A builders licence in Queensland is not one licence. The Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) issues builder licences in classes, and the class is a hard legal boundary on what that builder may contract to build. The three you will meet most often are Builder — Low Rise, Builder — Medium Rise and Builder — Open. The QBCC scope for Low Rise covers “building work on a class 1 or class 10 building” — every detached house, garage, deck, retaining wall and swimming pool — plus classes 2 to 9 buildings with a gross floor area not more than 2000m², but not including Type A or Type B construction. Medium Rise adds building work to a maximum of three storeys. Open covers “building work on all classes of buildings”. For a house or renovation on the Sunshine Coast, Low Rise is the class that matters, and it is not a lesser licence for that work.
The builder licence classes side by side
The scopes below are the QBCC’s own, published on its available licences pages. Read the second column as the legal permission and the last as the wall you hit.
| Licence class | What the QBCC scope permits | What that means on a real job | Where it stops |
|---|---|---|---|
| Builder — Low Rise | “Building work on a class 1 or class 10 building”; and “building work on classes 2 to 9 buildings with a gross floor area not more than 2000m², but not including Type A or Type B construction” | Detached houses of any size, knock-down rebuilds, extensions and whole-home renovations, pools, garages, carports, decks, retaining walls, and smaller unit or commercial buildings | Type A or Type B construction; classes 2 to 9 buildings over 2000m² gross floor area |
| Builder — Medium Rise | “Building work on a class 1 or class 10 building”; and “building work to a maximum of 3 storeys, but not including Type A construction on classes 4 to 9 buildings” | Everything a Low Rise licensee can build, plus three-storey unit blocks, mixed-use and commercial buildings without the 2000m² floor area cap | Building work above three storeys; Type A construction on classes 4 to 9 |
| Builder — Open | “Building work on all classes of buildings” | No class, storey or floor area limit — high-rise residential, health and aged care, large commercial | Still excludes a completed building inspection for an interested party, and personally carrying out work for which a fire protection licence or an occupational licence is required unless the licensee holds it |
| Builder — Project Management Services | Administration and advisory services, and “management services, other than coordinating the scheduling of building work by building contractors”, for a consumer or principal across all classes of building work; and, if appointed superintendent under the contract, administering it and certifying “timing, quality and cost matters” | Client-side project management and superintendent roles on someone else’s build | The scope is services, not construction, so it does not authorise carrying out the building work; it expressly excludes “performing building work services under a construction management contract” |
Two clauses inside those scopes are easy to miss. Low Rise and Medium Rise each separately permit building work “that consists of non-structural work on a building” regardless of the class or the gross floor area of that building; Open has no need of the clause, because it already covers every class. And Low Rise, Medium Rise and Open each permit the licensee to prepare plans and specifications for their own personal use, or for use in building work they perform personally. All three exclude a completed building inspection for an interested party and personally carrying out building work needing a fire protection licence — though the QBCC temporarily authorises those three classes, until 2 May 2030, to install and maintain fire collars, fire-rated penetrations and fire-rated joint sealing, and fire and smoke walls and fire-rated ceilings, for the building work already within their scope.
What “class 1”, “class 10” and “class 2 to 9” actually mean
Those numbers come from the National Construction Code, not the QBCC. The NCC defines a class 1a building as one or more buildings which together form a single dwelling, including a detached house, or one of a group of two or more attached dwellings separated by a fire-resisting wall. Class 1b covers a boarding house, guest house or hostel that would ordinarily accommodate not more than 12 people and has a total area of all floors not more than 300m², or “four or more single dwellings located on one allotment and used for short-term holiday accommodation” — worth knowing in Noosa. Class 2 is “a building containing two or more sole-occupancy units”. Class 10a is a non-habitable building including a private garage, carport or shed, and class 10b is “a structure that is a fence, mast, antenna, retaining wall or free-standing wall or swimming pool or the like”.
Set that against the table and the point lands. Your house at Yaroomba is class 1a, your pool is class 10b, your garage class 10a, your boundary retaining wall class 10b. All of it sits inside the class 1 and class 10 limb of Builder — Low Rise, and as the QBCC publishes that limb it carries no floor area cap and no stated storey limit. Type A, Type B and Type C are the NCC’s construction types, grading the fire resistance a building’s elements must achieve, and in the Low Rise scope they qualify the classes 2 to 9 limb.
Which class does your Sunshine Coast project need?
For almost all residential work between Coolum Beach and Noosa Heads, the answer is Low Rise or better. A new home at Marcus Beach, a full renovation at Cotton Tree, a pool and pavilion at Coolum — all class 1a and class 10 work. The three 2025 Master Builders Queensland Sunshine Coast Housing & Construction Awards won for the Grandview Drive project at Coolum Beach, including Best Residential Swimming Pool, sat squarely in that territory.
You move up a class when the building changes character, not when the budget does. A block of units is class 2, and once it passes 2000m² of gross floor area or is designed as Type A or Type B construction, a Low Rise licensee cannot contract for it. A four-storey building takes you past the three-storey limb of Medium Rise. A three-storey home carved into a slope at Ninderry, by contrast, is still a single dwelling and still class 1a.
Keep the licence question separate from the approval question. Your builder’s class decides who may sign the contract; Noosa Shire Council’s Noosa Plan 2020 and Sunshine Coast Council’s Planning Scheme 2014 decide what may be built on the site.
The restricted builder licences, and where they stop
The QBCC also issues four restricted builder classes. They matter on renovations, because the person quoting your job may hold one of these rather than a full builder licence.
| Restricted class | QBCC scope of work |
|---|---|
| Kitchen, Bathroom & Laundry | “Install, refurbish, restore and repair a kitchen, bathroom or laundry on-site” in a class 1 or class 10 building, or in a classes 2 to 9 building where the gross floor area of that kitchen, bathroom or laundry is not more than 50m². Does not include “building work that may affect the structural performance of the building”. |
| Structural Landscaping | Prepare, fabricate and erect carports, decking, fences, gates, gazebos, ornamental structures, pergolas, ponds and water features, prefabricated sheds including associated concrete slabs with a floor area of not more than 10m², and retaining walls and structures; artificial landform structures requiring a fabricated internal structure; site preparation, excavation and laying paving or concrete “associated with landscaping”; irrigation for landscaping works; playground equipment; and tennis or other sporting courts. |
| Shopfitting | “Building work associated with the internal fitout of a shop or office, including shopfronts, but not including Type A or Type B construction.” |
| Special Structures | Two streams. Shade sails: construction, installation, maintenance or repair of membrane shade structures including metal brackets, cables and structural members, plus concreting for their footings. Signs: the same work for signs and the supporting structures for signs, plus concreting for those footings. |
The kitchen, bathroom and laundry restriction catches people out. If your bathroom job means shifting a load-bearing wall, setting down a slab for a level-entry shower or forming a structural opening, that is outside the restricted scope no matter how tidy the quote looks — the QBCC scope stops at building work that may affect the structural performance of the building. Settle early whether your scope is cosmetic or structural, because it changes who may legally sign the contract. Our guide to bathroom renovation costs in Queensland shows where that line usually falls.
Company licence, nominee supervisor, and why there are two numbers
When you engage a building company, the contracting entity needs its own licence. The QBCC puts it plainly: “the company entity must transact through a QBCC contractor-type licence, referred to as a company licence.” That company licence stands on a nominee, who “must hold either a contractor or nominee supervisor type of licence in the same class as the company licence”, and who “must be a director, secretary or an employee of the company”.
So a properly structured builder gives you two licence numbers, not one. Roebuck Concepts holds company QBCC licence 15280811, and Tom Roebuck holds individual QBCC licence 15015060. Look up both on the licensee register and check the class and any conditions recorded against each. You can read more about Roebuck Concepts, but the register is the authority, not any builder’s website.
When a QBCC licence is required at all
The QBCC states that individuals and companies must hold a licence to carry out or contract for building work valued over $3,300, over $1,100 where it involves hydraulic services design, and of any value where it involves drainage, plumbing and drainage, gas fitting, chemical termite management, fire protection, completed residential building inspection, building design, site classification or mechanical services. A handyman may work up to $3,300 provided the work is not electrical or plumbing work and does not require an occupational licence. The QBCC also lists an owner carrying out work on their own property as not needing a licence “where the work is valued at no more than $11,000“, or where they are working under an owner-builder permit.
What the licence class does not tell you
The class is a permission, not a report card. It does not tell you the licence is current and unconditioned, whether directions to rectify sit against it, or whether the builder has built anything resembling your job. It says nothing about financial capacity either. The QBCC applies separate minimum financial requirements, and states that at a minimum these include “a current ratio of no less than 1:1“, net tangible assets of at least $0, and enough working capital to support annual turnover within a set maximum revenue. A builder can hold the right class while sitting in a maximum revenue allowance well below your project’s value, so ask which one they hold.
Before you sign, run both licence numbers through the QBCC licensee register and read the result properly; our guide on how to check a QBCC licence sets out what the entries mean. Then work through the rest of the vetting in how to choose a builder in Queensland.
Frequently asked questions
Is a Builder — Low Rise licence enough to build a house in Queensland?
Yes. The QBCC scope for Builder — Low Rise expressly includes “building work on a class 1 or class 10 building”, and a detached house is class 1a under the NCC. As the QBCC publishes it, that limb carries no floor area cap, so a large architect-designed home is still within a Low Rise licence.
Do I need a Builder — Open licensee for a three-storey house?
Not because of the storeys. A single dwelling stays class 1a however many levels it has, and class 1 work sits inside the Low Rise scope under its own bullet, which states no storey limit. The “maximum of 3 storeys” wording is a separate limb of the Medium Rise scope, and Builder — Open carries no storey limit at all because it covers all classes of buildings. If your design is unusual, confirm the classification with your building certifier and the QBCC before you contract.
What is the difference between a contractor licence and a nominee supervisor licence?
A contractor licence lets the holder enter into building contracts. A nominee supervisor licence does not; it qualifies the holder to supervise the work and act as the nominee for a company licence, in the same class as that company licence.
Can a builder restricted to kitchen, bathroom and laundry do my whole bathroom renovation?
Only where nothing structural is touched. The QBCC scope for that class excludes building work that may affect the structural performance of the building, and in classes 2 to 9 buildings the kitchen, bathroom or laundry itself must be not more than 50m². Removing or relocating a load-bearing wall puts the job outside it.
Does the licence class change what happens if something goes wrong?
The class does not, but being licensed at all does. The QBCC states that principal contractors “have an obligation to take out home warranty insurance cover on behalf of their clients”, and that contractors “must take out home warranty insurance on the owner’s behalf before starting residential construction work”. Unlicensed work leaves you outside that scheme.