Websites for Brisbane carpenters who rebuild stairs and verandahs on old Queenslanders, build decks, or frame and fix out for builders: QBCC details set out the way the advertising rules ask, photos grouped by job, and a quote form that collects what a deck's approval depends on.
A Brisbane homeowner ringing about new front stairs or a deck off the kitchen usually wants three things settled: are you licensed for it, have you built something like it, and will a certifier be involved? A builder short a carpenter wants your licence classes, the suburbs you'll travel to and how soon you can start. The site should answer both within a scroll or two and let the job photos do the rest.
Every page carries the name your QBCC licence is held under, the licence number and a line saying you're licensed under the QBCC Act, with your trading name beside them. The list of services then follows your licence classes, because the QBCC's carpentry class and its structural landscaping class name different jobs. If you hold both, the site says so.
Rebuilt front stairs and balustrades, a verandah with new boards and posts, casement windows restored in their original frames, a hallway floor relaid. Owners of older timber homes look for a carpenter who has worked on a house like theirs, so these jobs sit together, with before-and-after pairs taken from the same spot on the footpath.
Brisbane City Council lists the conditions under which a deck doesn't need building approval, and the form collects the same facts: floor area, height above the ground, roofed or open, the longest side and whether a pool fence is close by. Add a tick for the character overlay and you know before you drive out whether building approval through a certifier, or planning approval, is likely to be part of the job.
An optional question asks whether there's a sewer access cover, a council stormwater pipe or an easement where the deck or stairs will go. In Brisbane the first is Urban Utilities' business and the second is council's, and either can move a footing, so it's better to hear about it before you price the job than on the day you dig.
A site manager trying to fill a gap in the program wants to know quickly whether you take on frames, fix-out, doors and hardware or formwork, which parts of Brisbane you'll travel to and how much notice you need. Put that in a short section with a direct number, kept apart from the homeowner pages, and it gets read.
“Spotted gum steps and handrail, Wilston” or “Hoop pine floor relaid, Annerley” tells a reader what you build and where you work in a single line. Grouping photos by job type means someone after new stairs isn't scrolling past pergolas and wardrobes to find them.
Which licence covers which job. In Queensland a QBCC licence is needed to carry out or contract for building work valued over $3,300. The QBCC's carpentry licence class lists wall and roof framing, non-loadbearing partition walls, windows and doors with their framing, ceiling and subfloor framing, timber and sheet flooring, exterior cladding, fascias and soffits, metal roofing, timber stairs, internal linings and mouldings, locks and door furniture, restoring doors, windows and frames, fitments, simple concreting and formwork. Decks and pergolas aren't named in that list. They appear by name in the structural landscaping (trade) class, alongside carports, fences and gazebos. If your site will advertise decks and pergolas, confirm with the QBCC that your classes cover them; we list the work you tell us you're licensed for.
What the website has to show. The QBCC's advertising rules treat a website, a Facebook page, an online directory listing and the signwriting on a ute as advertising. Each needs the name the licence is held under, the licence number and a statement that you're licensed under the QBCC Act, legible and reasonably prominent. The QBCC doesn't license trading names, so an ad showing only a trading name will most likely fall short, and its logo can't go on your material at all. A carpenter without a licence who advertises building work states the limit instead, for example that they cannot perform building work valued in excess of $3,300. The QBCC says it audits websites and online directories as well as print.
Deposits and home warranty. The QBCC lists working on a home's deck or verandah, and on stairs permanently attached to the home, among the residential jobs that need home warranty insurance once the project costs more than $3,300, with the premium built into the contract price. Deposits are capped by contract value: 10 percent from $3,301 to $19,999 and 5 percent from $20,000, with up to 20 percent allowed where more than half the work by value is custom-built or fabricated off site, and the QBCC names pergolas and cladding among its examples. If your site explains how you quote and take a deposit, it should line up with the QBCC's guidance on deposits.
When a Brisbane deck needs approval. Brisbane City Council's deck page says building approval isn't needed only when the deck covers no more than 10 square metres, sits no more than one metre above natural ground, isn't roofed, has no side longer than 5 metres, won't affect the structure of buildings or retaining walls on the lot or next door, and won't alter a pool fence. The work still has to meet the National Construction Code, and where building approval is needed, a licensed building certifier arranges it. Planning approval is a separate question: a deck may need it where the house is in the Traditional building character overlay, or in a neighbourhood plan area and doesn't meet that plan's requirements. Council's renovation guidance lists an external stair or ramp among the minor works on character houses that may not need planning approval, which matters to carpenters who rebuild the front stairs on old Queenslanders.
The pipes, and how we work. Brisbane splits the underground in two. Council says it doesn't advise on building over or near sewer or water pipes, which is a matter for Urban Utilities, while for stormwater pipes council acts as a referral agency in some cases, with a private certifier assessing the work against the Queensland Development Code, and sells copies of as-constructed drainage plans; Before You Dig Australia is free to use before any excavation. We're an Adelaide team at Hutt St and work with Brisbane carpenters by phone and email. Our Queensland clients include a dance school on Brisbane's bayside and a plumber and gas fitter. Send your licence details, photos of finished jobs and the suburbs you want more work in, and we'll send a draft link you can check on your phone. We lay out what you tell us and link the official guidance; we don't give licensing or planning advice.
There's no carpentry business in our portfolio yet. The nearest are a Queensland plumber and gas fitter whose single page leans on a project gallery that swipes on a phone, and a licensed Adelaide renovation builder whose site gives each kind of job its own page.
Licensed plumber and gas fitter in Queensland. One page covers six services, a 13-photo project gallery, client testimonials, a protected contact form and tap-to-call. Swap the plumbing photos for stairs, decks and verandahs and the same layout carries a carpentry business.
Visit the M.J. Debney site (opens in a new tab) See it in our portfolio
Renovation builder covering Adelaide, the Adelaide Hills and the Fleurieu. Its 30 pages include seven service pages, seven service-area pages and a seven-step quote form, a structure that suits a carpenter who wants separate pages for decks, Queenslander restoration and work for builders.
Visit the Bright Building site (opens in a new tab) See it in our portfolio
“They created the site very promptly and cost efficient.”
★ 5.0 from 33 Google reviews (opens in a new tab)
Want numbers from a trade site? Western Sydney Stump Grinding has landed at least 62 jobs, about $46,500 of work, from a single-page site we built. Read the case study.
See all 14 recent client sites in our portfolio.
$399
QBCC details, the jobs you take on, a gallery grouped by type, your suburbs and a quote form with the deck questions, on one page.
Our suggestion for most Brisbane carpenters
$899
A home page, a decks and stairs page with its own photos and approval notes, and a page for Queenslander restoration or for builders who need a carpenter.
$1,499
Separate pages for decks, stairs, verandahs, windows and doors, floors and work for builders, plus northside and southside pages if you want jobs from both.
The name your licence is held under, the licence number and a statement that you're licensed under the QBCC Act, set out legibly on every page. A trading name can sit next to them but can't replace them, and the QBCC logo stays off. We put the details in the footer so any page added later carries them too, and you can check the wording against the QBCC's advertising guidance.
That's a question for the QBCC rather than us. Its carpentry class names framing, stairs, flooring, cladding, windows and doors, while decking and pergolas appear by name in the structural landscaping (trade) class. Tell us which classes you hold, check with the QBCC on 139 333 if a job type sits between them, and we'll word the services list to match.
If the site advertises building work, the QBCC asks unlicensed contractors to state the value they're limited to, for example that they cannot perform building work valued in excess of $3,300. We'd put that line where licence details would otherwise go, and describe the kinds of small jobs you take on.
We'd avoid a promise. The site can say that Brisbane City Council doesn't require building approval for some small, low, unroofed decks and link to council's page with its full list of conditions. Whether a particular yard qualifies depends on overlays, pool fences and nearby structures, so the wording should leave that call to your site visit or the certifier.
Because a footing over a sewer line or a stormwater pipe can change the design or add a referral. In Brisbane, sewer and water pipes belong to Urban Utilities and stormwater is council's. An optional question, or a photo of the yard showing any access covers, gives you warning before you price the job. You decide whether the form asks it.
By phone and email. We talk through the work you want more of, you send photos, licence details and your suburbs, and we build a draft you can open on your phone between jobs. You ask for changes, and you pay once you approve it. Our current clients are in SA, NSW, VIC and QLD.
Send us your QBCC licence details, a few photos of stairs, decks or verandahs you've built and the suburbs you'd like more work in. We'll reply with a quote and build the draft, and there's nothing to pay until you approve it.
We reply within 24 hours. Prefer email? info@webcraftstudio.com.au