NSW builder CPD is self-recorded. Nothing is lodged with Fair Trading, so the diary you keep is the only thing standing between you and an audit finding that the year does not add up. The NSW Government page asks for two things: a diary record of your participation and the evidence behind it, kept for three licence renewal periods. It does not give you a form. This is the one we use.
The short version
One line per activity with eight columns: date, activity, provider, topic, hours, rate, points, evidence. One line at year end with the carry-forward arithmetic. File the certificates in a folder named by CPD year. Copy the table below into a spreadsheet and you are done.
The template
Each column answers a question an auditor will ask. Leave one out and you will be reconstructing it from memory years later.
| Date | Activity | Provider | CPD topic | Hours | Rate | Points | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dd/mm/yyyy | Course, seminar or event title | Who delivered it | One of the eight NSW topics | Learning hours only | 1/hr, 2/hr or per-year | Hours × rate | Certificate number or file name |
What goes in each column
- Date. The day you completed the activity. This decides which CPD year it falls in, and the year runs to your licence renewal date, not the calendar.
- Activity. The title as it appears on the record of attendance, so the two match.
- Provider. The organisation. For the 2-point tier this is where the RTO or university name matters.
- CPD topic. Technical issues, Sustainability, Compliance, Communication, Dispute resolution, Contracts, Safety or Business management. Use the topic the provider states.
- Hours. Learning time only. Lunch and travel at a full-day seminar do not count.
- Rate. 1 point per hour for interactive learning from a provider with industry expertise; 2 points per hour only for assessed learning tied to a national training package or university qualification, delivered by an RTO or university. Apprentices and a partner learning for the business are per-year entries, capped at 4 points combined.
- Points. Hours times rate, or the fixed amount for the per-year entries.
- Evidence. The certificate serial number, or the file name of the record of attendance in your folder.
A worked year
A builder with a renewal on 14 November, one apprentice, and no points carried in from the previous year:
| Date | Activity | Provider | CPD topic | Hours | Rate | Points | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02/02/2026 | BASIX Essentials for NSW Builders | PointCPD | Sustainability | 2 | 1/hr | 2 | PC-2026-0311 |
| 19/03/2026 | Regional CPD seminar | Industry association | Compliance | 6 | 1/hr | 6 | attendance-2026-03.pdf |
| 01/07/2026 | Apprentice, training contract in force | — | — | — | 1/yr | 1 | training-contract.pdf |
| 22/08/2026 | Working at Heights in NSW | PointCPD | Safety | 2 | 1/hr | 2 | PC-2026-0902 |
| 05/10/2026 | Dispute Resolution for NSW Builders | PointCPD | Dispute resolution | 2 | 1/hr | 2 | PC-2026-1140 |
| CPD year to 14/11/2026 | 13 | 12 used, 1 carried forward to year ending 14/11/2027 | |||||
The year-end line is the one most diaries lack. It records the total, the twelve used, and the surplus carried forward (a maximum of 11, for 12 months). Next year’s first line is that carry-forward, so the count starts right.
The folder that goes with it
Evidence is the provider’s record of attendance or certificate, or an academic record. Keep it in one folder per CPD year, named to match the Evidence column, in cloud storage rather than on one laptop. The NSW page lists what a record of attendance should show: your name and licence number, the course title and topic area, a course code, the date and location, the duration, the assessment type, the trainer or organisation, and the points. If a certificate is missing any of those, keep the course outline and the booking email beside it.
How long: three licence renewal periods. On a one-year licence that is three years of diaries and folders; on a three-year licence, nine; on a five-year licence, fifteen. Building Commission NSW audits both regularly and at random, so an old year can be the one that gets asked for.
Habits that make it painless
- Write the line the day you finish the activity, while the certificate is in front of you. Thirty seconds.
- Reconcile the diary against the folder at renewal, before you lodge. The renewal checklist has the steps.
- Put a recurring reminder a month before the renewal anniversary, every year of a long licence, because nothing else will prompt you.
- Keep the diary in a spreadsheet, not a notes app: it adds the points column for you and survives a phone change.
Every PointCPD certificate carries the fields above and a serial number you can drop straight into the Evidence column, and your My CPD page keeps them all with the date, topic, duration and points. What the diary is proving is in the complete NSW CPD guide.
Questions builders ask
Is there an official NSW CPD diary form?
No. The NSW Government page says to keep a diary record of your participation and the supporting evidence; it does not prescribe a format. Any dated list that captures the activity, provider, topic, hours, rate and points, kept with the certificates, does the job.
Can I just keep the certificates and skip the diary?
The scheme asks for both. Certificates prove each activity; the diary shows the year adds up, records the carry-forward calculation, and covers activities that do not produce a certificate, such as employing an apprentice. Keep both for three renewal periods.
Does my PointCPD account count as a diary?
It records every PointCPD course with the date, topic, duration and points, and keeps the certificates permanently, which covers those entries. Activities from other providers, seminars and apprentices still need a line in your own diary, so keep one master list.
Sources: NSW Government, Continuing professional development for builders and swimming pool builders.