Short answer
Check the licence first — tilers need a licence for some work and not other work. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 475 Australian tilers in this directory, only 7.2% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 3.6% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.
Tilers handle floor and wall tiling, waterproofing, bathrooms and outdoor paving. This is what to check before you let one into your house, and what the evidence says about the trade as a whole.
Tilers are licensed for some work and not others
Tiling itself is often unlicensed, but waterproofing under it is licensed work in most states — and waterproofing is the part that fails expensively. A tiler who subcontracts the waterproofing should be able to tell you who did it and show the certificate.
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 475 Australian tilers actually publish
We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For tilers:
| What we checked | Tilers | All trades |
|---|---|---|
| Publish an ABN we could confirm | 7.2% | 12.9% |
| Listed phone matches their own website | 43.4% | 44.3% |
| Listed phone contradicts their own website | 3.6% | 5.5% |
| Website responded when we checked | 65.1% | 70.8% |
| Corroborated by two or more sources | 97.3% | 95% |
| Median number of Google reviews | 18 | 18 |
What goes wrong with tilers
- Waterproofing done by the tiler without the licence for it
- No waterproofing certificate, which you will need when you sell
- Falls to the drain set wrong, which only shows once water is running
What to ask before the work starts
- Who is doing the waterproofing and are they licensed for it?
- Will I get a waterproofing certificate?
- How are you setting the falls to the floor waste?
A tiler 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 tiler in this directory has 18 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 tilers are
Sydney (73), Melbourne (61), Perth (42), Brisbane (32), Gold Coast (30), Canberra (15). A shortlist for your own area is more useful than a national ranking — the best tiler 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
- VICVictorian Building Authority, 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 tilers need a licence in Australia?
- Sometimes. Tiling itself is often unlicensed, but waterproofing under it is licensed work in most states — and waterproofing is the part that fails expensively. A tiler who subcontracts the waterproofing should be able to tell you who did it and show the certificate.
- How do I check a tiler's licence?
- There is no national register. Each state and territory has its own regulator — NSW Fair Trading, the Victorian Building Authority and Energy Safe 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 tilers have a verifiable ABN?
- 7.2% of the 475 tilers in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 12.9% across all trades.
- How many reviews should a tiler have?
- The median tiler here has 18. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.
Compare tilers near you
475 tilers, 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 website1,139 Australian trade businesses list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website. Sometimes it is a s…