Choosing a Builder · 8 min read

What to Look for in a Sydney Renovation Builder

By Harry MilaniPrincipal Designer & NSW-Licensed Builder19 February 2026

Choosing a builder is the single biggest decision in your renovation. Sydney has good builders and bad ones, and the difference isn't always visible on the website. Here's what to check — and what to insist on — before you sign.

1. Licence — check it yourself

NSW Fair Trading maintains a public register of licensed builders. Look up the builder by name and licence number. Confirm the licence is current, in the right class (Building Work Contractor is the common one), and held in the name of the person or company you're actually contracting with.

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Link to the NSW Fair Trading licence check tool and note the exact classes to look for. Mention your own licence number (391529C) as an example.

2. Insurance — three types, all required

A legitimate NSW builder carries public liability insurance, workers compensation and — for jobs over $20,000 — Home Building Compensation (HBC) cover per contract. Ask for the certificates of currency. Not a broker's letter. The actual certificates.

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Add practical guidance: what levels of PL cover are appropriate, how HBC is priced per contract, and where homeowners can verify HBC issue via the icare check.

3. Contract — HIA or MBA, not a one-pager

Any renovation over $5,000 in NSW requires a written contract. Any good builder will use a HIA or Master Builders template — these are battle-tested, have clear variation and dispute clauses, and protect both parties. Be very cautious of a builder proposing their own bespoke short-form contract.

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Add the specific contract clauses to read carefully — progress payments, PC sums, provisional sums, extensions of time, liquidated damages, defects liability period.

4. Quoting — line-item, not lump sum

A single number on a page tells you nothing. A proper quote breaks the job into trades and stages, itemises PC and provisional sums, and states clearly what's included and excluded. If two quotes are wildly different, it's usually scope, not margin — the cheaper quote has left something out.

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Show a redacted example of your own quote structure so readers can compare.

5. References and recent work

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Ask for three recent references. Ideally see one job in progress and one at handover. Note the questions to ask referees — communication, cleanliness, variations, defects response.

6. Red flags

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Your list of the warning signs — cash-only deposits, unusually large upfront payments, no HBC certificate produced, licence held by a different entity to the contracting company, refusal to use a standard contract, verbal-only variations.

7. The designer-builder advantage

A builder who is also an architecturally qualified designer reads drawings differently — they see the structural, services and sequencing implications immediately, and they price what's actually buildable rather than what's optimistically drawn. On a renovation, that shortens the gap between quote and reality.

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