Research
Trade businesses in Tasmania, by the numbers
We checked what 912 TAS 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 912 trade businesses measured in Tasmania in 2026, 7.3% publish an ABN that can be confirmed against the national register, 35.1% list a phone number that matches the number on their own website, and 6.1% list one that contradicts it. 61.8% have a website that responds and 97.4% are corroborated by two or more independent sources. The median TAS trade business has 18 Google reviews, against 29 nationally. Trade licensing in Tasmania is administered by Consumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS). Source: WhoToHire, 2026-08-08.
7.3%
publish a checkable ABN
26% below the national rate of 9.8%.
35.1%
phone number confirmed against their own site
10% below the national rate of 39.2%.
6.1%
phone number contradicting their own site
27% above the national rate of 4.8%.
61.8%
have a website that loads
In line with the 64.7% national rate.
18
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
Tasmania publishes checkable ABNs at 7.3%, 26% below 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.
56 businesses in Tasmania — 6.1% — list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website, 27% above 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 Consumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS) and a licence from another state does not automatically carry over.
Checking a licence in Tasmania
Consumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS) maintains the public register covering building and occupational licences. 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.
Consumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)Step by step: how to check an Australian tradie's licence
TAS trades compared
Trades with at least 40 businesses in Tasmania. 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 | 186 | 3.2% | 24.2% | 4.8% | 43.5% | 45 |
| Builders | 143 | 7% | 41.3% | 6.3% | 74.8% | 4 |
| Electricians | 71 | 7% | 39.4% | 8.5% | 66.2% | 16 |
| Cleaners | 65 | 4.6% | 47.7% | 7.7% | 72.3% | 13 |
| Plumbers | 49 | 10.2% | 44.9% | 2% | 59.2% | 8 |
| Pet Groomers | 49 | 0% | 22.4% | 0% | 42.9% | 35 |
| Photographers | 46 | 4.3% | 17.4% | 2.2% | 73.9% | 13 |
Method, and what it can't tell you
912 trade businesses in Tasmania, 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 Tasmania?
- This dataset holds 912 across 7 trades, measured on 2026-08-08. It is a census of the businesses in this directory rather than of every trade business in Tasmania, so treat it as a large sample with a known bias toward businesses that have a public footprint.
- How many TAS trade businesses publish an ABN you can check?
- 7.3% — 67 of 912. Nationally the figure is 9.8%, so Tasmania sits 26% below 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 Tasmania?
- Consumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS), covering building and occupational licences. 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 TAS businesses list a phone number that doesn't match their website?
- 6.1%, or about 56 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 Tasmania are best documented?
- Plumbers publish a checkable ABN most often at 10.2%, and pet groomers least often at 0%. 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, “TAS trade business data 2026”, 2026-08-08. https://whotohire.com.au/research/states/tas
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