How to check a handyman licence in Victoria

Who issues it, and where to search

Victoria requires a written major domestic building contract above a value threshold, and the contract requirements are themselves a useful signal: if the work is big enough to need one and nobody has mentioned it, that is worth asking about.

How to check it, in order

1. 1Ask for the licence number and the exact name it is held under. It is often a company rather than the person standing in front of you, and the register searches on the name it was issued to.
2. 2Search Find and check a practitioner yourself. A photograph of a card proves that a licence once existed, not that it is current.
3. 3Check the class or category covers this work. A licence that is valid for one kind of work is not a licence for another, and that is the gap that most often matters.
4. 4Check the expiry date and any conditions or disciplinary history recorded against it.
5. 5Confirm the ABN on the quote matches the entity named on the licence, using ABN Lookup. A mismatch between who is licensed and who you are contracting with is worth asking about before you pay a deposit.

What the licence covers

Nothing, in the sense the question is usually meant: there is no such thing as a handyman licence anywhere in Australia. What exists is a boundary. Unlicensed work is permitted below a value threshold and outside the reserved trades, and licensed work is licensed no matter who does it or how small the job is.

What you can legally do yourself

The same boundary applies to you. Fixed electrical wiring and gas work are licensed everywhere with no householder exemption. Plumbing has narrow, jurisdiction-specific exemptions. Building work is permitted below a threshold, and above it needs either a licensed builder or an owner-builder permit.