FAQ

12 CPD points a year, earned in the 12 months before your licence renewal. If you have not met the requirement, renewal or restoration of your licence is refused — it is not a formality that gets waved through.

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Individuals licensed as a builder or swimming pool builder under the Home Building Act 1989 — both contractor licence holders and qualified supervisor certificate holders.

A company or partnership contractor licence does not earn points itself; the individuals nominated on it do.

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No. The requirement attaches to you as a person, not to each piece of paper. Twelve points covers you.

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Same requirement: 12 points a year, same carry-forward, same approved topic areas. Choose modules relevant to the work you actually do — waterproofing and safety topics tend to be the practical fit.

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Yes, up to a limit. You can carry forward a maximum of 11 surplus points for 12 months. Anything above 11 is forfeited, so there is no benefit in cramming three years of CPD into one hit.

Your My CPD dashboard tracks carry-forward against your renewal date automatically.

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Three routes, at different rates:

• 1 point per hour — interactive learning on an approved topic, with identifiable learning outcomes, delivered by a provider with industry expertise. Online or face to face; courses, workshops, forums and conferences all count. This is the tier PointCPD courses are built for.
• 2 points per hour — learning with an assessable outcome tied to a National Training Package or university qualification, delivered by a Registered Training Organisation or an Australian university.
• 1–2 points — employing an apprentice or trainee (1 point per apprentice per year), or a partner/associate learning on the business’s behalf. Capped at 4 points a year combined.

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Eight topic areas:

1. Technical issues — waterproofing, tiling, timber flooring, multi-storey construction, masonry code
2. Sustainability — BASIX, waste, green building, water management, accessible buildings
3. Compliance — BCA/NCC application, Home Building Act, compensation fund obligations
4. Communication — customer service, mediation, negotiation
5. Dispute resolution — avoiding and identifying misrepresentation
6. Contracts — contract terms
7. Safety — asbestos, hazardous materials, roof work
8. Business management — project management, time management, computer skills

Every course in our catalogue is filed under one of these eight, and the topic is printed on your certificate.

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No. NSW CPD is self-recorded — you keep a diary and the supporting evidence, and you submit nothing at renewal.

What you do need is the evidence on hand if you are audited. Building Commission NSW runs both regular and random audits, and you are expected to retain records for three renewal periods.

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You produce your records: what you did, when, how long it took, the topic area, and the provider’s record of attendance. Certificates that do not carry those details are weak evidence.

Every PointCPD certificate is serial-numbered and records the course, its CPD topic, the duration, the assessment and the points earned. They stay in your account permanently — re-download any of them from My CPD, and anyone can verify a certificate against its serial number.

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Keep enough that a third party could reconstruct what you did: the certificate or record of attendance, the date, the duration, the topic area, and the provider. A simple dated list plus the certificates is the practical version of the “diary” the scheme expects.

Hold it all for three renewal periods, not one.

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Nothing in the requirement stops you, as long as the points fall inside the 12 months before your renewal. Whether cramming a year of learning into a week is useful is a different question — but it is not prohibited.

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Yes. The CPD requirement is annual regardless of whether your licence term is 1, 3 or 5 years. A longer term is not a CPD holiday.

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Restoration is also refused if the CPD requirement is unmet, so the points still need doing. Timeframes and conditions for restoring an expired licence are set by NSW Fair Trading — check with them directly about your specific situation, then get the points done.

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Judge it against the NSW criteria, not the other state’s badge: was it interactive learning, on one of the eight approved topics, with identifiable outcomes, from a provider with industry expertise? If yes, it is the kind of activity NSW recognises, and you keep the evidence as usual.

If you are relying on something unusual, confirm it with NSW Fair Trading rather than assuming.

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Only for serious illness or misadventure, and you have to request it — there is a Request for Exemption form to lodge at renewal. Being flat out on site is not an exemption.

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It runs against your licence renewal date, not the calendar year: points earned in the 12 months before a renewal apply to that renewal.

Add your renewal date to your PointCPD profile and the dashboard does this arithmetic for you, including which CPD year each completed module counts toward.

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Our courses are built to the NSW scheme’s 1 point per hour tier: interactive learning, on one of the eight approved topics, with stated learning outcomes, developed and reviewed by practising building industry professionals. Under the current NSW rules that is the tier that earns points toward your 12, and compliance is self-recorded using the evidence we issue you.

Compliance is self-recorded: you keep the certificate and the record we issue, and produce it if you are audited. More on how this works. Other states run different schemes; check your local rules.

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At least 2 points, and points follow duration — an hour of learning is a point at the NSW rate. Every course page and catalogue tile states the points value up front, so you can plan how to reach 12.

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At least two hours of learning, designed to be picked up and put down. Progress saves after every section, so four twenty-minute goes between jobs works exactly as well as one long sitting.

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Not a video and five multiple-choice questions. Each module mixes short readings with site scenarios where your decision has consequences, drag-and-drop sequencing, tap-the-defect site photos, and quick checks that tell you immediately when you are wrong and why. There is a downloadable one-page job aid to take to site, and a printable guide if you prefer paper.

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Yes — that is the primary way it is built. One screen at a time, big tap targets, no pinching and zooming, and nothing to install.

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Your progress is saved as you go, and the player holds unsaved progress and retries when the connection comes back. Losing reception in a lift-well or a basement does not cost you the section you just did.

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A short assessment at the end of each module, 80% to pass, with unlimited attempts. You are told which questions you got wrong and why, and you can jump straight back to the relevant section — during the assessment you can pull up the section a question came from without losing your place.

There is no penalty for a second attempt. The point is that you know the material, not that you get one shot at it.

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Three things, immediately: your points bank to your CPD ledger, a serial-numbered PDF certificate is emailed to you, and your dashboard updates to show where you stand against the 12 points you need.

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Yes — 15% off your first order. Enter your email below and we send you a personal code. It works on any course and on the points packages too, so you can take it off a single module or a full renewal pack. Register free to get started; creating an account costs nothing.

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We'll email your code and occasional CPD reminders and offers from PointCPD. Unsubscribe any time.

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No. Progress saves per section and you resume exactly where you stopped, on any device you are signed in on. Start on the laptop, finish on the phone.

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No. Points are awarded once per course — the ledger is the auditable record, so it will not double-count a repeat. You are welcome to go back through a module any time to refresh; your certificate and points stay as first issued.

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Practising building industry professionals. Where AI-assisted tools help draft candidate questions or explanatory content from a source guide, nothing publishes until a competent human reviews and approves it, and every generated item carries a review status and a record of who signed it off. AI drafts; a person approves. More on how we build content.

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A number of them, yes — built directly on the National Construction Code and the ABCB's supporting guidance material, reproduced under CC BY 4.0 with attribution to the Australian Building Codes Board. You're learning from the source clauses, not someone's paraphrase, and very few online CPD providers work that way. (To be accurate: the ABCB doesn't endorse or accredit CPD providers — our claim is about where the content comes from.) More on our accreditation position.

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Courses are reviewed against the standards and rules they cite, and updated when those change. If you spot something out of date — a superseded clause, a changed requirement — tell us. Builders catching this is a feature, not an embarrassment.

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Yes — Conversation mode. In any module, tap the round wave button in the bottom corner: the module is talked through with you section by section, and you steer and answer out loud — say “skip”, “summary”, or just answer the question. The waves grow when it can hear you. The panel it opens also answers typed questions from the course content. If you need a different accessibility accommodation, get in touch.

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Your name, the course title and its CPD topic area, the date completed, the duration, the assessment, the points earned, and a unique serial number. That is the information an audit asks for.

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From My CPD. Every completed module keeps its certificate against it, including modules from earlier CPD years — nothing is archived away where you cannot reach it. Downloading it again does not change the original record.

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Yes. Each certificate carries a unique serial number that can be checked on our verify a certificate page — useful if an auditor, a client or a head contractor wants confirmation without taking your word for it.

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Yes. Correct the details in your profile and let us know so the certificate can be reissued against the corrected record. Get this right before you need it at audit rather than after.

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It is optional to register, but worth adding: a record of attendance that carries your licence number is stronger audit evidence than one without. You can add it any time from your profile.

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Your completion records and certificates remain in your account — you keep access to the evidence for the retention period an audit could reach back over. We would also encourage you to keep your own copies of the PDFs; that is good practice with any provider, not just us.

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Buy a single course outright, or buy CPD points in a package and spend them on whatever you like — one point per CPD point a course is worth. Packages work out cheaper per point the more you buy. Current prices are on the pricing page.

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You buy a balance of points, then unlock any course in the catalogue by spending them. Your balance shows on your dashboard. It suits builders who know they need 12 and would rather sort the whole year in one transaction.

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Your purchased point balance stays on your account. Note the distinction: bought points are credit for unlocking courses, while earned CPD points are what count toward your renewal and follow the NSW 12-month rules, including the 11-point carry-forward cap.

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Yes, and it takes about thirty seconds. The account holds your CPD ledger, your progress and your certificates — without it there is nowhere for your points to live and no way to re-download a certificate at audit time.

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The available payment options are shown at checkout. You will get a receipt by email, and a tax invoice you can hand to your bookkeeper.

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Yes. See PointCPD for employers for buying seats and keeping track of who on your team is short of points before renewal season.

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That is what the employer side is for — knowing in July who is still short, rather than finding out the week a licence is due. Details on the for employers page.

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Get in touch and we will sort it out. Our refunds and returns policy sets out where you stand formally, and your rights under Australian Consumer Law apply regardless.

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Attempts are unlimited, and each one shows you what you missed and where to read it again — so failing is a step, not a dead end. If a question seems wrong or unclear, tell us; that is feedback we act on.

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For residential building work valued over $5,000, including labour and materials, GST inclusive. Below that threshold a licence is not required for the work itself.

Penalties for unlicensed work are substantial: up to $22,000 for an individual and $110,000 for a company.

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Contractor licences and qualified supervisor certificates are issued for 1, 3 or 5 years. The CPD requirement applies each year regardless of the term you hold.

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Broadly: a Certificate IV in Building and Construction paired with a relevant trade certificate or diploma, a four-year construction-related degree, or a degree plus the Certificate IV. Plus a minimum of two years’ relevant industry experience, the majority within the last ten years.

This is a summary, not advice on your individual application — check current requirements with NSW Fair Trading before applying.

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NSW publishes a public licence register you can search by name or licence number. It is worth checking your own record occasionally — the expiry date on it is what drives your CPD deadline.

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New South Wales. The NSW requirement is mandatory and clearly defined, and it is what our content is written and reviewed against. We would rather do one jurisdiction properly than eight badly.

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We hold what is needed to run your account and issue valid CPD evidence — your name, email, and optionally your licence number and renewal date. Our privacy policy sets out the detail.

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Call us on (02) 8006 5827 or send a message from the contact page. If you are not sure a course suits your renewal, ask before you buy and we will point you to the right one.

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