Research
Trade businesses in New South Wales, by the numbers
We checked what 10,493 NSW trade businesses publish about themselves, and how much of it holds up against an independent source.
Measured 2026-08-08 · free to reuse with attribution
Of 10,493 trade businesses measured in New South Wales in 2026, 11.8% publish an ABN that can be confirmed against the national register, 39.6% list a phone number that matches the number on their own website, and 4% list one that contradicts it. 64.2% have a website that responds and 93.9% are corroborated by two or more independent sources. The median NSW trade business has 28 Google reviews, against 29 nationally. Trade licensing in New South Wales is administered by NSW Fair Trading. Source: WhoToHire, 2026-08-08.
11.8%
publish a checkable ABN
20% above the national rate of 9.8%.
39.6%
phone number confirmed against their own site
In line with the 39.2% national rate.
4%
phone number contradicting their own site
17% below the national rate of 4.8%.
64.2%
have a website that loads
In line with the 64.7% national rate.
28
Google reviews for the median business
The national median is 29. Review counts track how often people hire a trade, not how well they do it — a trade you call once a decade will always sit lower.
What stands out
New South Wales publishes checkable ABNs at 11.8%, 20% above the 9.8% national rate. Registration rules are set federally — an ABN is the same instrument everywhere — so a state gap is about what businesses choose to publish rather than about who is registered.
420 businesses in New South Wales — 4% — list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website, 17% below the national 4.8%. Worth checking before you call, because the same signature appears on both a listing nobody has updated in years and a lead-reselling service sitting between you and the person who does the work.
Licensing is where the state actually matters. Australia has no national trade register, so a licence is issued and enforced by NSW Fair Trading and a licence from another state does not automatically carry over.
Checking a licence in New South Wales
NSW Fair Trading maintains the public register covering builders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades. Searching it is free, takes about a minute, and is the only way to confirm a licence is current — a number printed on a van proves nothing on its own.
NSW Fair TradingStep by step: how to check an Australian tradie's licence
NSW trades compared
Trades with at least 40 businesses in New South Wales. Smaller groups are held back rather than published as percentages that swing on a single record.
| Trade | Businesses | ABN | Phone confirmed | Phone mismatch | Site loads | Median reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mechanics | 1,707 | 8.7% | 32.6% | 3.2% | 50.4% | 60 |
| Builders | 1,407 | 12.7% | 45.1% | 5% | 75.5% | 7 |
| Electricians | 843 | 17% | 42.9% | 3.8% | 62.9% | 23 |
| Cleaners | 699 | 9.6% | 37.5% | 4% | 64.8% | 26 |
| Plumbers | 608 | 20.6% | 47.5% | 6.4% | 70.7% | 26 |
| Photographers | 542 | 3.3% | 22.9% | 0.7% | 69.6% | 26 |
| Pet Groomers | 481 | 3.3% | 27.4% | 1.2% | 48% | 44 |
| Heating & Cooling | 444 | 16.4% | 50.2% | 5% | 71.8% | 33 |
| Gardeners & Landscapers | 427 | 11.7% | 46.8% | 3.5% | 70% | 12 |
| Pool Services | 332 | 10.5% | 37.3% | 7.8% | 69.9% | 31 |
| Solar Installers | 331 | 16% | 41.4% | 4.8% | 73.7% | 45 |
| Roofers | 293 | 22.2% | 46.8% | 4.8% | 68.9% | 14 |
| Car Washes | 293 | 4.1% | 16% | 4.1% | 41.6% | 107 |
| Removalists | 280 | 5.7% | 39.6% | 2.9% | 55% | 116 |
| Pest Controllers | 277 | 12.3% | 44.8% | 5.8% | 71.8% | 38 |
| Painters | 251 | 15.1% | 43% | 3.2% | 70.5% | 19 |
| Car Detailers | 229 | 5.7% | 29.7% | 3.9% | 53.3% | 61 |
| Driving Schools | 223 | 7.6% | 46.2% | 2.7% | 59.2% | 35 |
| Fencing Contractors | 202 | 14.9% | 52% | 5.4% | 74.3% | 14 |
| Locksmiths | 180 | 14.4% | 45% | 2.8% | 65.6% | 77 |
| Arborists | 178 | 18% | 50% | 3.4% | 69.1% | 24 |
| Tilers | 141 | 12.1% | 48.9% | 4.3% | 72.3% | 21 |
| Garage Door Specialists | 125 | 23.2% | 51.2% | 4% | 74.4% | 35 |
Method, and what it can't tell you
10,493 trade businesses in New South Wales, each checked the same way: an ABN lookup against the national register, a comparison of the listed phone number against the number on the business's own website, an HTTP request to that website, and a match against open mapping data maintained separately from Google.
This is a census of a directory, not of the trade. It covers businesses with enough of a public footprint to be found at all, which if anything biases these figures upward — a business too small to appear here is less likely to publish an ABN, not more.
Percentages are of every business in the group, including those where a check could not be completed. “Confirmed” means confirmed, not “confirmed among the ones we managed to check”. Review counts and averages are held; individual reviews are not, so nothing here can tell you whether a business's reviews arrived steadily or all at once.
Full method and national figures: the state of Australian trade business data.
Common questions
- How many trade businesses are there in New South Wales?
- This dataset holds 10,493 across 23 trades, measured on 2026-08-08. It is a census of the businesses in this directory rather than of every trade business in New South Wales, so treat it as a large sample with a known bias toward businesses that have a public footprint.
- How many NSW trade businesses publish an ABN you can check?
- 11.8% — 1,238 of 10,493. Nationally the figure is 9.8%, so New South Wales sits 20% above it. An ABN is free to look up on the national register, which makes it the cheapest identity check available to a customer.
- Who regulates trade licensing in New South Wales?
- NSW Fair Trading, covering builders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades. Licensing in Australia is a state matter with no national register, so a licence issued elsewhere does not automatically carry over. Check the licence with the regulator in the state where the work is being done.
- How many NSW businesses list a phone number that doesn't match their website?
- 4%, or about 420 businesses. This counts only direct contradictions between a listed number and the number on the business's own site, not missing numbers and not businesses that could not be checked.
- Which trades in New South Wales are best documented?
- Garage Door Specialists publish a checkable ABN most often at 23.2%, and photographers least often at 3.3%. Only trades with at least 40 businesses in the state are compared.
Using these numbers
Free to quote, chart or republish under CC BY 4.0, which asks only for attribution and a link. The full aggregate dataset is available as a free download. If you need a cut that isn't published, ask.
WhoToHire, “NSW trade business data 2026”, 2026-08-08. https://whotohire.com.au/research/states/nsw
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