Red flags when hiring a tradie

Short answer

The strongest warning signs are: refusing or dodging a licence number, asking for a large deposit or cash up front, door-knocking after a storm, pressure to decide today, no written quote, and a business you cannot find any independent trace of.

Most tradespeople are fine. The ones who are not tend to announce themselves in fairly consistent ways, usually before any work starts.

Before you agree to anything

  • They will not give you a licence number, or become irritated when asked. In licensed trades this is close to conclusive.
  • They knocked on your door. Legitimate businesses occasionally doorknock; storm-chasers almost always do.
  • There is pressure to decide today — a discount that expires, a crew that is 'in the area this week only'.
  • Cash only, or a discount for cash to avoid GST. Someone casual about tax paperwork is casual about your warranty paperwork.
  • A large deposit before work starts, especially above the state cap for building work.
  • No written quote, or a quote with no detail of what is excluded.

Things you can check yourself in five minutes

  1. Search the licence number on your state's regulator.
  2. Search the ABN on the national register and check the entity name matches the quote.
  3. Ring the number on their own website rather than the one you were given.
  4. Look for any independent trace of the business — a second source describing the same business the same way.

That last one is the check most people skip and it is genuinely informative. 95% of the businesses in this directory are described consistently by two or more independent sources. A business that exists in exactly one place, controlled by itself, is not necessarily a problem — but it is the only category where you have nothing to compare against.

The one that is hardest to see

A phone number that does not match the business's own website. It looks like nothing, and it is how you end up talking to a lead broker instead of a tradesperson. 5.5% of businesses here have that mismatch.

Common questions

What are the biggest warning signs when hiring a tradie?
Refusing to provide a licence number, door-knocking after storm damage, pressure to decide immediately, cash-only pricing, large up-front deposits, and no written quote.
Should I pay a tradie in cash?
Paying cash is legal, but a discount specifically for cash to avoid GST is not a good sign. It also tends to come with no invoice, which is what you need if you later want to enforce a warranty or claim on insurance.

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