Short answer
Check the licence first — plasterers need a licence for some work and not other work. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 262 Australian plasterers in this directory, only 9.2% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 3.8% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.
Plasterers handle plasterboard walls and ceilings, cornices, patching and repairs, rendering and decorative finishes. This is what to check before you let one into your house, and what the evidence says about the category as a whole.
Plasterers are licensed for some work and not others
Plastering is a licensed class of work in some states, including Queensland and New South Wales above their thresholds, and unlicensed in others. Fire-rated and wet-area linings have specific requirements wherever you are, and a renderer working on a wall that has moved needs to say why it moved before covering it.
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 262 Australian plasterers actually publish
We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For plasterers:
| What we checked | Plasterers | All trades |
|---|---|---|
| Publish an ABN we could confirm | 9.2% | 21.2% |
| Listed phone matches their own website | 78.1% | 59.2% |
| Listed phone contradicts their own website | 3.8% | 7.7% |
| Website responded when we checked | 80.3% | 81% |
| Corroborated by two or more sources | 81.3% | 81.1% |
| Median number of Google reviews | 9 | 39 |
What goes wrong with plasterers
- A wet-area or fire-rated lining done with standard board
- Cracks rendered over instead of investigated
- Dust and debris left for you to deal with, because clean-up was never in the quote
What to ask before the work starts
- What licence do you hold for this work in this state, if one applies?
- Is this area wet or fire-rated, and what board are you using?
- Is sanding, painting prep and clean-up included?
A plasterer 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 plasterer in this directory has 9 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 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 plasterers need a licence in Australia?
- Sometimes. Plastering is a licensed class of work in some states, including Queensland and New South Wales above their thresholds, and unlicensed in others. Fire-rated and wet-area linings have specific requirements wherever you are, and a renderer working on a wall that has moved needs to say why it moved before covering it.
- How do I check a plasterer'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 plasterers have a verifiable ABN?
- 9.2% of the 262 plasterers in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 21.2% across all trades.
- How many reviews should a plasterer have?
- The median plasterer here has 9. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.
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 …