Company and partnership licences

Key information

• Your company or partnership must get a contractor licence before you contract, sub-contract or advertise to do:
  • residential building work over $5,000 (including GST)
  • all electrical wiring work
  • all plumbing, drainage and gasfitting work
  • all air conditioning and refrigeration work (except plug-in appliances).
• A licensed company or partnership must have a nominated qualified supervisor. 
• The nominated qualified supervisor must be an individual who:
  • holds an endorsed contractor licence and/or a qualified supervisor certificate
  • is registered against a company or partnership contractor licence as the person supervising residential building work or specialist work. 

When you will need a company or partnership licence

Your company or partnership must have a contractor licence before you contract, sub-contract or advertise to do:

• residential building work where the reasonable market cost of the labour and materials is more than $5,000 (including GST)
• all electrical wiring work
• all plumbing, drainage and gasfitting work
• all air conditioning and refrigeration work.

Licence types you can apply for

Companies and partnerships are eligible to apply for a contractor licence.

A contractor licence allows a company or partnership to contract or sub-contract with other parties and advertise your services for residential building or trade work. The company or partnership can carry out the categories of work that it is licensed to do.

The categories of work that a company or partnership may be licensed for are determined by the categories of work of their approved nominated qualified supervisor.

You can apply for this licence type for 1, 3 or 5 years.

Find out more about licence types and how to apply

You can apply for your company and partnership contractor licence online, if you have an Australian Business Number (ABN).

Get started with applying for your company or partnership licence at Service NSW.

Nominated qualified supervisor requirements

A company or partnership seeking a contractor licence must have a nominated qualified supervisor.

A nominated qualified supervisor is an individual who:

• holds an individual contractor licence and/or qualified supervisor certificate in the same categories of work as the company/partnership, and
• is recorded by the Building Commission NSW as the person responsible for supervising residential building work or specialist work carried out by the licensed company or partnership.

Companies and partnerships must name a proposed nominated qualified supervisor when applying for a licence, and the person you nominate must agree to hold the position.

Use the nominated qualified supervisor consent declaration form.

You may need to nominate more than one qualified supervisor to cover all the categories of work that your company or partnership does.

If you only nominate one qualified supervisor, they must hold a current individual contractor licence and/or qualified supervisor certificate that includes all categories of work that your company or partnership is licensed for.

Company or partnership contractor licence holders need to advise Building Commission NSW within 7 days if you do not have a nominated qualified supervisor (e.g. if your supervisor leaves the company).

Failing to inform us is an offence. If you go without an acceptable nominated qualified supervisor for more than 30 days, without our prior consent, your licence may be cancelled.

Nominated qualified supervisors must notify Building Commission NSW within 7 days of leaving a company or partnership.

Find out more about how to change any details for a company or partnership licence, including name changes for directors or members, company name changes or changes to your nominated qualified supervisor.

Acceptable nominated supervisors

A nominated supervisor must be one of the following:

• a director of the company
• a member of the partnership
• an existing or proposed full-time or part-time employee of the company or partnership.

A supervisor cannot be:

• a casual employee or temporary employee 
• a sub-contractor.

An employee is someone who:

• is entitled to all the benefits of all relevant industry awards and is a ‘worker’ for purposes of workers compensation law and is entitled to employer superannuation guarantee payments 
• is paid under the PAYE (pay as you earn) system and their employer issues a payment summary after the end of the tax year (or otherwise reports the income to the Australian Taxation Office) for the income tax taken out of their wages
• has their work hours recorded in the employer’s wages book and is entitled to a statement (e.g. pay slip) for each wage
• works under the direction and control of their employer.

Dual nomination

Dual nomination is when a supervisor is nominated for more than one company or partnership contractor licence.

A person cannot serve as the nominated supervisor for more than one contractor licence unless the Building Commission NSW agrees that special circumstances exist. 

Both entities and their nominated qualified supervisors must show that the person, either alone or with other nominated supervisors, will oversee all work done under the contracts for each contractor licence.

A company or partnership must get our approval to appoint a dual nominated supervisor. Approval is granted on a case-by-case basis. A company or partnership applying for dual nomination must complete the Additional Details Form 6 - Dual Nomination to request dual nomination.

Nominating a qualified supervisor under automatic mutual recognition

A company or partnership can nominate a supervisor who holds a local licence under the Mutual Recognition (Automatic Licensed Occupations Recognition) Act 2014.

Learn more about AMR for nominated supervisors.

Nominated qualified supervisor conditions

If your nominated qualified supervisor holds a licence or certificate that has conditions or restrictions on the scope of work permitted to be carried out by them, the same conditions may be applied to the company or partnership licence. See our conditions on a licence page for more information.

Nominated qualified supervisor responsibilities

The nominated qualified supervisor is responsible for:

• supervising all work carried out by the company or partnership licence holder, and
• ensuring the building standards, codes of practice, laws and regulations are satisfied for this work.

If the supervisor is an employee of the company or partnership contractor licence holder, they can only supervise work during their hours of employment.

The nominated qualified supervisor (if they are an employee) may oversee more than one job site for the same employer during the hours that they work for that employer. Specific supervision arrangements are required where the work being carried out is specialist work. 

When the nominated qualified supervisor is not on the job site, they should:

• make sure that any work is done either:
  • by a holder of an endorsed licence, supervisor certificate or tradesperson certificate, or 
  • under the supervision of someone who holds an endorsed licence or supervisor certificate for the categories of work they are supervising.
• make arrangements to ensure that all work is done properly. For example, they should be readily contactable to give instructions, and when they return to the site, they should inspect the work done while they were away.

Please note there are different responsibilities for individuals who are supervising specialist trade work under the Home Building Act 1989.

Nominated qualified supervisors who hold a general building licence

If the nominated qualified supervisor holds a licence for general building work, they are also responsible for the:

• direction
• coordination
• oversight

of the on-site work processes on all sites where the contractor is currently carrying out general building work.

Changing or varying contractor licence details

You must notify us within 7 days if there are changes to your name or address.  

You must also tell us of any changes in circumstances or events that may impact your licence, this includes notifying us if a nominated qualified supervisor leaves or any changes to the directors recorded with ASIC.

See our change or vary licence details page for more information.

Directors must also notify us if:

• an administrator is appointed to the company, or 
• becomes subject to a winding up order, or 
• has a liquidator appointed. 

See our external administration and bankruptcy page for more information.