Practical business tips for Australian tradies and contractors, covering ABN requirements, GST obligations, state-specific trade licensing, and Fair Work compliance.
On a total fire ban day in Victoria or NSW, welding, grinding and gas cutting in the open stop unless you hold a permit or exemption. The fire season kit Victoria requires, what counts as the open air, the afternoon-before routine, permit and exemption lead times, and the penalties.
Since November 2023, putting an unfair term in your standard quote terms is itself a breach, and the ACCC has named cancellation clauses and automatic renewals as priorities. Seven clauses tradies use, how a court tests them, and what to rewrite.
Queensland applies above $3,300, NSW and Victoria above $20,000, the NT above $25,000, and Tasmania has no compulsory scheme. The home warranty insurance line in every state and territory, when the cover has to exist, and what changed in Victoria on 1 July 2026.
From 1 January 2027 every owner-occupied home in Queensland needs interconnected photoelectric smoke alarms in every bedroom, the hallway outside them and on every storey. What a compliant installation needs, where each alarm goes, what the owner may fit themselves, and the certificate the electrician issues.
Anyone doing construction work in Australia needs a White Card. Here's who needs one, how the course runs in four states, and when an interstate or older card is no longer valid.
Australia's exposure standards become workplace exposure limits on 1 December 2026. Here's which trade dust and fume limits fall, why silica holds, and what to check first.
