Roofing & Waterproofing Companies in New South Wales

Short answer: Exchange lists 9 roofing and waterproofing companies in New South Wales. Building Commission NSW licenses roof plumbing, roof tiling, roof slating and waterproofing as separate classes, and a contractor licence is required for residential work worth more than $5,000 including GST. Deposits are capped at 10 per cent, Home Building Compensation cover applies above $20,000, and statutory warranties run 6 years for major defects and 2 years for other defects. NCC 2022 applies until NSW adopts NCC 2025 on 1 May 2027.

Licence authority

Building Commission NSW manages contractor licences and qualified supervisor certificates for roof plumbing, roof tiling, roof slating and waterproofing.

Licence threshold

A contractor licence is required for residential roofing or waterproofing work valued at more than $5,000 in labour and materials including GST.

Warranty deadline

Statutory warranty claims run for 6 years from completion for major defects and 2 years for all other defects.

Deposit and insurance

The maximum deposit on a residential contract is 10 per cent, and Home Building Compensation cover is required where the work is worth more than $20,000.

Code regime

NCC 2022 remains the code in force, with NSW adopting NCC 2025 on 1 May 2027; AS 3740 and AS 4654 are the referenced waterproofing standards.

Apartment defects

Waterproofing was the most common serious defect in the 2023 NSW strata defects survey, reported in 42 per cent of surveyed buildings.

Do roofers and waterproofers need a licence in New South Wales?

In New South Wales a contractor licence from Building Commission NSW is required for residential roofing or waterproofing work valued at more than $5,000 in labour and materials including GST, and each roofing trade is licensed as its own class.

The split between classes is the detail that catches people out. Metal roofing sits under roof plumbing, which the regulator defines as fixing, installing, renovating, altering, repairing and maintaining guttering, downpipes, roof flashing and roof coverings, excluding non-metallic tiles, glass, concrete, timber, thatching and bituminous membranes. Roof tiling is a separate class covering tiles fixed to the exterior of roofs and fascia structures, along with bedding, pointing, valleys, sarking and battens. Roof slating covers slates, shingles and shakes and their imitations. Waterproofing is a fourth class, defined as any protective treatment of a home to prevent water or moisture getting in, including membranes to wet areas such as showers.

Each class comes in three forms: an individual contractor licence, a company or partnership contractor licence, and a qualified supervisor certificate, issued for 1, 3 or 5 years. A contractor that re-sheets a metal roof and also repoints a tiled ridge is working across two classes, so the licence record should show both. Building Commission NSW provides a public look-up for licences and registrations, and the class list on the record matters as much as the licence number. Anyone engaging a roofer for a mixed scope should confirm the classes against the current regulator pages before signing.

What deposit, contract and insurance rules apply to roofing jobs in New South Wales?

In New South Wales the deposit on a residential roofing or waterproofing contract is capped at 10 per cent of the contract price, a written contract is required above $5,000, and Home Building Compensation cover applies above $20,000.

The contract tiers are set by value. Work between $5,000 and $20,000 falls under a small jobs contract, a dated and signed written agreement with basic information. Work over $20,000 needs the more extensive contract, including a progress payment schedule, and the owner gets a cooling-off period of five clear business days after receiving a copy. Progress payments are tied to work actually done, not time on the job. For work above $20,000 the contractor provides a certificate of Home Building Compensation cover before taking a deposit. A full re-roof of a detached house will often clear that threshold, while a gutter replacement or a single shower membrane often will not, so the same business can be working under two different sets of paperwork in one week.

Statutory warranties attach to residential building work regardless of what the contract says. The period to commence proceedings is 6 years from completion for major defects and 2 years for all other defects, with a further 6 months where a defect only becomes apparent late in either period. Whether a leaking roof or a failed membrane counts as a major defect depends on the facts, and the NSW Government consumer building guide is the place to start reading.

Which licences, permits and registrations apply in New South Wales?

How do roofing subcontractors get paid under New South Wales security of payment law?

Under the New South Wales security of payment Act, a roofing subcontractor's payment claim falls due 20 business days after it is made, or 10 business days on exempt residential work, and a head contractor's claim on the principal falls due after 15 business days.

The Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 gives anyone who carries out construction work a statutory right to progress payments. A respondent who disputes a claim has a maximum of 10 business days to give a payment schedule stating what will be paid and why; if no schedule is given, the full claimed amount becomes payable. A claimant who disagrees with a schedule has 10 business days to apply for adjudication. Only work completed in the past 12 months can be claimed, and where the contract is silent the reference date is the last day of the month.

Two points matter for roofing and waterproofing trades. First, the Act now reaches owner occupier construction contracts, meaning work on a residential property where the person engaging the builder lives or proposes to live there, so a roofer contracting directly with a homeowner can use it. Second, an unpaid claimant can suspend work 2 business days after giving written notice. Contracts can set shorter payment terms than the statutory maximums but not longer ones. The NSW Government security of payment pages set out the steps and should be checked before a claim is served.

What building code and waterproofing standards apply in New South Wales?

New South Wales builds to the National Construction Code, and NCC 2022 remains the edition in force until the State adopts NCC 2025 on 1 May 2027, with AS 3740 and AS 4654 as the referenced waterproofing standards.

For internal wet areas, the NCC 2022 Housing Provisions Part 10.2 requires building elements in wet areas to be protected by a waterproofing system and points to AS 3740. For external work, clause H2D8 in Volume Two references AS 4654 Parts 1 and 2: Part 1 covers the membrane materials and Part 2 the design and installation of membranes on flat roofs, roof terraces and balconies over habitable rooms. The NSW Government announced in March 2026 that the 12 month transition to NCC 2025 runs from 1 May 2026, and that apartment owners doing remedial work may choose between the current and the NCC 2025 waterproofing standards. Projects that straddle the changeover should have the applicable edition stated in the contract documents.

Approval for roofing work runs through the NSW planning system rather than a single roofing permit. Very low impact work can qualify as exempt development, which needs no planning or building approval provided it meets the standards in the relevant State Environmental Planning Policy; other work goes through complying development or a development application. Whether a re-roof, a change of roofing material or a roof on a heritage property qualifies is a question for the local council or a registered certifier. The wider approvals system is also changing: Parliament passed a new Building Act in August 2026, but most of its provisions had not commenced at the time of writing.

Why is waterproofing regulated so closely in New South Wales apartment buildings?

Waterproofing is the most commonly reported serious defect in New South Wales apartment buildings, found in 42 per cent of buildings in the 2023 strata defects survey, so the State treats it as a key building element with its own design and enforcement rules.

The survey, run by Building Commission NSW with Strata Community Association NSW, found that 53 per cent of surveyed strata buildings registered between 2016 and 2022 had a serious defect. Two Acts passed in 2020 respond to that. Under the Design and Building Practitioners scheme, class 2, 3 and 9c buildings are regulated buildings, and registered practitioners lodge regulated designs and compliance declarations through the NSW Planning Portal before and after the work. A membrane on a new apartment podium or balcony is therefore built to a declared design, and a substitution on site is a variation that has to be documented, not a tradesperson's judgement call.

Under the Residential Apartment Buildings (Compliance and Enforcement Powers) Act, Building Commission NSW can issue stop work orders, prohibition orders that hold back an occupation certificate, and building work rectification orders where work could lead to a serious defect in waterproofing, fire safety systems, the building enclosure, structure or key services. Those powers can be used for up to 10 years after completion. Developers of strata buildings also lodge a building bond of 2 per cent of the contract price, with an interim defects inspection between 15 and 18 months after completion. The new Building Act will repeal and replace the Design and Building Practitioners Act once it commences, so the regulator's current guidance should be checked on any class 2 job.

What safety rules apply to roof work and asbestos roofs in New South Wales?

SafeWork NSW requires a safe work method statement for construction work where a person could fall more than 2 metres, and a licence to remove more than 10 square metres of non-friable asbestos in New South Wales.

Roof work is high risk construction work under the work health and safety regulation, and the person conducting the business that carries it out is responsible for making sure the statement is prepared, in consultation with the principal contractor where there is one. SafeWork NSW sets out a hierarchy for controlling falls: fall prevention first, such as scaffolding, temporary work platforms and roof edge protection; then work positioning systems such as restraint; and fall arrest systems such as harnesses and catch platforms only as a last resort. The regulator notes that falls from as little as 2 to 4 metres are often fatal, which describes most single storey roof edges.

Asbestos cement sheeting, including the corrugated profile sold as Super 6, is common on roofs of buildings constructed before the late 1980s. A non-friable asbestos removal licence is required to remove more than 10 square metres, and a friable asbestos removal licence is required for any amount of friable material. Since almost any full asbestos cement roof exceeds 10 square metres, a re-roof of an older house or shed normally involves a licensed removalist before the roofing trade starts. Work involving asbestos is also high risk construction work that needs its own safe work method statement. SafeWork NSW recommends using a licensed removalist whatever the quantity.

How do hail and bushfire risk change roof specification in New South Wales?

Hail and bushfire both shape roof specification in New South Wales: Sydney has a record of very large hail that breaks roof tiles, and buildings on bush fire prone land are built to a bush fire attack level under AS 3959.

The Sydney hailstorm of 14 April 1999 produced hailstones up to 9 centimetres across and projected insured losses of about $1.5 billion, at the time the most damaging event in Australian insurance history. A post-storm survey reported in the Australian Journal of Emergency Management found 62 per cent of respondents had roof damage, that terracotta tiles appeared more susceptible than concrete tiles, and that no tiles were broken by stones smaller than 3 centimetres. A further storm on 20 December 2018 dropped hail up to 8 centimetres wide at Berowra. Storms of that size are why hail resistance, and the choice between terracotta, concrete tile and metal, is a live question on Sydney re-roofing jobs.

On bush fire prone land the NSW Rural Fire Service document Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019 sets the standards for development, and AS 3959 sets the construction specifications for each of six bush fire attack levels, from BAL-LOW through BAL-12.5, BAL-19, BAL-29 and BAL-40 to BAL-FZ, the flame zone. The level assigned to a site determines the roof covering, sarking, gap sealing and gutter details that are acceptable, so a roofing quote on bush fire prone land should start from the assessed level. Readers should confirm the level with their council or the Rural Fire Service before materials are ordered.

Where can I verify a licence and check the source in New South Wales?

Every figure and rule on this page can be checked against the primary source. These are the offices that publish them. Confirm current requirements directly before you rely on any of them:

Roof plumbing licence classes, NSW Government (Building Commission NSW); Waterproofing work licence classes, NSW Government (Building Commission NSW); Contracts for residential building work, NSW Government; Making a payment claim under Security of Payment laws, NSW Government; Building Commission NSW intervention on regulated building issues, NSW Government.

Nearby regions and related trades

Roofing & Waterproofing contractors in other regions: Alabama, Alberta, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington.

Other trades in New South Wales: Concrete, Electrical, Mechanical, Painting, Plumbing.

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