Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991

Building contractors, plumbers, drainers, supervisors, owner-builders, building and construction companies, and individuals seeking nominee supervisor's licences; building owners (consumers in domestic and non-domestic contexts); excluded individuals, permanently excluded individuals, banned individuals, disqualified individuals, and convicted company officers (Parts 3A to 3E); construction principals; insurers and the insurance manager under Part 5; QCAT (under Part 7 jurisdiction transfer); the Queensland Building and Construction Board, the commissioner, the Service Trades Council, the Queensland Building and Construction Employing Office (Part 2A); investigators and inspectors (Part 9). The High Court and Federal Court have engaged with the Act where licensees enter administration, where the Commission is a creditor under bankruptcy law, or where employment classification of nominee supervisors is in issue.

Section 42 makes it an offence to carry out, or undertake to carry out, building work without a contractor's licence of the appropriate class. Maximum penalties: 250 penalty units for a first offence; 300 for a second; and 350 penalty units or 1 year's imprisonment for a third or later offence, or where the building work is "tier 1 defective work". An individual who contravenes subsection (1) and is liable to the highest penalty band commits a crime. Subsections (3) and (4) cut off entitlement to remuneration for unlicensed work, except for narrowly defined reasonable remuneration that excludes the contractor's own labour, profit, and unreasonable costs.

Section 67G obliges a building contractor to put a building contract in writing before work starts (where the reasonable cost is more than $10,000) or before work is finished (where the cost is $10,000 or less). If a variation later pushes the cost over $10,000, the contract incorporating all variations must be in writing before the next stage of work. Maximum penalty 80 penalty units.

Schedule 1B imposes cumulative requirements on level 1 and level 2 regulated contracts (sections 13 and 14). Section 19 implies warranties into all domestic building contracts: section 20 (suitability of materials), section 21 (compliance with legal requirements), and section 22 (standard of work and exercise of care and skill). Section 23 (adherence to plans and specifications), section 24 (suitability of premises for occupation), section 25 (carrying out work with reasonable diligence), and section 26 (calculation of provisional sums and prime cost items) imply warranties for particular contracts. Sections 27 and 28 carry the warranties with the building (so subsequent owners can rely) and protect the rights they create.

Section 30 prohibits the contracted services starting before a regulated contract complies with the requirements. Section 33 limits deposits for regulated contracts. Section 34 governs progress payments. Section 40 requires variations to be in writing.

The Commission may grant, refuse, suspend, cancel, or impose conditions on a contractor's licence under Part 3. The Commission may issue notices that an individual is not a fit and proper person to be a licensee under section 67. The Commission may exclude individuals (Part 3A), permanently exclude individuals (Part 3B), ban individuals (Part 3D), or disqualify individuals (Part 3E). Convicted company officers attract Part 3C consequences.

Section 71 lets the Commission recover money from a licensed contractor in respect of statutory insurance scheme payouts. Section 72 gives the Commission power to require rectification of building work and remediation of consequential damage. Section 74A lets the Commission investigate grounds for taking disciplinary action.

Part 9B grants injunction powers and stop-work notice powers. Part 8 establishes registers. Part 9 creates investigators with information-gathering powers.

The Commission's licensing decisions are reviewable. Schedule 1 part 19 (sections 89 to 99, inserted in 2024) declares and validates particular Commission decisions and actions in the residential construction work space, where "essential requirements for a contract" or "affirmative decision" issues had previously called the validity of decisions into question.

Section 42 is the central licensing offence with the offence-grade structure described above. Section 67G carries 80 penalty units for failure to put a building contract in writing.

Section 71 is the operative cost-recovery provision against contractors after the Commission has paid out under the statutory insurance scheme. The provision was the cited section in Wangelin v van der Velde [2016] FCA 410.

Section 72 is the Commission's directions power. The Commission may direct rectification of building work or remediation of consequential damage. Failure to comply with a direction is enforced through Part 6A disciplinary proceedings and Part 7 tribunal jurisdiction.

The QBCC routinely enforces statutory debts in court. The Commission as creditor pursued a sequestration order in Queensland Building and Construction Commission v Mead [2024] FCA 1355, where the Commission's claim arose from defective work payouts under the statutory insurance scheme that were recoverable from the company directors.

Schedule 1B section 29 provides for proceedings for breach of the implied warranties, with a six-year limitation period that proved central to the limitation analysis in The Owners Strata Plan No 87231 v 3A Composites GmbH [2020] FCA 748.

Section 67G's contract-form trigger is the reasonable cost of the building work. For contracts above $10,000 reasonable cost, the writing must precede the start of work; for contracts at or below $10,000 it must precede completion. Where a variation pushes a sub-$10,000 contract over the threshold, the writing rule applies before the next phase of work.

Schedule 1B Part 5 sets the cooling-off period for regulated contracts. Section 35 gives the building owner a right to withdraw within the cooling-off period. Section 36 imposes restrictions; section 37 sets the withdrawal procedure; section 38 governs rights and obligations following withdrawal; and section 39 deals with waiver of the right of withdrawal.

Section 67U is a strict-time provision: a payment provision in a construction management trade contract or subcontract is void to the extent it provides for payment of a progress payment by a contracting party to a contracted party later than 25 business days after submission of a payment claim. "Business day" excludes Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays, special holidays, bank holidays in the relevant place, and the period from 22 December to 10 January inclusive.

Disciplinary proceedings under Part 6A run on Commission investigation under section 74A and statutorily defined grounds for action. Schedule 1 part 11 sec 55 carries existing disciplinary proceedings across the 2014 amendments. The QCAT review path runs through Part 7.

The QBCC Act sits alongside the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (BIFA), which is referenced in section 67AAA's definition of "construction work". BIFA's progress claim and adjudication regime works alongside section 67G's contract-form rule and section 67U's 25-business-day payment void.

The Plumbing and Drainage Act 2018 (section 105) continues the Service Trades Council in existence, the Council being one of the three components of the Commission named in section 6.

Schedule 1B section 45 deals with the relationship with other Acts. Schedule 1 part 11 division 4 records the repeal of the Domestic Building Contracts Act 2000 (DBC Act), with section 62 of schedule 1 dealing with domestic building contracts entered into before repeal, and section 63 carrying forward references to conduct under the repealed DBC Act. Section 64 of schedule 1 covers past contraventions of the repealed DBC Act.

The Bankruptcy Act 1966 (Cth) interacts with Commission cost-recovery, as in QBCC v Mead [2024] FCA 1355. The Australian Consumer Law (Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)) interacts with the Schedule 1B implied warranties regime, as canvassed in The Owners Strata Plan No 87231 v 3A Composites GmbH [2020] FCA 748.

The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) interacts with the section 30A nominee supervisor's licence regime, as Murphy v Chapple [2022] FCAFC 165 illustrates: a person can be both a section 30A nominee and an employee of the licensed company under a contract of service.

The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 supplies the procedural framework for QCAT's exercise of Part 7 jurisdiction in this Act.

Section 42's bar on remuneration for unlicensed work is harsher than it looks. Subsection (3) says a person who carries out building work in contravention is not entitled to any monetary or other consideration. Subsection (4) preserves a narrow claim for "reasonable remuneration", but excludes the supplier's own labour, profit, and unreasonable costs. A contractor whose licence has lapsed mid-project can find that the work performed during the lapsed period is unrecoverable under contract.

The MFR regime is continuous, not point-in-time. Part 3 division 9A monitors continued satisfaction of MFR. A licence holder who fails the MFR test must address the shortfall (often through a fresh Deed of Covenant and Assurance) or face suspension or cancellation. The Shafston Avenue Construction litigation illustrates how DCAs can become enforceable obligations against parent companies even after the licensee enters administration.

Section 30A's nominee supervisor regime traps directors who hold the nominee supervisor's licence. They become both an officer of the company and the natural person whose licence backs the company's right to perform building work. If the nominee resigns, the company's licence is at risk. If the nominee is mischaracterised as an independent contractor by the company, employment law issues compound the licensing risk, as Murphy v Chapple [2022] FCAFC 165 worked through.

Schedule 1 part 19 (sections 89 to 99) is a 2024 declaratory and validation provision specifically targeting situations where the Commission's prior decisions in residential construction work might otherwise have been invalid because of "non-compliant arrangements". The provisions reach back to deem prior decisions and actions valid, including prior tribunal decisions (sch.1-sec.97). Practitioners with judicial review grounds need to test whether section 99 (no compensation payable) defeats their claim before issuing.

The Schedule 1B implied warranties are not contracted out except as the Schedule itself permits. Section 28 protects the rights given by warranties. Section 27 makes warranties run with the building, so a successor owner has standing.

A building company taking on a $250 million infrastructure project must hold a category 7 contractor's licence. Where the company is a joint venture vehicle that does not itself meet the MFR thresholds, each shareholder may execute a Deed of Covenant and Assurance with the joint venture company and the Commission to bridge the gap. If the joint venture later enters voluntary administration, the Deed survives, and the Commission can call on the assurances. This was the structural backdrop in Shafston Avenue Construction v McCann [2020] FCAFC 85.

A residential builder enters into an $800,000 fixed-price contract with a homeowner for a knock-down rebuild. The contract is a level 2 regulated contract (schedule 1B section 7 read with section 3). Section 14 sets the contract-form rules; section 19 implies warranties about suitability of materials, compliance with law, standard of work, adherence to plans, suitability of premises and reasonable diligence. The deposit is capped under section 33 and progress payments are governed by section 34. The owner has a cooling-off right under section 35.

A subcontractor working on a construction management project must include payment terms compliant with section 67U: 25 business days from submission of a payment claim, or any longer period in the contract is void. The "business day" definition excludes the Christmas period from 22 December to 10 January.

A homeowner whose recent extension shows defects can ask the Commission to investigate under Part 6A and direct the contractor to rectify under section 72. If the contractor fails to comply, the Commission can pay out under the statutory insurance scheme and recover the cost from the contractor under section 71.