Implementing carpentry registration and licensing
This is a joint submission from the Office of the Building Monitor (OBM) and Consumer Action Law Centre (CALC).
Consumer protection and confidence should be a priority in considering carpentry registration and licensing.
Consumers often have limited information when selecting a building practitioner and are generally not well placed to assess a tradesperson’s competence, qualifications or regulatory history before engaging them.
Registration and licensing can help address these information gaps by establishing minimum competency requirements and improving transparency about carpenters’ qualifications, registration status and disciplinary history. This can support more informed consumer decision-making and strengthen accountability by making it easier to identify practitioners responsible for defective work and undertake regulatory action where appropriate.
While registration and licensing cannot eliminate defective work, they establish minimum standards and provide an important safeguard that promotes accountability, informed consumer choice and confidence in the building system. They can also support a regulatory approach that deters poor conduct and practices, by helping ensure higher-risk work is undertaken by appropriately qualified and accountable practitioners before consumer harm occurs.
Read the full submission (PDF).
Carpentry registration - Joint CALC and OBM 261014