The insurance and licences business clients will ask you for

Why they ask before they book you

A strata manager who sends a contractor into a building is answerable to the owners if something goes wrong. A facilities manager answers to a landlord, and a builder carries the safety duties for the whole site. So before any of them books you they want paper showing that the risk sits with you and your insurer rather than with them. It's how they protect themselves from a contractor they've never met, and the one who hands it over quickly is easier to book than the one who says they'll dig it out next week.

Most of what follows is the client's own requirement. A few items are set by law, such as workers' compensation for employers, licences for regulated work and a SWMS for high risk construction work. It pays to know which is which, because you can talk to a client about their requirement but you can't talk your way around the law.

Public liability insurance

Public liability covers you if your work injures someone or damages their property. The federal government's business.gov.au lists it among the covers some businesses need by law for certain occupations, but for most tradies and cleaners it isn't compulsory. In practice almost every business client will insist on it, and each one sets its own minimum.

The amount varies with the client and the risk. The NSW Small Business Commissioner's insurance factsheet for council suppliers says a small business may be adequately covered by a $5 million policy, while a business with more substantial risks may be asked for $10 million to $20 million. Councils tend to sit at the top of that range. Bathurst Regional Council asks every contractor for $20 million and only considers a lower figure for jobs under $20,000 after advice from its insurer.

So ask each client for their figure before you quote, because lifting your cover from $5 million to $20 million costs money and that belongs in your quote. Some clients will also ask to be noted on your policy as an interested party, which your broker can arrange. Bathurst's policy asks for that, and for an updated certificate whenever the policy renews or the insurer changes.

Workers' compensation

This one is the law, and the rules differ between the states.

In Queensland, WorkCover Queensland says an employer must hold an accident insurance policy covering its workers, which usually means every PAYG employee and some contractors. Sole traders, partners and company directors aren't counted as workers, so the policy doesn't cover them. They can take out WorkCover's workplace personal injury insurance instead, which is optional and pays out for injuries caused by work.

In NSW, icare says you'll probably need a policy if you hire anyone. You're exempt only if you pay $7,500 or less in wages in a financial year, don't employ an apprentice or trainee and aren't part of a group of businesses. A sole trader can't cover themselves under a workers' compensation policy, but NSW counts the working directors of a Pty Ltd company as workers, so a one-person company is in a different position to a sole trader.

If you're a sole trader with no staff, say so plainly when a client asks for your workers' compensation certificate. Offer your personal accident or income protection cover instead and ask whether that meets their requirement. NSW head contractors may also ask you for a subcontractor's statement. It's a NSW Government form, and when it's completed properly it relieves the head contractor of liability for your workers' compensation premiums, payroll tax and wages. If you've employed workers on the job, the statement has to come with your workers' compensation certificate of currency.

Professional indemnity

Professional indemnity covers claims that your advice or design caused a client a loss. It's mandatory for some professions, but most trades and cleaners won't need it. The NSW factsheet draws the line at professional advice, designs, specifications and project management. An IT support business that recommends a network setup, or a landscaper who draws the plan the client builds from, should ask a broker about it.

Certificates of currency

A certificate of currency is a one-page document from your insurer or broker showing that a policy is in force, with the insured business, the type of cover, the amount and the period. It's what clients actually want to see, because last year's policy schedule proves nothing about today. Bathurst's policy says the certificate has to be in the council's hands before any work starts,. Ask your broker for a fresh certificate each time a policy renews, and keep a separate one for public liability and for workers' compensation.

Trade licences

Licensing is set by each state, and clients do check. In Queensland the QBCC says you need a licence to contract for building work valued over $3,300, and for plumbing, drainage, gas fitting, fire protection, chemical termite management and mechanical services work at any value. In NSW a licence is needed for residential building work over $5,000 including GST in labour and materials, and for specialist work at any value: electrical wiring, plumbing, drainage, gasfitting, and air conditioning and refrigeration. NSW licences are handled by Building Commission NSW, which runs an online licence check that anyone can use to look you up.

Put your licence number and class on your quotes, invoices and email signature. If your licence doesn't cover part of a job, say so in the quote and name who will do that part, because a property manager who finds out halfway through will remember it.

White card and SWMS

If you'll be working on a construction site, the builder will want to see your white card, the general construction induction card. Queensland's regulation and SafeWork NSW treat it the same way: a business can't let a worker do construction work without the induction training, and the training lapses if the worker hasn't done construction work for two years in a row. So if you've spent a couple of years away from building sites, check your card before you turn up.

A safe work method statement (SWMS) is required by law before any high risk construction work starts, under the WHS Regulation in Queensland and the WHS Regulation 2025 in NSW. Queensland's regulation lists 18 kinds of work that count. They include work with a risk of a fall of more than 2 metres, work on or near energised electrical installations, work likely to disturb asbestos, trenches deeper than 1.5 metres, confined spaces, and work beside a road in use or where powered mobile plant is moving. The SWMS has to name the hazards and the controls and say how the controls will be checked. You can write your own or use one already prepared by someone else, and builders will usually want a copy before you start. A painter doing a two-storey repaint or a pressure cleaner working on a roof should have one ready.

Police checks and working with children checks

What most people call a police check is now formally a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check. You apply through an ACIC accredited body or a police agency, and the ACIC currently warns that some checks are taking up to a month, so don't leave it until a client asks.

Working with children checks depend on the state and on the work. In Queensland the government's guidance for schools says you need a blue card if you work where children are educated or cared for, and its examples include school cleaners and groundskeepers. A tradesperson doing maintenance or repairs with only incidental contact with students doesn't need one, although work inside an outside school hours care service or a kindergarten while children are there does. Business owners and operators can't rely on the seven-day exemption that covers some short jobs.

In NSW the Office of the Children's Guardian lists providing cleaning services to a school as work that needs a Working with Children Check, and a tradesperson who only incidentally comes into contact with children as work that doesn't. A NSW check lasts five years and costs $112 for paid workers. If you're unsure where you'll be working on a school site, ask the school before you start, which is what the Queensland guidance suggests too. Our page on selling to schools covers how they buy.

Keep it all in one folder

A contractor who can answer "send me your paperwork" within the hour looks organised before they've picked up a tool. Make one folder, on your phone and your computer, holding a current copy of each of these.

Name each file with what it is and when it expires, such as "Public liability COC to 30 June 2027.pdf", and put every expiry date in your calendar a month ahead. Then combine the lot into one PDF behind a cover page listing your ABN, licence numbers and insurers. When a renewal comes through, send the new certificate to your regular clients before they have to ask. A short capability statement sits well on top, and our capability statement template shows what to put in it.

Once the folder is ready, Curlew can write to the strata managers, builders and facilities managers near you in your business name.