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Contractors

A Contractor’s Licence is issued to individuals or businesses and entitles the holder to contract for electrical, plumbing, gas-fitting or automotive gas-fitting work that is controlled by this legislation.

The holder of a Contractor’s Licence may be the owner, partner, corporate officer or manager of the business and need not be an electrical practitioner, plumber, gas-fitter or automotive gas-fitter. Contractors can be anyone, so long as they are fit and proper persons.

A Contractor must

Nominated Manager

Licensed Contractors must nominate a person to be the Nominated Manager who will be responsible for managing and supervising any prescribed work undertaken by the business.

The Nominated Manager is a person who

a) holds a Practitioner’s Licence for the relevant occupation and class (other specific criteria may apply to particular classes of licences) and

b) has completed additional qualifications, approved courses or units of competency, determined by the Administrator; or can satisfy the Administrator that he or she has held the appropriate licence and fulfilled the role and duties of a nominated manager in the relevant class of licence within the previous three years.

A spouse may hold the Contractor’s Licence, while the other spouse, an electrical practitioner, is the Nominated Manager. In this example, the first spouse may manage the administrative and financial side of the business, while the other undertakes the prescribed work and the role of the Nominated Manager.

The primary responsibility of the Nominated Manager is to ensure that the technical side of the business in relation to prescribed work is managed in accordance with the Act and Regulations, although this does not stop a Nominated Manager from taking on the administrative/financial responsibilities of the business.

The other main responsibilities of a Nominated Manager are to

  • assess the scope and technical requirements of any prescribed work to be carried out under a contract
  • determine the skills and resources necessary to carry out that work and
  • make arrangements for carrying out prescribed work properly and safely.

Nominated Managers (and Contractors) are also responsible for the proper performance of all prescribed work carried out under the Contractor’s Licence, and for ensuring that compliance documentation is completed and copies given to any persons specified. Nominated Managers may be assisted in their role, but cannot delegate their responsibility to another person.

The Occupational Licensing Act 2005 requires that

  • a Contractor must not obstruct or influence a Nominated Manager in the performance of his or her duties and
  • a Nominated Manager must perform competently their duties under the Act.

For example, it would contravene the legislation if a Contractor encouraged a Nominated Manager to take shortcuts to save money rather than perform prescribed work in the correct manner.

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