If you own or manage an apartment building in NSW, the builder you choose needs more than a builder licence for a lot of the work you will commission. Since the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 came into force, regulated work on Class 2 buildings has to be carried out by a registered building practitioner. This article explains what that means, when it applies, and how to check that your builder is registered.
The National Construction Code sorts buildings into classes by how they are used. A Class 2 building contains two or more sole occupancy units that are each a separate dwelling. In practice that means apartment buildings, including the residential part of a mixed use development, and most strata residential blocks in Sydney.
A freestanding house is Class 1a. So is a side by side duplex or a terrace. Put one dwelling above another and the building is generally Class 2.
The Act was the NSW Government’s response to a decade of serious defects in apartment buildings. It created a registration and declaration system that sits on top of the existing builder licence:
The regime started with Class 2 buildings and buildings with a Class 2 part, and has since been extended to certain Class 3 and Class 9c buildings.
The Act focuses on building elements, the parts of a building where failures have caused the most damage. These include:
So balcony waterproofing, concrete cancer repair, facade remediation, structural work and fire safety upgrades on an apartment building are all likely to be regulated. A new apartment building certainly is.
A licensed builder without Class 2 registration can still carry out work on Class 1 houses, and work on apartment buildings that doesn’t involve a building element. Cosmetic work inside a unit, such as painting or replacing cabinetry, is an example. Strata approval under the building’s by-laws still applies to apartment renovations either way.
The difficulty is that many apartment renovations drift into regulated territory. Replacing a bathroom often means new waterproofing. Removing a wall can mean structural work. If there is any doubt, use a registered building practitioner, or get advice before work starts.
Building practitioner registration carries conditions. A low-rise condition limits the practitioner to low rise buildings, while a medium-rise condition covers taller medium rise buildings. Check that the registration matches the building you are working on. Shafbuild holds a Class 2 Building Practitioner registration with the medium-rise condition.
Ask for both numbers, the builder licence and the building practitioner registration, then search them on the NSW Government licence register at verify.licence.nsw.gov.au. Check that the registration is current, that the class and conditions suit your building, and that the name matches the company you are contracting.
Shafbuild’s numbers are NSW Builder Licence 469244C and NSW Class 2 Building Practitioner registration BUP4254234.
For a strata committee, engaging a registered practitioner is not just about compliance. It means the designs for the work are declared, the builder is personally accountable for what is built, and the documentation exists if a defect appears years later. It also means the builder can lodge the declarations the work legally requires, so the project doesn’t stall at certification.
Read more about what Class 2 registration means, see our remedial builders Sydney services, or read our guide to concrete cancer repair in Sydney.
Shafbuild is a licensed remedial builder and registered NSW Class 2 Building Practitioner working with owners corporations, strata committees and building managers across Sydney. Send us your engineer's report or scope of works and we will price it, programme it and give your committee the documentation it needs.
NSW Builder Licence 469244C · NSW Class 2 Building Practitioner BUP4254234
Our team brings design, approvals, and construction under one roof with a single point of accountability. We work with homeowners, investors, and commercial clients who expect their project delivered properly and a result they're genuinely proud of. Every project is personally led by Dan, from day one through to handover.
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