Short answer
Check the licence first — carpenters need a licence for some work and not other work. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 656 Australian carpenters in this directory, only 19.5% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 3.5% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.
Carpenters handle framing, decks, pergolas, doors and windows, fit-outs, built-in joinery and repairs. This is what to check before you let one into your house, and what the evidence says about the category as a whole.
Carpenters are licensed for some work and not others
Carpentry is licensed as its own trade in some states and falls under general building licensing in others, with dollar thresholds that differ everywhere. Structural work — framing, decks above a certain height, anything load-bearing — is where the licence and the council approval matter most. The regulator for your state is listed below.
There is no national licence register in Australia — each state and territory runs its own. The regulator for your state is listed at the bottom of this guide, and checking a number takes about a minute.
What 656 Australian carpenters actually publish
We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For carpenters:
| What we checked | Carpenters | All trades |
|---|---|---|
| Publish an ABN we could confirm | 19.5% | 21.2% |
| Listed phone matches their own website | 67.5% | 59.2% |
| Listed phone contradicts their own website | 3.5% | 7.7% |
| Website responded when we checked | 83.5% | 81% |
| Corroborated by two or more sources | 86.3% | 81.1% |
| Median number of Google reviews | 14 | 39 |
What goes wrong with carpenters
- Structural work done without the licence or approval the state requires
- A deck or pergola built without the engineering its height or span needed
- Timber specified for indoors used outside, so it fails in a few seasons
What to ask before the work starts
- What licence or registration do you hold, and does it cover structural work?
- Does this job need a council permit, and will you handle it?
- What timber and fixings are you quoting, and are they rated for where they are going?
A carpenter who answers all three of those without hesitating is telling you something useful. One who is vague about a licence number is telling you something too.
The median matters more than the average
The median carpenter in this directory has 14 Google reviews. That is the number to hold in your head when you see a perfect five-star rating: five stars from four reviews and 4.6 from three hundred are not comparable, and the second is almost always the safer hire.
It is also why the ranking here weights review volume more heavily than review score. A business cannot buy its position, and a handful of glowing reviews does not move it far.
Where the carpenters are
Sydney (33), Melbourne (27), Brisbane (25), Central Coast (21), Perth (17). A shortlist for your own area is more useful than a national ranking — the best carpenter in the country is no help if they are four states away.
Where to check a licence, by state
There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state where the work is happening.
- NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
- VICBuilding and Plumbing Commission, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
- QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
- WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
- SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
- TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
- ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
- NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers
Common questions
- Do carpenters need a licence in Australia?
- Sometimes. Carpentry is licensed as its own trade in some states and falls under general building licensing in others, with dollar thresholds that differ everywhere. Structural work — framing, decks above a certain height, anything load-bearing — is where the licence and the council approval matter most. The regulator for your state is listed below.
- How do I check a carpenter's licence?
- There is no national register. Each state and territory has its own regulator — NSW Fair Trading, the Building and Plumbing Commission and Energy Safe Victoria in Victoria, QBCC in Queensland, Building and Energy in WA, Consumer and Business Services in SA, CBOS in Tasmania, Access Canberra in the ACT, and the NT Government. Search the licence number the business gives you on the regulator for the state the work is happening in.
- What percentage of Australian carpenters have a verifiable ABN?
- 19.5% of the 656 carpenters in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 21.2% across all trades.
- How many reviews should a carpenter have?
- The median carpenter here has 14. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.
Compare carpenters near you
656 carpenters, ranked on the evidence described above rather than on advertising.
Read next
- How to check an Australian tradie's licenceThere is no national licence register in Australia. Here is the regulator for every state and territory, what each one c…
- What an ABN tells you about a tradie — and what it doesn'tAn ABN is free, public and takes a minute to check — and only 21.2% of 130,610 Australian trade businesses publish one. …
- When a tradie's phone number doesn't match their own website10,057 Australian trade businesses list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website. Sometimes it is a …