How to Check a Brisbane Plumber's QBCC Licence
Updated 2026-08-14 · Register QBCC
In Queensland, plumbing and drainage work carries no dollar threshold — but it is licensed twice over, on two different registers. The person doing the work needs a plumber's or drainer's licence in their own name for everything outside a short list of unregulated work (Plumbing and Drainage Act 2018 ss 56, 58), and the business contracting with you needs a QBCC contractor's licence, which for general building work is required above A$3,300 including materials and GST. Both registers are public, free, and take about two minutes to search — yet almost nobody checks either before handing over a deposit. This guide covers the two-minute check, the one confusing thing about it (business names rarely match licence names), and the red flags worth walking away from. Every business listed on this site has already been through exactly this check, with the date shown on its profile.
Costs at a glance
Ranges reflect quotes observed locally — not national averages, not advertised "from" prices.
| Service | Typical range (A$) |
|---|---|
Call-out + first 30–60 min (standard hours) Brisbane call-out including the first 30–60 min, standard business hours, 2026. Charlie's Plumbing & Gas Solutions (Brisbane) separates its pricing into a $60–120 call-out (attendance) plus a $90–150/hour labour rate; combining the call-out with 30–60 minutes of labour — this line's own scope — computes to roughly $105–270. Salmon Plumbing (Brisbane, QBCC 741050) publishes a $175–295 business-hours call-out fee that sits within that computed band, though its page doesn't clarify whether that figure already includes some work time, so it can't be cleanly reconciled to this exact scope either way. | A$105 — A$270 |
The two-minute check, on two registers
Start by knowing which register you need. The individual plumber or drainer is on QBCC's Occupational Plumber and Drainer Register — individuals only, because Plumbing and Drainage Act 2018 s 15(1) provides that "An individual is entitled to a licence", and Plumbing and Drainage Regulation 2019 s 109 fixes what it publishes: full name, licence class, licence number, conditions, endorsements and expiry. The business contracting with you, including any Pty Ltd, is on the separate QBCC licensee register. Both are linked below. Search by licence number if the quote shows one, or by name if not — numbers are unique, names are not.
On the result, three things matter. Status: it should be current. Name: the licensee shown should be the person or company you are actually dealing with — more on the mismatch problem below. Class: the licence must cover the work being quoted. Plumbing and drainage covers the water side of your tap, drain and hot water jobs (QBCC Regulation 2018 sch 2 pt 18); a carpentry or painting class does not, no matter how current the licence is. Two parts of a job sit outside that class. The gas connection on a gas hot water unit is gasfitting, a separate class required at any value (sch 2 pt 36, read with sch 1 s 2(b)). And the electrical connection is not QBCC building work at all — sch 1 s 20 excludes electrical work, which is licensed under the Electrical Safety Act 2002 through the Electrical Safety Office, a third register again.
Why the business name often won't match — and when that's fine
The most common confusion in licence checking: the van says "Joe's Rapid Plumbing", the QBCC licensee register says the licensee is "J. & M. Smith Pty Ltd", and the person who turns up is licensed under their own name on the plumber and drainer register. That is usually legitimate — businesses trade under marketing names while the licence sits with the entity or the nominated individual. We hit this constantly when verifying businesses for this site, and it is why we only badge a listing when the match is beyond doubt.
The way to resolve it yourself: ask directly "whose licence does this job run under?" and check that name against the register, or ask for the ABN and confirm the trading name and licensee connect to the same entity. What should worry you is not a mismatch — it is a mismatch nobody can explain in one sentence.
Red flags that end the conversation
A licence number that returns someone else's name with no explainable connection. Reluctance to put the licence number on the quote. "We work under my mate's licence" — for general building work an employee genuinely is covered by their employer's contractor licence (QBCC Act 1991 sch 1A s 1), but plumbing does not work that way: the person doing the work needs a licence in their own name unless they are a trainee under direct supervision (Plumbing and Drainage Act 2018 s 58(1)(b)), so ask whose licence, then check that person on the plumber and drainer register. Cash-only pricing with no paperwork: without a documented contractor, any workmanship claim later has nobody to attach to.
None of these requires you to accuse anyone of anything. "I'll confirm the licence details and come back to you" is a complete sentence, and how a tradesperson reacts to it tells you plenty.
Common questions
Does a handyman need a licence for small plumbing jobs?
For plumbing and drainage there is no dollar threshold — the A$3,300 line is for general building work, not this trade (QBCC Regulation 2018 sch 1 s 2(b), with plumbing and drainage at sch 2 pt 18). The exemption here is by work type instead. Plumbing and Drainage Regulation 2019 sch 3 lists "unregulated work" anybody may do: replacing a shower head or a domestic water filter cartridge, replacing a jumper valve or washer in a tap, repairing or replacing a drop valve washer, float valve washer or suction cup rubber in a toilet cistern, replacing caps to ground level inspection openings on a sanitary drain, and cleaning or maintaining a ground level grate for a trap on a sanitary drain. P&D Act 2018 s 58(1)(a) puts that list outside the licensing offence entirely. Anything past it — including replacing the tap itself — needs a licensed plumber at any value, so a handyman quoting to move a pipe or replace a hot water valve is quoting to work outside the law.
The licence is current but under a company name — is the person at my door covered?
Not automatically — and for plumbing, no. Two licences apply and neither replaces the other. On the QBCC side, a company holding a contractor's licence must have a nominee, a licensed individual, or it must not carry out building work at all (QBCC Act 1991 s 42B), and an employee working under their employer's licence is exempt from holding a contractor's licence of their own (sch 1A s 1). Plumbing is licensed separately and individually: Plumbing and Drainage Act 2018 s 56(1) makes it an offence for a person to carry out plumbing or drainage work unless that person holds a licence for the work. The exemptions in s 58(1) are a closed list — unregulated work, a trainee under direct supervision, an unlicensed person carrying out drainage work under direct supervision, authorised water-meter work, and manufacturing a WaterMark product or a treatment plant. There is no supervised-employee exemption for plumbing, and s 57(2) makes it a separate offence for a licensee to supervise an unlicensed person doing it. So verify two things: the company on your quote on the QBCC licensee register, and the individual who turns up on the Occupational Plumber and Drainer Register.
What does checking actually protect me from?
Two things, and the second is narrower than it sounds. First, work that is lawful: unlicensed plumbing is an offence under Plumbing and Drainage Act 2018 s 56, there is no licensed contractor standing behind it, and it surfaces at sale time. Second, on larger jobs, the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme — but that cover attaches to the job, not to the licence. QBCC Act 1991 s 67WC(1) requires both a licensed contractor and an insurable value above the regulated amount, which s 67WC(3) sets at A$3,300, so a A$600 tap or valve job is licensed work carrying no warranty cover at all. s 67WC(2)(d)(iii) also puts units for heating water outside primary insurable work whatever they cost, though they can still be associated insurable work when contracted as part of a job that is primary insurable work (s 67WD). Checking the licence is necessary for cover, not sufficient — on anything big enough to qualify, ask for the insurance notice for your job.
Sources & when we checked them
- ·QBCC — who must hold a licence (consumer summary; corroboration only) (checked 2026-07-27)
- ·QBCC — our lists and registers (names both registers: QBCC licensee register; Occupational plumber and drainer register) (checked 2026-08-14)
- ·QBCC Occupational Plumber and Drainer Register — the individual's licence (individuals only) (checked 2026-08-14)
- ·QBCC licensee register — the contracting business's contractor licence (checked 2026-08-14)
- ·Plumbing and Drainage Act 2018 (Qld) ss 15(1), 41, 56, 57(2), 58(1) — licences issued to individuals; the register; the offence and its closed list of exemptions (checked 2026-08-14)
- ·Plumbing and Drainage Regulation 2019 (Qld) s 109 and sch 3 — register particulars; the list of unregulated work (checked 2026-08-14)
- ·QBCC Act 1991 (Qld) ss 42, 42B, 67WC, sch 1A s 1 — contractor licence, company nominee, home warranty conditions, employee exemption (checked 2026-08-14)
- ·QBCC Regulation 2018 (Qld) sch 1 ss 2, 20 and sch 2 pts 18, 36 — the A$3,300 exclusion and its carve-outs; electrical work excluded; plumbing and drainage and gasfitting classes (checked 2026-08-14)
- ·Electrical Safety Office — electrical licence search (the third register) (checked 2026-08-14)