Working with subbies: checks, contracts and paperwork

Good subbies make your jobs. Before they start, check they're licensed, insured and set up properly. Then pay them on time and keep the records the ATO expects.

Check their licence

Most building and trade work needs a licence or registration from your state's regulator. Check it's current and covers the work you're giving them. Check it yourself: a business card or a quote isn't proof.

NSW: use the Service NSW licence check. You need a licence for residential building work, and for wiring, plumbing, draining, gasfitting, air conditioning and refrigeration work.
Victoria: use the Building and Plumbing Commission's find and check a practitioner tool. It also shows any conditions on their registration.
Queensland: search the QBCC licensee register. If they're not in it, they may not be licensed.
Other states and territories: your building regulator has an online licence search.

Check their ABN

Look them up on ABN Lookup. It's free and shows whether the ABN is active or cancelled, the type of business, and whether they're registered for GST. If they charge you GST, check they're registered for it.

Check their insurance

Public liability. It covers them if someone is hurt or property is damaged because of their negligence. Some states need it for certain trades. Ask for a certificate of currency and check the expiry date.
Workers compensation. Employers must have it. If your subbie has their own workers, they need their own policy. Whether you need to cover a contractor depends on your state's rules, so check with your state's workers compensation regulator.
Sole traders. Workers compensation doesn't cover a sole trader. They need their own accident or income cover.

Check their White Card, and get a SWMS for any high risk work. See safety paperwork on site.

Contractor or employee? Avoid sham contracting

An ABN doesn't make someone a contractor. Neither does sending you invoices.
It depends on the whole working arrangement. Contractors run their own business. They often use their own tools and methods, set their own fees, and can work for other clients. Employees work in your business, and you control how, where and when.
Telling a worker they're a contractor when you don't reasonably believe it is sham contracting. It's illegal, and so is sacking or threatening an employee to re-hire them as a contractor for the same work. Courts can impose big penalties.

If you're not sure, read the Fair Work Ombudsman and ATO guidance, or get independent legal advice.

Taxable payments annual report (TPAR)

If your business is mainly in building and construction, and you pay contractors for building and construction services, you must lodge a TPAR.
“Mainly” means 50% or more of your income or activity comes from building and construction, this year or last.
It reports what you paid each contractor over the financial year.
Payments to employees aren't included.
It's due by 28 August each year.

Keep each subbie's name, address and ABN up to date through the year, and TPAR time is easy.

Subbie claims and retention

Your subbies can use Security of Payment laws to claim from you, just as you claim from your client. If a subbie serves a payment claim and you won't pay it in full, give them a payment schedule before your state's deadline. See Security of Payment.

If you hold retention, track it for each subbie and release it on time. In Queensland, for example, the law limits how much can be held. If the contract doesn't set a defects liability period, retention must be released 12 months after practical completion, and holding it without a reasonable excuse is an offence.

In Footing, a sub work order holds the contract value and retention. You can certify or reject each subbie claim, mark it paid, and release retention when it's due. See assign your crew and subbies.

Sources

Checked September 2026. Rules change, and they differ between states. This is general information, not legal or tax advice.

Assign your crew and subbies to a jobBook your staff and subbies on a job, issue a subbie’s work order, and spot jobs with no one on them.4 min Security of Payment: how progress claims get you paidThe basics of Security of Payment laws: payment claims, payment schedules, deadlines and adjudication, and how each state differs.5 min Safety paperwork on site: SWMS, inductions and toolbox talksWhat safety paperwork the law expects on a construction site, what's just good practice, and how to keep records you can find later.5 min

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