Performing any residential building work or any plumbing, gasfitting, electrical wiring, or air-conditioning and refrigeration work in NSW requires that you be licensed by the Office of Fair Trading.

You must have a contractor licence before you contract, sub-contract or advertise to do residential building work where the labour and materials is more than $1,000. You will also need a licence if you want to supply kit homes, garages, carports and sheds where the contract price for the building materials is more than $1,000.

Cancellation or suspension of contractor licences

Your contractor licence may be cancelled or suspended for a range of disciplinary reasons and/or if you:

• become involved in unlawful activity
• obtain a licence by misrepresentation or fraudulent means
• become bankrupt or subject to a winding up order.

Immediate action required

If your licence is cancelled or suspended you must immediately:

1. stop work on all residential building works
2. advise all clients, verbally and in writing, that your licence has been cancelled or suspended and you are unable to complete residential building work
3. return to clients any monies/progress payments for work you will not be able to complete
4. if you become bankrupt, or are entering or in liquidation, advise your clients to contact the home warranty insurer on the certificate of insurance provided by you for their building contract
5. return your licence card by mailing it to the Home Building Service or by lodging it at a Fair Trading Centre. If you are unable to lodge the card, you must provide us with a statutory declaration as to why the card cannot be returned. Failure to return your licence card can attract a $2,200 fine for an individual or $4,400 for a company.