Under home building laws, a builder must ensure that all persons that he engages to perform ‘residential building work’ hold the appropriate licence as issued by Fair Trading (this does not apply where the person being engaged is actually an employee of the builder).
If the builder engages a contractor that does not hold the appropriate licence, then not only will the builder be liable to pay a fine of up to $110,000, but the builder will not be able to claim damages or enforce the contract against the client. However, that client is still allowed to claim damages or enforce the contract against the builder.
Our advice – make sure every contractor on your site holds the appropriate licence!