Building or renovating? - NSW Fair Trading

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Are you thinking of building a new home? Maybe you’re about to renovate, extend or repair your existing home. You should not rush into any home building or renovation work without understanding your rights and responsibilities. Contact NSW Fair Trading for independent information about home building and renovating. Choosing a builder or tradesperson To protect yourself against inferior building practices, only deal with a builder or tradesperson who is licensed by Fair Trading. Any person who carries out residential building work worth over $1,000 in labour and materials content without an appropriate licence, is breaking the law and could be prosecuted. Specialist tradespeople who carry out electrical wiring, plumbing, draining, gasfitting, air conditioning and refrigeration work (except plug-in appliances) must be licensed, regardless of the cost of the work. To check the licence details of any builder or tradesperson, go to www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au or call 13 32 20. Insurances for your protection Builders and tradespeople should have various insurance policies in place before work on your home can start. If the cost of the labour and materials in your project exceeds $20,000 the builder or tradesperson must have home warranty insurance and you must be given a certificate of home warranty insurance before work commences. They should also have contract works insurance, professional indemnity insurance, public liability insurance and workers compensation insurance. Contact Fair Trading for more information. Get it in writing Before you start any building or renovation work over $1,000 (including materials) make sure you have a written contract with your chosen builder or tradesperson. The contract is the most important piece of documentation relating to your building work. Residential building work worth between $1,001 and $5,000 requires a written ‘small job’ contract with minimum basic information, while building jobs worth more than $5,000 must be covered by more extensive written contracts. Read the contract carefully before you sign it. Don’t sign the contract if you don’t understand it or if you think something is missing.
If things go wrong Things don’t always go to plan when you’re building or renovating. Fair Trading offers a dispute resolution process to help you and your builder or tradesperson settle any problems between you. If you have a problem, you should first talk to the builder or tradesperson and try to get a resolution. If this doesn’t work, you can go into any Fair Trading Centre and a trained staff member will review your problem and help you to resolve it. The Fair Trading staff member may suggest you get a copy of the Guide to Standards and Tolerances if your dispute is about the building work itself. The Guide will help you understand what standard of work is acceptable. For example, it explains how much shrinkage around timber windows and doors is tolerable under NSW building standards. In certain circumstances your dispute may be referred to a building inspector. The inspector’s role is to meet you and your builder or tradesperson on site, inspect the items in dispute and help you to achieve a suitable outcome. There are other options, such as taking your case to the Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal. Fair Trading will help to guide you towards a solution. Points to remember While you are at the stage of thinking about doing building or renovation work, remember ALICE: A L I C E Most building work needs various approvals before you can begin. You should only deal with a licensed builder or tradesperson once you have verified their licence details. Builders and tradespeople should have various insurance policies arranged, in particular home warranty insurance, before work on your home can begin. Make sure you have a written contract with your chosen builder or tradesperson when the cost of the work (including materials) is more than $1,000. Make further enquiries about your building and renovating rights and responsibilities with NSW Fair Trading.
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Building or renovating? - NSW Fair Trading

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