Can anyone help,

I'm a carpenter, me and my wife have emigrated here on a trade/skills visa.

I have had to go back to collage (tafe) so i could obtain a carpenters licence (money scam!!), so i can do private work. I know this is the same story for alot of people.

The next step is to get a builders licence, as i would like to get in to renovating houses, but i do not fancy going to tafe for two years. Is there away around this, e.g buying the house in my name not a business name so all i would need is a home builders liccence. Not to sure if that can be done.

Anyone got any ideas???

Cheers

Paul

What State are you in? Licence requirements vary from State to State.

In NSW at the moment.....

Hi Paul

To get a builder's licence, you need to do your Building Certificate IV, my other half started a home study course with TAFE but never got round to doing it and then we discovered the Master Builders Association NSW, they do the course at weekends which takes up 13 weekends across 26 weeks. It costs around $6000 altogether. he became a member which costs, but then you get the course cheaper, you pay for a module at a time, but he says it is so much easier as you have tutors to explain things and instead of taking 3 years, it takes 6 months. There are assignments to do, but there is help at the end of a phone if you need it.

He is a bricklayer by trade and all he needs to do to get his bricklaying licence which you need to do the building certificate either that or a carpentry one, so the same will apply to you. They set up a time to assess you - it does cost though, suprise suprise and then they check that you are competent in the trade and they grant you your bricklaying or carpentry licence. If you pass and you complete the above building course, you are entitled to a builders licence as long as you have been working in the industry. Anyway, give them a call, the website is
www.mbansw.asn.au and go to training or contacts and you can call them and ask any questions.

Good luck. PM me if you want any other information

Cheers

Money scam, its a bit more than that The licence is the government way of holding you legally and financially liable for every bit of work you perform. Not just a stuff now either. Eg, in 10 years time the floor in a house you renovated collapses, youve just discovered Aussie liablilty lunacy, and dont think leaving the country voids that either.

Licence in OZ is the way anyone you work for tracks you down and makes you cough up for any stuff up now or later.

Dont know if its the same in nsw as qld a friend has just got his bricky licence but its only for single storey buildings, its a joke you need licences for most trades, it funny i can go & repair the brakes on a school bus with no licence, i can do building work without a licence if the bill is under i think $1000 so if i get a job that cost $1000 its ok if its $1100 i cant do it! You may go & build a house from start to finish if you work for someone with a licence but cant change a tap if you work on your own. Gets better i wanted to put a patio up went & got permit but had to employ a builder to put it up then council came out & past it. When it rained hard the water leaked in everywere so i had a look, its a flat roof with a slight fall to the gutter the licenced builder had got it the wrong way, but it was past by council so must be ok, after many phone calls with builder i helped him to remove roof & refit correctly. The council said i could do the repairs myself no licence needed so i could remove patio then put it back but cant put it there in the first place.

That's insane!! I heard a funny one the other day, a friend of my other half has just got his licence to teach skateboarding whatever next!!

Sorry I don't want to appear as a pain but do you mean a pergola.It's just that you refer to putting a patio up and it's usual to put a patio down,or is it some sort of balcony/patio/roof construction. Not trying to be smart.

Smart arse LOL i think its an ozzy thing ive just checked on my bill for the roof patio roof its called, its a roof. I put down the patio then had a roof put on it you dont need licence for doing the floor, since then ive enclosed the patio with fly screen its pommy safe now huge area with no flys or mossies. I see you are in williamstown i work very near by a few mths of the year do you know any good places to eat been to the one on the pier thanks Gary

Right ,now I have it.Eats: all depends on what your after.