Queensland builders are licensed by the QBCC, and its advertising rules count your website, social media pages, online directory listings and even your on-hold message as advertising. Each has to show the name you're licensed under, your licence number and that you're licensed under the QBCC Act, set out legibly and reasonably prominently. The QBCC says an ad carrying only a trading name will most likely be non-compliant, and it audits websites as well as print. Its logo can't appear on your own material at all, though linking to the QBCC site is fine.
Clients often ask about the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme before they sign. It protects owners if a licensed contractor fails to finish the work or fix defects, it applies to most residential work above the same value that needs a licence, and the premium sits inside the contract price and is collected with the deposit. Deposits are capped too: the QBCC's guidance sets the limit by contract value, falling from 20% on the smallest jobs to 5% on larger contracts, and says progress payments should match the work actually completed. A short section that explains how you handle these, linked to the QBCC's own pages, answers the question before the first meeting.
Brisbane City Plan's Traditional building character overlay covers streets of houses built in or before 1946. Council says external extensions to these homes generally need planning approval, while raising one may not if the new height stays within 9.5 metres. For the building work itself, a private building certifier is the assessment manager and council acts as a referral agency. If this is your bread and butter, your site can say you're used to it; the detail belongs in your conversation with each owner.
Flooding is the other question that comes up early. Council's FloodWise Property Report shows a property's flood risk, its January 2011 and February 2022 flood levels and the minimum habitable floor level for new work, and council describes it as written for builders, certifiers, architects and engineers. Inviting owners to attach one to their enquiry shows you look at the block before you price it.
Brisbane City Council covers 190 suburbs and about 1.38 million residents, and few builders want work in all of them. Owners tend to place themselves north or south of the river, out west or on the bayside, and many builders also take jobs in Logan, Moreton Bay, Ipswich or the Redlands, which are separate councils. We're an Adelaide team at Hutt St, so we work with Brisbane builders by phone and email: you send project photos, licence details and the areas you build in, and we send a draft link you can check from site.
