INSIGHT · LICENSING & COMPLIANCE

Hiring an unlicensed subcontractor is now an offence in SA.
The check needs a date.

28 September 2026

Since 15 January 2026, South Australia's Statutes Amendment (Building and Construction Industry Review - Penalties) Act 2025 has been in operation. Consumer and Business Services (CBS) lists new offences for hiring unlicensed subcontractors to undertake licensed work and for using another contractor's licence number, with a $5,000 expiation fee for working unlicensed or outside licence conditions. For an SA builder, whether a subcontractor held an appropriate licence on the day they were engaged is now something to show afterwards: a dated check against the public register, not a belief.

Bricklayers in hard hats laying clay blocks on a building site

Analysed 28 September 2026 · CBS building and construction industry changes page (published 16 January 2026, page metadata last modified 19 August 2026) · SA Legislation register entry for Act No 68 of 2025 · SAFA Building Indemnity Insurance pages (published 3 and 11 June 2026) · YourSAy inspector registration consultation · archived copies dated in Sources · all pages read 28 September 2026.

Key takeaways

It commenced on 15 January 2026: The SA Legislation register lists the Act as No 68 of 2025, assented to on 4 December 2025 and commenced on 15 January 2026 (Gazette 15.1.2026 p27). CBS states it changes the Building Work Contractors Act 1995, the Plumbers, Gas Fitters and Electricians Act 1995, the Fair Trading Act 1987 and the Magistrates Court Act 1991.
Engaging an unlicensed subcontractor is a new offence: CBS lists "Hiring unlicensed subcontractors to undertake licensed work" among the new offences. Its table of amended penalties summarises new section 47A as: a licensed building work contractor must not contract a person unless they are appropriately licenced. Maximum penalty $500,000; expiation fee $5,000.
The insurance numbers moved on a different clock: The Building Indemnity Insurance (BII) changes did not arrive with the Act. The South Australian Government Financing Authority (SAFA) states the $250,000 policy limit applied to new QBE policies from 1 October 2025 and to all new policies from 10 November 2025, when the threshold also rose from $12,000 to $20,000. Which limit a policy carries depends on when it was issued, and by whom.
Enforcement has been resourced: CBS states it announced a dedicated Building Industry Response Team in June 2026, targeting unlicensed building work, misleading or improper advertising, failure to obtain BII and improper demands for payment. Authorities have up to 2 years to prosecute, and up to 5 years with Ministerial approval in certain cases.
We would record the licence check as a dated event: Licence number, licensed name, any conditions shown, the date checked, who checked and where, tied to the engagement it covers. That is a system-design recommendation, not a statement of what the law requires anyone to keep.

What commenced on
15 January 2026

CBS's industry-changes page, as read on 28 September 2026, describes the Act as introducing reforms following a review of the building and construction industry, and states that the reforms aim to protect consumers while reflecting the realities of today's building industry.

New offences: Unlicensed work; hiring unlicensed subcontractors to undertake licensed work; using another contractor's licence number; falsely claiming to be licensed or registered.
Higher maximum penalties: Up to $150,000 for individuals and $550,000 for companies for repeat offences, with higher penalties for false or misleading information to regulators or consumers, contract breaches and advertising violations. CBS states the Magistrates Court can impose penalties of up to $550,000 under the laws governing builders, plumbers, gas fitters and electricians.
Expiation fees: $5,000 for working unlicensed (or outside licence conditions) or advertising for work you are not licensed to perform; $20,000 for carrying out building work without BII when required; $5,000 for demanding or requiring payments you are not entitled to; $5,000 for using a contract that does not comply with the Building Work Contractors Act 1995.
Time to prosecute: Up to 2 years for all offences, and up to 5 years with Ministerial approval in certain cases. CBS adds that some offences may be handled with an infringement notice.

The licence offences,
as CBS summarises them

CBS publishes a table of amended penalties, dated January 2026, that sets each changed section beside its previous and new penalty.

CBS labels each explanation a summary and refers readers to the Act for the precise wording; we follow the summary, not the Act, and keep the table's spelling of "licenced". The table was read from an Internet Archive copy captured on 19 April 2026, because the CBS site did not serve the file to automated requests on 28 September 2026.

Section	CBS summary	Previous penalty	New penalty
Building Work Contractors Act s6(1)	Must not carry on business, or appear to, as a building work contractor without a licence	$250,000 or imprisonment for 6 months (individual)	$550,000 or imprisonment for 6 months (individual); expiation $5,000
Building Work Contractors Act s47A	A licensed building work contractor must not contract a person unless they are appropriately licenced	New	$500,000; expiation $5,000
Building Work Contractors Act s47B	A building work contractor must not use or refer to a licence number that is not the number assigned to their licence	New	$500,000; expiation $5,000
Building Work Contractors Act s47C	A person not licensed, or licensed with conditions, must not hold themselves out as licensed without conditions	New	$500,000; expiation $5,000
Building Work Contractors Act s34	Must not perform building work unless a compliant policy of insurance is in force	$20,000	$500,000; expiation $20,000
Plumbers, Gas Fitters and Electricians Act s12	Work in a licensed contractor's business must be carried out personally by a registered worker authorised to carry out such work	$20,000	$50,000; expiation $5,000

Why the check needs a date

The new offence turns on a status held by someone else, at a point in time. A licence is not a permanent attribute of a subcontractor: it has a holder, a number and, as the CBS summaries make explicit, it can carry conditions. The expiation for working unlicensed covers working "outside licence conditions", and section 47C is written around a person who "is licenced with conditions". CBS's own instruction to builders is a lookup: "If you're hiring a subcontractor, make sure they're licensed through CBS' Licensing Public Register." A lookup is only evidence if it is kept, and only useful later if it is dated.

The engagement date is the anchor: The section 47A summary is about contracting a person, which makes the date the subcontract was entered into the natural anchor for a record, rather than when a supervisor last saw a licence card. A check made at onboarding in 2025 says nothing about an engagement in 2026.
The number has to belong to the name: Section 47B targets use of a licence number that is not the one assigned to the user's licence. For the builder engaging a trade, a number printed on a quote is only evidence if the register shows it against the same name that signs the subcontract.
The question can arrive late: With up to 2 years to prosecute, and up to 5 with Ministerial approval in certain cases, a question about an engagement can be asked after the subcontract has closed, the job has been handed over and the person who checked has moved on. A later lookup answers a later question. What was seen on the engagement date has to come from the record.

The insurance numbers
moved on a different clock.

One date for the SA reforms does not fit the insurance figures. On the Building Indemnity Insurance (BII) pages of the South Australian Government Financing Authority (SAFA), which CBS links to, the all-insurer limit and the threshold change took effect 66 days before the Act commenced (our calculation, 10 November 2025 to 15 January 2026), and the limit a policy carries depends on who issued it and when.

The pre-change BII figure is not settled across publishers. CBS's own page, in a version archived on 26 December 2025, described minimum BII cover rising "from $80,000 to $250,000" for new policies commenced from 10 November 2025. The live page no longer carries the figure and points to the BII website, where SAFA describes the earlier limit as $150,000. The two may describe different things, a prescribed minimum and an issued policy limit. We have not reconciled them.

Date	As published
Before 1 October 2025	SAFA: "Policies issued prior to 1 October 2025 will retain their existing $150,000 limit."
1 October 2025	SAFA: the policy limit for new BII policies issued by QBE "will increase to $250,000", applying only to new QBE policies issued on or after that date.
10 November 2025	SAFA: the $250,000 limit is prescribed in the Building Work Contractors Regulations and applies to all new policies regardless of the insurer; policies issued by other insurers before this date "will continue to be subject to the $150,000 limit".
10 November 2025	SAFA: the threshold at which BII is required increases from $12,000 to $20,000.
15 January 2026	CBS: $20,000 expiation fee for carrying out building work without BII when required. SAFA: a penalty of up to $500,000.

Subcontracts sit with the head contractor for BII: SAFA lists "Subcontracts to builders contracted to perform the work" among projects that do not require BII, adding that the head contractor must meet any BII requirements. The licence question is different: CBS stated in November 2025 that subcontractors had been performing work whilst unlicensed "despite the requirement to be licensed to carry out building work when they are under a contract with another building work contractor".

The same Act,
two names.

In the version of CBS's industry-changes page archived on 26 December 2025, the legislation was named the Statutes Amendment (Building and Construction Industry Review - Stage 1) Act 2025. The SA Legislation register lists it, as read on 28 September 2026, as the Statutes Amendment (Building and Construction Industry Review - Penalties) Act 2025, No 68 of 2025. A compliance file that cites "the Stage 1 Act" has cited a name that differs from the one on the register entry.

What we would put in a system

Where agents help here is narrow. A document intelligence agent can read a subcontractor's quote, invoice, licence card or a saved register page and draft the licence number, name, any conditions shown and the date, flagging where the number and the name do not match; a scheduling system can prompt a fresh check before a trade starts on a new job. A person confirms each record against the CBS register. No agent decides whether a licence is appropriate for the work, whether work is licensed work, whether BII is required or whether an offence has occurred. Those are matters for CBS, the insurer and your advisers.

Field	Why it is load-bearing
Licence number and licensed name, as the register showed them	Section 47B is about numbers used against the wrong licence. The number is evidence only when it is recorded against the name that signs the subcontract.
Any conditions displayed at the check	The CBS expiation covers working "outside licence conditions"; a yes/no licensed field cannot carry that.
Date of the check, who made it, and the source	The engagement date is the anchor, and a question can arrive up to 2 years later, or 5 with Ministerial approval in certain cases. A later lookup answers a later question.
Engaging entity, subcontract date and scope of work	The section 47A summary is written about a licensed contractor contracting a person. In a group, that contractor is one specific entity, and the check has to attach to its engagement.
For each domestic job: BII certificate issue date, insurer and limit shown	SAFA's figures differ by insurer and by issue date either side of 1 October and 10 November 2025. A limit without its date cannot be checked against the rule that applied.

Questions worth asking
of your own records

For a builder: for each subcontractor on site this month, can you show the date their licence was last checked against the CBS register, and what it showed?

CBS's instruction is to check the public register when hiring a subcontractor. If the answer lives in someone's memory or a phone photo with no date, the check may have happened but the evidence of it has not survived.

For a trade contractor: does the licence number on your quotes, invoices and site signs match the licence your business holds, in the name you trade under?

The CBS summaries of sections 47B, 49 and 51 all turn on licence details matching the licence: a number not assigned to your licence, carrying on business other than in the licensed name, and site signs showing relevant licence details. Section 49's maximum rose from $2,500 to $250,000 with a $5,000 expiation.

For a plumbing, gas fitting or electrical contractor: which registered worker personally carried out each job, and was that worker authorised for that work on the day?

The CBS summary of section 12 of the Plumbers, Gas Fitters and Electricians Act places the offence on the licensed contractor where work is not carried out personally by an authorised registered worker. The maximum rose from $20,000 to $50,000, with a $5,000 expiation.

For a construction group running several entities: which entity engaged each subcontractor, and is the licence check filed against that entity's engagement?

The section 47A summary is written about a licensed building work contractor contracting a person. A check filed centrally, without the engaging entity and the subcontract date, cannot be matched to the engagement it was meant to cover.

For anyone keeping BII records: does each certificate record carry its issue date and insurer, or only a limit?

SAFA's pages give either $150,000 or $250,000 for policies depending on insurer and issue date, and a threshold that moved from $12,000 to $20,000 on 10 November 2025. A limit stored without its date is a number that cannot be checked.

What this analysis
does and does not show.

Evidence note

What it shows: That since 15 January 2026, South Australian building law, as CBS summarises it, treats engaging an unlicensed subcontractor for licensed work as an offence in its own right, and that the related insurance figures changed on earlier, insurer- and date-specific terms. The operational consequence drawn from that, a dated licence check tied to each engagement, is ours.
Key facts quoted: Act No 68 of 2025, assented 4 December 2025, commenced 15 January 2026; s47A new, maximum $500,000, expiation $5,000; $5,000 expiation for working unlicensed or outside licence conditions; up to $150,000 for individuals and $550,000 for companies for repeat offences; up to 2 years to prosecute, 5 with Ministerial approval in certain cases; BII limit $250,000 for new QBE policies from 1 October 2025 and all new policies from 10 November 2025; BII threshold $12,000 to $20,000 from 10 November 2025; Building Industry Response Team announced June 2026; inspector registration consultation 14 November to 12 December 2025, pending outcome.

We did not read the text of the Act or the Regulations. Section descriptions are CBS's own summaries, which CBS labels as summaries and refers readers to the Act for precise wording. What "appropriately licenced" requires for any particular scope of work is not addressed.
cbs.sa.gov.au, safa.sa.gov.au and legislation.sa.gov.au refused direct automated requests on 28 September 2026. Read that day through a third-party page-rendering service, not directly: the live CBS industry-changes page, the SA Legislation register entry, and SAFA's What's New and Builders & Brokers pages. Read from Internet Archive (web.archive.org) snapshots, not the live site: the CBS table of amended penalties (snapshot 19 April 2026), CBS's 14 November 2025 release (snapshot 2 December 2025) and the earlier CBS industry-changes page (snapshot 26 December 2025). The YourSAy pages and the discussion paper were read directly.
The earlier BII figure differs between publishers ($80,000 on an archived CBS page, $150,000 on SAFA's live page). We report both and do not reconcile them.
We did not access the CBS licensing public register and make no statement about what it displays, how often it updates or whether it keeps history.
This covers South Australia only. A group working across state borders holds engagements under several licensing regimes at once.
Nothing here is legal, insurance or compliance advice, and it does not determine whether any licence is appropriate, any work is licensed work, BII is required or any offence has occurred.

What to watch next

Dates and statuses as the publishers state them, as read on 28 September 2026.

1 July each year: SAFA states that construction costs will be reviewed annually with the intention of applying an increase to builder eligibility and job profile limits on 1 July each year, following a 9% increase for eligible QBE-insured builders on 1 July 2026. SAFA adds that changes will not necessarily be implemented in every year.
Residential building inspector registration: YourSAy lists the consultation as open from 14 November 2025 to 5pm 12 December 2025 and now "Pending outcome". The page states that a report will go to the Minister for Consumer and Business Affairs and that a summary of feedback will be published. No date for either is published.

Bring us one subcontractor engagement.

Pick a trade engaged on one of your current SA jobs. Tell us where the licence check for that engagement is recorded, what date it carries, and which of your entities signed the subcontract. We will show you what a request about that engagement, made two years from now, would actually return from your records.

This is general information about published regulatory guidance in South Australia, as read on 28 September 2026. It is not legal, insurance or compliance advice, and it does not determine whether any licence is appropriate for any work, whether BII is required, or whether any offence has occurred. Section descriptions are CBS's summaries, not the words of the Act.

Send us the engagement · Systems for trades

Sources

Suggested citation: Cyberate research team, "Hiring an unlicensed subcontractor is now an offence in SA. The check needs a date.", Cyberate Technologies, 28 September 2026. Derived rather than quoted: the 66 days between the BII changes of 10 November 2025 and the Act's commencement on 15 January 2026, our calculation in calendar days. Read through a page-rendering service rather than directly: the live CBS industry-changes page, the SA Legislation entry and both SAFA pages. Read from Internet Archive snapshots: the table of amended penalties (snapshot 19 April 2026), the CBS November 2025 release (snapshot 2 December 2025) and the earlier CBS industry-changes page (snapshot 26 December 2025).

Hiring an unlicensed subcontractor is now an offence in SA. The check needs a date.