Australia

Air Conditioning

Installing fixed air conditioning in a Queensland house is building work, but it is not the any-value mechanical services case it is often said to be. The QBCC Act defines building work to include the provision of air conditioning in connection with a building, so the ordinary threshold governs: above A$3,300 in labour and materials the contractor must hold a QBCC licence, and at or below it the value test does not require one. The claim that every install needs a QBCC mechanical services licence reads the any-value list without its carve-outs — the Act excludes installing a single-head split system from mechanical services work, and the Regulation excludes work carried out on a class 1a or class 10 building (houses, townhouses, sheds, garages) from being mechanical services work at all. That licence governs commercial and class 2–9 work, which is why plenty of installers legitimately hold one. Two further licences sit outside the QBCC register entirely: handling refrigerant requires a federal ARCtick refrigerant handling licence from the Australian Refrigeration Council at any job value, and the hard-wired connection is licensed by the Electrical Safety Office. On a domestic split system, ask for the ARCtick number first. Every technician listed here is checked against the QBCC register — a check that speaks to that register only.