say whether they do it well. Ask for photos of comparable work from the last year or so, and a referee or two you can ring.

Questions worth asking a referee: did they turn up when they said, did the price match the quote, how did they leave the site, and would you book them again. For exterior work, ask where the wash water went and what fall protection was used.

Online reviews help as a pattern rather than a verdict: read the critical ones first and look for repeated themes. A business with no online footprint is not a warning sign in itself, since many good tradies work by word of mouth, but it makes the referee call more important.

Insist on a written quote, even for a half-day job. It is what settles a disagreement later. A good quote names the business and ABN, describes the scope in plain terms, lists what is excluded, states the price including GST, gives a timeframe, says who removes waste and where wash water goes, and sets out payment terms. If the price depends on a site visit, the quote should say so, and variations should come in writing before extra work starts.

The Australian Consumer Law guarantees apply to services bought for the home: the work must be done with due care and skill, be fit for the purpose you made known, and be finished within a reasonable time if no date was agreed. The ACCC's guidance says the remedy for a failure can be a repair, a redo, a refund or compensation depending on the problem. These rights exist whether or not the quote mentions them, and a quote cannot sign them away.

TPS Trade Connect does not set prices; the tradies you're matched with quote directly, and quotes vary with access, condition and size. Compare several written quotes against the published ranges in our house washing, handyman and water filter guides before you choose.

Once a job passes $5,000 including GST, the Home Building Act calls for a written contract, and the NSW Government's contracts guidance sets out what it must contain. For jobs between $5,000 and $20,000 the NSW Government guidance describes a short-form contract: dated, signed by both parties, with the contractor's licence number and a description of the work. Over $20,000 the same NSW Government guidance describes a full contract, with a progress payment schedule, a termination clause, a copy of the Consumer Building Guide, a five-business-day cooling-off period and Home Building Compensation cover in place before any money changes hands.

Two rules apply to deposits. The Act caps the deposit on residential building work at 10 per cent of the contract price, and where Home Building Compensation cover is required the contractor cannot ask for a deposit until you hold the certificate. Progress payments should track work actually completed, not calendar time.

The same guidance makes a point worth repeating: a licence must be held in the name that signs the contract, and an individual's licence does not cover their company. Statutory warranties on residential building work run for six years for major defects and two years for other defects, and they attach to the contracting entity.

• A knock on the door. In June 2025, Building Commission NSW warned homeowners to be wary of unsolicited repair offers from people posing as tradespeople, and to verify licences first. That holds in a quiet street in Killara as much as in a flood zone.
• No ABN or licence number on the quote, or a number that belongs to someone else.
• A discount for cash with no paperwork. You lose the quote, the invoice and most of your leverage.
• A deposit above the Home Building Act's 10 per cent cap, or any deposit on a job over $20,000 before you hold the Home Building Compensation certificate.
• A claim to hold a house-washing or window-cleaning licence. No such licence exists in NSW. The honest version is an ABN, insurance and a method statement for water and heights.
• Willingness to pressure wash fibro, old eaves or a super six roof. Asbestos cement from before 1990 should never meet a pressure washer or a sander. A tradie who shrugs at that is a risk to your family and the street.
• Silence on wash water. Detergent, paint flakes, sediment and pool water cannot go down the stormwater drain in NSW. Anyone washing a house, deck or driveway should be able to say where the water will go.

• Strata. Work on common property, including building exteriors, windows from the outside and shared driveways, requires the owners corporation's sign-off, usually via the strata manager. A tradie cannot obtain it for you.
• Heritage. Heritage conservation areas are common across Woollahra, Mosman, North Sydney, Hunter's Hill and Ku-ring-gai, where sandstone and heritage facades need low-pressure methods and external changes may need council approval. Check with council rather than relying on a tradie's assurance.
• Heights. The WHS Regulation 2017 requires fall controls where a fall could cause injury. For roofs and high windows, expect harness anchors, edge protection, a boom lift, or water-fed poles worked from the ground.

Our regulations page gathers these rules, and the ones on trees, pools and waste, in one place.

When you post a job with us, the tradies who respond have already been through these checks. Before a tradie gets their first job through us, we have put photo ID against an active ABN record, checked the public register for any licence the work requires, taken a copy of a current public liability certificate and recorded its limit, reviewed photos of recent jobs around these suburbs and spoken to two referees, and secured their agreement to quote in writing, to meet their Australian Consumer Law obligations and to follow our code of conduct. Homeowner feedback comes back to us after every match, and a tradie who falls short is removed.

What we do not do is the work, the quote or the contract. The independent tradie quotes you directly, contracts with you, carries their own insurance and does the job under their own ABN and licence, so the checks in this guide still belong to you. How it works and how we vet set out the process, and all categories is the place to post a job.

• Service NSW, Check a builder or tradesperson licence
• NSW Government, Building and trade licences and registrations
• NSW Government, Electrical work licences
• NSW Government, Contracts for residential building work
• Building Commission NSW, Consumers reminded to be on high alert for unlicensed trades and scams (June 2025)
• Australian Business Register, ABN Lookup
• SafeWork NSW, Asbestos
• ACCC, Consumer rights and guarantees
• Australian Refrigeration Council, Frequently asked questions (refrigerant handling licences)
• NSW EPA, Waste levy (Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997)