Construction Licences and Certificates

Understanding when you are breaking the law…

Construction licences come with responsibilities and failing to adhere to these pose serious consequences. Sometimes you may not even realise you are committing an offence, such as working when you are not licensed, this could be because you have overlooked the expiry of your license.

“How can you commit an offence?

• Work when you are not licensed
• Use another person’s licence number or lend your licence
• Fail to pay Home Warranty Insurance
• Not comply with your contract
• Not be fit and proper
• Advertise incorrectly”

This information was taken from QBCC (Queensland Building and Construction Commission)

And did you know?

“Offences can attract anything from 2 to 10 demerit points, depending on the offence committed. If you get 30 demerit points in a 3-year period, you can’t hold a licence for 3 years. If, within 10 years of the first disqualification, you again accumulate 30 demerit points over a 3-year period, you’ll get a lifetime disqualification.

Accumulating demerit points when you are not licensed will affect your ability to apply for a licence.” (Taken from QBCC)

SwapCerts app can assist you to easily manage your licence renewals and help you to avoid an offence.

Download the free app http://www.swapcerts.com.au/

Consider this Scenario…

A builder bumps into an old contractor who he has not seen in a while. “How have you been mate?” he asks. The contractor replies “Actually I hit my head on one of your jobs a couple of years ago and have been off work and on income insurance”. The builder, in shock, had not heard about the incident and decides to check his records to make sure the contractor was licensed and insured during the time he was on his company’s project.

The process of finding the archived documents quickly was not easy.

To simplify your process, check out the archive feature in SwapCerts, it gives you quick access to records on every contractor on every project, well after the project has completed. www.swapcerts.com.au

So how do you protect yourself onsite?

The history of the hard hat and the modern world of app in the Construction Industry…

The hard hat evolved from a metal helmet used in World War 1 and was not made mandatory in the Construction Industry until 1931 on the Hoover Dam Project and following that was a requirement in 1933 on the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge. (Taken from Wikipedia)

Over time the shape and material of the hard hat has changed but the concept remains the same, safety on site.

Today the hard hat is part of the dress code and you wouldn’t let anyone onto a job site without wearing one if you knew they could be at risk of a head injury and it’s easy to see a person not wearing a hard hat, so to avoid the risk on site is quite simple.

This is quite unlike licences and certificates, if someone walks onto your job site and is unlicensed, uninsured or certificates have expired you cannot immediately see the risk. Sure you or someone would have asked for their documents prior to them commencing work on your project and they are filed in the office, but it might take a while to pull them out, especially if you need to access them well after the job has completed.

So do you ask every contractor you see if they are up to date, covered and not a risk, probably not, you just assume they are. But what happens if they are not, or they were but during your project their insurance expired, who lets you know?

Often they may have missed the renewal themselves, so they probably won’t tell you.

So how can you manage this process better?

You need more visibility, it will never be obvious as a missing hard hat on someone’s head, but how comforting would it be knowing that all the information is at your fingertips.

Imagine the ease of clicking a button to check the status of a contractor on site right now or anytime, from anywhere, even if you are on holiday and how good would it be to get a text reminder.

Sounds like an easy way to avoid risk and fines, loss of licences, paying out compensation or potentially losing your business.

Did you know SwapCerts app can send you text reminders, archive documents and basically help you manage licences and certificates for individuals or companies on your projects.

Download the free app http://www.swapcerts.com.au/

So who is responsible if you hire an unlicensed and uninsured contractor?

Well, alarmingly it could be you or your business! And if that contractor has an injury on your project, you could be liable to pay for their compensation unless they are licensed and insured, it is as simple and scary as that.

So it pays to do your research prior to engaging or hiring a contractor to find out if they are a risk.

And did you know…  each state in Australia has its own construction licencing bodies and requirements and finding information can be time consuming.

SwapCerts have compiled a state by state Building and Construction Licence Search on one handy map of Australia.

Click on the relevant state to find useful quick links. http://www.swapcerts.com.au/licence_search.html

Download the free app http://www.swapcerts.com.au/