Short answer
Check the licence first — flooring installers need a licence for some work and not other work. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 1,078 Australian flooring installers in this directory, only 13.4% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 4.4% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.
Flooring Installers handle timber, hybrid, laminate and vinyl floors, carpet, floor sanding and polishing, and subfloor preparation. This is what to check before you let one into your house, and what the evidence says about the category as a whole.
Flooring Installers are licensed for some work and not others
Floor laying and finishing is licensed in some states, including Queensland, and falls under residential building work above a threshold in others. The quality question is the subfloor: a floor laid on a surface that was never levelled or dried fails, and a quote that does not mention preparation is a quote for the visible half of the job.
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 1,078 Australian flooring installers actually publish
We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For flooring installers:
| What we checked | Flooring Installers | All trades |
|---|---|---|
| Publish an ABN we could confirm | 13.4% | 21.2% |
| Listed phone matches their own website | 69.4% | 59.2% |
| Listed phone contradicts their own website | 4.4% | 7.7% |
| Website responded when we checked | 77.9% | 81% |
| Corroborated by two or more sources | 79.8% | 81.1% |
| Median number of Google reviews | 38 | 39 |
What goes wrong with flooring installers
- A floor laid over a subfloor that was never checked for moisture or level
- Manufacturer warranties voided by the installation method
- Sanding dust through the whole house because containment was never discussed
What to ask before the work starts
- What licence do you hold for this work, if one applies here?
- What subfloor preparation is included, and have you checked moisture?
- Does this installation keep the manufacturer's warranty intact?
A flooring installer 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 flooring installer in this directory has 38 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 flooring installers are
Melbourne (42), Craigieburn (35), Brisbane (33), Ringwood (29), Perth (28), Central Coast (28). A shortlist for your own area is more useful than a national ranking — the best flooring installer 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 flooring installers need a licence in Australia?
- Sometimes. Floor laying and finishing is licensed in some states, including Queensland, and falls under residential building work above a threshold in others. The quality question is the subfloor: a floor laid on a surface that was never levelled or dried fails, and a quote that does not mention preparation is a quote for the visible half of the job.
- How do I check a flooring installer'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 flooring installers have a verifiable ABN?
- 13.4% of the 1,078 flooring installers in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 21.2% across all trades.
- How many reviews should a flooring installer have?
- The median flooring installer here has 38. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.
Compare flooring installers near you
1,078 flooring installers, ranked on the evidence described above rather than on advertising.
Read next
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- 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 …