When a repair needs a licensed builder is a guide to that point in each place, written and published by Dotto. As at 10 October 2026, Queensland’s line is building work valued over $3,300. New South Wales puts its line at residential building work valued at more than $5,000 in labour and materials, GST included. Western Australia’s is $20,000 or more, for work that needs a building permit, and the Northern Territory’s is more than $25,000, for listed kinds of work only. South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT draw no dollar line at all.
General informationDotto is not a builder, tradesperson or property manager. Dotto holds no builder’s or trade licence. It does not do, offer, contract for or arrange any building, trade or maintenance work, and does not refer anyone to a tradesperson. This is general information, not advice.
The regulator named in each guide is the one to ask about a particular job.
Seven jugs, one scale
Each jug below is marked where its place puts the line, on one shared dollar scale. The last three carry no number, because those places license something other than a job’s value: the business, the kind of work, or the occupation.
The seven lines side by side
| Place | How the line is drawn | The line | Where repairs stand | Regulator |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Queensland | A dollar value, with some trades at any value | Building work valued over $3,300 | Repair of a building is building work under the QBCC Act | QBCC |
| New South Wales | A dollar value, labour and materials together, with specialist work at any cost | More than $5,000, GST included | Repairs to a dwelling are residential building work | Building Commission NSW |
| Western Australia | A building permit and a dollar value, together | $20,000 or more, where a building permit is needed | Work that needs no building permit, or is valued under $20,000, needs no registered builder | Building and Energy |
| Northern Territory | Listed kinds of work and a dollar value, together | More than $25,000, for six listed kinds of work | Renovations count only where they add floor area; no repair work is listed | NT Government; Building Practitioners Board |
| South Australia | Carrying on business as a building work contractor | No dollar line | Repairing is building work, and so are painting, paving and fencing other than post and wire | Consumer and Business Services |
| Tasmania | The kind of work | No dollar line | An owner may do general maintenance and repairs on their own home | Consumer Affairs Tasmania; Building Standards Tasmania |
| Australian Capital Territory | The occupation | No dollar line | Builders, electricians, plumbers and some others need a licence; carpenters and bricklayers do not, for now | ACT Planning; Access Canberra keeps the register |
Offering the work is covered too
Five of these places reach past doing the work to offering it. NSW requires a contractor licence to “carry out, advertise or contract for” building or trade work over its line. Queensland’s Act requires an unlicensed person’s advertisement that they are available for building work to state the value of work they may do without a licence. South Australia forbids advertising or holding out as entitled to carry on business as a building work contractor without a licence. Tasmania forbids representing that anyone is prepared to contract for prescribed work unless the intended contractor holds the right licence. In the ACT, a corporation or partnership needs a licence to provide or advertise construction services.
Western Australia, in brief
Western Australia’s Building and Energy requires registration as a building contractor for what it calls builder work done for another person, in most parts of the state. Its line combines two tests, value and permit: for most work, a registered builder is required once the job needs a building permit and reaches $20,000. Where no building permit is needed, or the work of any kind is valued under $20,000, or it is carried out in an exempt area of the state, a registered builder is not required. Western Australia has no guide of its own here.
The five guides
- New South WalesWhen a home repair needs a licence in New South WalesWhat the Home Building Act counts as residential building work, what it leaves out, the $5,000 line and the work licensed at any cost.
- QueenslandWhen a home repair needs a QBCC licence in QueenslandThe $3,300 line, the work licensed at any value, the handyman and owner exceptions, and what an unlicensed advertisement must say.
- South AustraliaRepairs and the building work contractor’s licence in South AustraliaWhy South Australia has no dollar line, what its 2026 Regulations add to building work, and what the $20,000 figure is for.
- TasmaniaRepairs and builder licensing in TasmaniaA licence set by the kind of work, the repairs an owner may do, the builder classes, and what the $20,000 figure covers.
- Australian Capital Territory and Northern TerritoryBuilder licensing for repairs in the ACT and the Northern TerritoryThe ACT licenses occupations, not job values; the NT’s $25,000 line applies only to listed kinds of building work.
Victoria
Victoria is not covered here. For the record, its Building and Plumbing Commission says an appropriately registered building practitioner must be engaged for domestic building work with a contract price over $10,000.