Plumbing and gasfitting is licensed by category — and the thing some tradies look for, a UK-style "unvented cylinder ticket", does not exist here. The rule of thumb: if it stores hot water under pressure or burns gas, assume it is licensed work. Here is the year-one reality: the licence and endorsements, the kit, what to charge, and the audits to expect.
The licence and the "unvented" equivalent
There is no UK-style "unvented cylinder certificate" in Australia — hot-water work is covered by your plumbing licence plus the right water-heating units plus a gas or electrical endorsement:
- Base qualification: the Certificate III in Plumbing (CPC32420) — water supply, sanitary, drainage and basic water-heating — normally a 4-year apprenticeship before licensing.
- Water-heating units (the CPCPWT30xx series) cover installing and commissioning storage and continuous-flow systems, tempering valves and discharge/safety arrangements to AS/NZS standards.
- Gasfitting "Type A" endorsement for gas storage and instantaneous systems, plus restricted electrical to disconnect/reconnect fixed-wired electric storage.
Regulators (the VBA, NSW Fair Trading, the QBCC) treat water-heating as a licensed class of plumbing work — endorsed off your qualification, not a bolt-on certificate. Restricted without the class: installing or replacing storage water heaters, commissioning continuous-flow gas, altering hot-water pipework or TPR discharge lines, and connecting to gas supply. The SiteKiln line: if it stores hot water under pressure or burns gas, assume it is licensed work (see Electrical, Plumbing, Gas & ARCtick Licensing).
The starter kit (~$10-14k lean-but-serious)
- Core plumbing hand and power tools (wrenches, cutters, benders, a cordless platform, consumables, PPE): ~$4-7k.
-
Gas and diagnostic gear — a flue gas analyser (
$1,500-2,500, plus annual calibration), a manometer ($300-800), a leak detector (~$200-600) and appliance tooling: ~$2-4k. - Misc, ladders, lights, storage: ~$1-3k. Hire year one: drain machines, jetters and CCTV rigs, excavation, scaffold/EWP, and large threading or press tools (buy press jaws once you know what your builders use). See Tooling Up.
Rates and turnover
Indicative 2025 rates: general plumbing $80-200/hr (standard $80-150, gas higher at $120-200), with a call-out fee and emergency/out-of-hours at $150-300+. Job benchmarks: tapware $150-300 per tap, minor repairs $150-400, major installs $500-3,000+. Realistically you bill 20-25 hours a week in year one (travel, quoting, admin and slow patches eat the rest), so with a mix of higher-value installs (bathroom refits, hot-water change-outs, gas conversions) a first-year solo turnover of $130-220k is realistic if you price near market and keep the diary full — then strip ~30-40% for overheads (see Setting Your Charge-Out Rate and The Money Reality).
The first audits to expect
Your earliest regulator interaction is usually a plumbing audit on a job where you lodged a compliance certificate (the VBA and others routinely audit hot-water, sanitary, drainage and gas work). The three most likely:
- A hot-water installation audit — tempering/TMV scald prevention (especially for children and vulnerable people), discharge line termination, pipe insulation and documentation.
- A gas appliance audit — minimum clearances (e.g. between a gas cooktop and the rangehood, and a marked toughened-glass splashback), flueing and combustion safety.
- A roofing, drainage or guttering check — pressure-reducing devices where static pressure requires them, and eaves-gutter overflow to prevent backflow into the building. The common failures cluster around gas clearances, pressure and overflow control, hot-water scald prevention, and documentation/wrong-licence-class — so build those into your checklists.
Common mistakes
- Doing gas or water-heating work outside your endorsed class (it is audited territory).
- Setting or omitting a tempering valve incorrectly — a scald risk and a classic audit failure.
- Not lodging the required compliance certificate, or describing the work under the wrong licence class.
- Pricing like an employee instead of from your real cost base.
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