Who may build your joinery

What counts as joinery

NSW gives the plainest definition: “Joinery is the making and installing of non-structural timber, timber composite or metal components or elements for buildings.” Its examples are “doors, windows, prefabricated glass fencing and stairs, as well as built-in furniture such as cupboards, wardrobes and entertainment units which are generally made off site and installed as a finished unit.” NSW adds shower screens and internal timber cladding for walls and ceilings.

Other states use their own words, and some do not name joinery at all, so read each state below as that state’s rule.

NSWA contractor licence above $5,000

NSW says you must have a contractor licence to “carry out, advertise or contract for” building or trade work valued at more than $5,000 in labour and materials, including GST. Joinery has its own licence page with the qualifications it needs.

A kitchen job can fall under a second licence. NSW describes kitchen, bathroom and laundry renovation work as “the installation, refurbishment, restoration and on-site repairs of or to a kitchen, bathroom or laundry”, and says it does not include work affecting a load-bearing part of the building that is essential to its stability, such as foundations, floors, walls, roof, columns and beams. Under it, specialist work has to be subcontracted to someone licensed in that specialist category, and NSW lists specialist work as electrical wiring, plumbing, drainage, gasfitting, and air conditioning and refrigeration work (except plug-in appliances).

One detail is easy to miss when the quote comes from a company: “A licence in the name of an individual does not permit the individual’s company or partnership to make the contract, even if the individual is a director of the company or member of the partnership.”

QLDCabinet making and joinery classes

The QBCC says individuals and companies must hold a QBCC licence to carry out building work valued over $3,300, and some work, such as plumbing and drainage or gas fitting, at any value, and that the licence must be “of the relevant class for the scope of works”. Three classes touch joinery:

• Cabinet making: “Install, refurbish, restore or repair kitchen, bathroom, laundry and other fitted cabinets and fitments on-site.”
• Joinery: among other work, “Manufacture, assemble and install joinery unit components” and make the parts for door and window frames, doors, sashes and stairs.
• Glass, glazing and aluminium: this class covers fabricating and installing shower screens and “metal framed sliding wardrobe doors whether mirrored or otherwise.”

Among the people the QBCC says do not need a licence are “a handyman – as long as the value is no more than $3,300, isn’t electrical or plumbing work and doesn’t require an occupational licence”, and an owner working on their own property where the work is valued at no more than $11,000. The QBCC adds that 53 exemptions in Schedule 1 of its Regulation take some work outside the definition of building work, and that if you are unsure whether a licence is needed, you can contact it about your circumstances.

VICRegistration with the BPC

Victoria registers builders rather than licensing a joinery trade. The Building and Plumbing Commission explains that a builder registered in a limited class may do only certain kinds of domestic building work, such as carpentry or glazing, and its domestic builder page carries a referee form for the class “Domestic builder limited to cabinet making, joinery and stair construction”.

For work worth $10,000 or more, the BPC says you must have a written contract with a registered builder, known as a major domestic building contract.

The other states and territories

None of the official pages this guide draws on for these five names joinery or cabinetmaking as a licence of its own. What they say about builders:

• WAUnder the Building Services (Registration) Act 2011, anyone doing builder-work worth more than $20,000, or signing up to do it, must be registered as a building service contractor.
• SAIndividuals and businesses that carry out or organise building work for others, including subcontractors who run such a business, must be licensed as building contractors, and “All building work must be supervised by a registered building work supervisor.”
• TASConsumer Affairs Tasmania licenses builders, and says every licensed building service provider must only work within their own area of competence.
• ACTA licence is needed to provide a construction service, but “Trades like carpenters and bricklayers do not currently need a licence in the ACT.”
• NTBuilding work that is prescribed must be done by a registered builder or contractor. Work is prescribed when it is worth more than $25,000 and involves a listed type of building, such as a house or attached units; renovations to those buildings are on the list only where the floor area is increased.

Checking a licence before you sign

• QLDEvery licensed contractor is on the QBCC licensee register; if you cannot find someone there, the QBCC says there is a chance they are not licensed. Its advice is short: “If they can’t show you their licence, show them the door.”
• QLDA licensed contractor’s advertising must show their contractor name and QBCC licence number.
• VICThe BPC asks you to check a builder is registered or licensed for the work, and not to rely only on advertising, business cards, quotes or what you are told.
• SAYou can ask to see a builder’s licence to check they are licensed for the specific work.
• ACTAccess Canberra keeps the public registers, and suggests checking a tradie is appropriately licensed and insured for the work.