News & Views

Consumer and Business Services (CBS) has ramped up its program of visits to building sites, checking for compliance with licensing and other requirements under the law.

Commercial, industrial and residential projects in the CBD and eastern suburbs are the first to come under the watchful eye of the licensing regulator. More than 100 licences have been checked to date, across three construction sites, with more checks to be undertaken as the process continues.

Compliance and enforcement officers from CBS are checking that ‘head contractor’ companies, subcontractors and on-site workers are appropriately licensed or registered, including builders, plumbers, gas fitters and electricians.

Builders and tradespeople can present either their plastic licence card or digital licence (via the mySA GOV app) which can be scanned and verified by CBS compliance and enforcement officers.

Five potential breaches have been identified as part of this audit, and these matters are under investigation.

Builders are strongly encouraged to check that:

• their employees who perform work have the correct and up-to-date licence or registration for the type of work

• subcontractors they engage hold the relevant licence

• building work is properly supervised by a registered building work supervisor.

Where breaches are detected, there will be follow up action which may include further on-site audits, a warning letter, expiation or prosecution.

In addition to building site inspections over the coming months, CBS will continue monitoring the industry with a particular focus on licensing as well as:

• builders who fail to take out building indemnity insurance when performing domestic building work costing $12,000 or more that requires council approval

• builders who take an excessive deposit from consumers

• builders who take payment from consumers but do not complete the work.

For more information about licensing requirements please contact CBS on 131 882 or visit www.cbs.sa.gov.au