The licensing body is the Queensland Building and Construction Commission. The commission’s pages: When you need a licence, Foundation work (piling and anchors), and Builder restricted to structural landscaping.
Who has to hold a licence
Queensland's line is written into the QBCC's own page: individuals (sole traders, partners, trustees) and companies must hold a licence to carry out, or to contract for, building work valued over $3,300; building work valued over $1,100 where it involves hydraulic services design; and building work of any value where it involves drainage, plumbing and drainage, gas fitting, chemical termite management, fire protection, completed residential building inspection, building design (low rise, medium rise and open), site classification or mechanical services.
The same figure turns up in the homeowner's own paperwork. The Queensland Government's page on building disputes says work costing more than $3,300 needs a written contract between the homeowner and the builder, contractor or designer.
Companies do not hold a licence on paper alone. A company nominee must be an individual licensee with technical qualifications and experience in the same scope of work.
The nominee must be an employee, secretary or director of the company, responsible for keeping the site safe, supervising the work and ensuring it meets the required codes and standards.
A partnership cannot hold a licence in its own name, because it is not a separate legal entity. At least one partner must hold a contractor-type licence as an individual or a company.
The page also draws the other side of the line: you do not need a QBCC licence as an owner-builder working under a permit.
You do not need a QBCC licence when carrying out building work as an owner on your own property where the value is no more than $11,000.
A handyman sits outside the requirement too, as long as the value is no more than $3,300, the work is not electrical or plumbing, and no occupational licence is required.
Employees of a licensed contractor are in the same position in most cases: the page says a QBCC licence is not needed for building work carried out as that contractor's employee.
To hold a licence at all, an applicant has to demonstrate the technical skills for the scope of work the class covers.
An application also has to show the minimum financial requirements are met, by an MFR report or declaration lodged with it.
The classes that carry the work
The QBCC publishes its licences class by class, and each class page sets out a scope of work.
The commission's own advice is to check that the scope covers all the work intended, and to hold additional licences for anything beyond it that is more than incidental.
- Foundation work (piling and anchors): its scope includes “Excavate and install support. Construct underpinning.”
- Builder restricted to structural landscaping: its scope includes “Prepare site, excavate, lay paving or concrete associated with landscaping.”
The structural landscaping class carries more than paving: its scope also names carports, decking, fences, gates, gazebos, ornamental structures, pergolas, ponds and water features.
Its scope also names prefabricated sheds with a floor area of not more than 10m² including their concrete slabs, and retaining walls and structures.
Where the list is read
The classes and their scopes are published on the commission's website, under its list of available licences. Both class pages cited here were read on 13 October 2026.
Applying is not instant. The Foundation work page says most types of application are fully processed within a few weeks, and asks applicants to allow around 8 weeks as a guide.
The commission's fee pages date their own numbers: fees and charges increase on 1 July each year, and the page records an increase on 1 July 2025 in line with legislative requirements.
Interstate licences move across under conditions. The QBCC must impose the same condition or restriction that an interstate or New Zealand licence carries. The interstate licence also has to stay active, with renewals on time and no outstanding fines.
What a licence does not do
A licence covers the scope printed on its class page. Where work falls outside that scope beyond incidental work, the commission's advice is that additional licences may be needed.
Some building work needs an occupational licence as well, held in the same scope of work, before a person can carry out the work themselves.
For whoever is hiring, the Queensland Government's page keeps a short list: make sure the person you hire has a current QBCC licence that is right for the work.
See the licence itself, noting the name, licence number, expiry date and licence class.
Work with explosives sits outside all of this.
Safe Work Australia's excavation guidance says explosives in excavation work must be used only by a licensed competent person with experience in the work, and points to the WHS regulator for the jurisdiction where they are used.