Short answer
Check the licence first — earthmoving & demolition need a licence for some work and not other work. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 983 Australian earthmoving & demolition in this directory, only 14% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 7.3% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.
Earthmoving & Demolition handle site cuts, trenching, excavation, bobcat and excavator work, house and structure demolition, and asbestos removal. This is what to check before you let one into your house, and what the evidence says about the category as a whole.
Earthmoving & Demolition are licensed for some work and not others
Demolition of anything substantial needs a licence or permit under state work-health-and-safety rules, and asbestos removal needs its own licence class everywhere. Excavation near services is governed by Before You Dig Australia: a contractor who starts without the plans has started wrong. Council approval is usually needed to demolish a dwelling.
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 983 Australian earthmoving & demolition actually publish
We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For earthmoving & demolition:
| What we checked | Earthmoving & Demolition | All trades |
|---|---|---|
| Publish an ABN we could confirm | 14% | 21.5% |
| Listed phone matches their own website | 71.1% | 59.2% |
| Listed phone contradicts their own website | 7.3% | 7.7% |
| Website responded when we checked | 74.9% | 81% |
| Corroborated by two or more sources | 91.1% | 81.1% |
| Median number of Google reviews | 8 | 39 |
What goes wrong with earthmoving & demolition
- Asbestos removed by someone without the licence class the material requires
- Digging without Before You Dig plans, into gas, power or NBN
- Demolition started before the council permit or neighbour notification it needed
What to ask before the work starts
- What licences do you hold for demolition and for asbestos removal?
- Will you obtain the Before You Dig plans and the council permit?
- Where does the waste go, and is the disposal fee in the quote?
A earthmoving or demolition contractor 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 earthmoving or demolition contractor in this directory has 8 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 earthmoving & demolition are
Sydney (26), Gold Coast (24), Melbourne (21), Brisbane (21), Central Coast (18), Perth (17). A shortlist for your own area is more useful than a national ranking — the best earthmoving or demolition contractor 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 earthmoving & demolition need a licence in Australia?
- Sometimes. Demolition of anything substantial needs a licence or permit under state work-health-and-safety rules, and asbestos removal needs its own licence class everywhere. Excavation near services is governed by Before You Dig Australia: a contractor who starts without the plans has started wrong. Council approval is usually needed to demolish a dwelling.
- How do I check an earthmoving or demolition contractor'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 earthmoving & demolition have a verifiable ABN?
- 14% of the 983 earthmoving & demolition in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 21.5% across all trades.
- How many reviews should an earthmoving or demolition contractor have?
- The median earthmoving or demolition contractor here has 8. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.
Compare earthmoving & demolition near you
983 earthmoving & demolition, ranked on the evidence described above rather than on advertising.
Read next
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