CPD points for builders: reviews, and what to check instead

Published by PointCPD · Topic: Compliance · Part of the NSW builder CPD guide

You are about to pay for CPD points. Before you do, you want to know whether the provider is any good, so you search the provider’s name plus the word “reviews”. What comes back is a business-directory stub, a Facebook page that says “Not yet rated”, and the provider’s own marketing. Nothing you can use.

That blank result is not a gap in your searching. It is the state of the market. The Facebook page for Builders CPD Points Online shows “Not yet rated (0 Reviews)”. What ranks for “[provider] reviews” instead is directory profiles on sites such as Cylex Australia, TrueFinders and ProvenExpert, alongside the providers’ own pages.

The only testimonials that exist are self-published on providers’ own sites, and you cannot check any of them. builderscpdpointsonline.com.au shows a testimonial from a “James Holt”. blueprintcpd.com.au displays “Client Feedback 4.8 (388)” on its own site with no source given. Neither is something a buyer can verify, and neither should decide where your licence record comes from.

So this page does not give you reviews. It gives you the checks that replace them.

1. Work out which business you are actually looking at

Three different businesses trade under near-identical names. builderscpdonline.com.au trades as “Builders CPD Online”. builderscpdpointsonline.com.au trades as “Builders CPD Points Online”. cpdpointsforbuilders.com.au trades as “CPD Points For Builders”. Searching one name returns another, and you cannot tell from a search result which one you are reading about.

Match the exact domain before you read anything else on the page. Then check the ABN on abr.business.gov.au. The ABN record tells you the legal entity behind the trading name and whether that entity is still active. If the name on the checkout page does not match the entity you find, stop and ask why.

2. Check the RTO claim on the register, not the sales page

Builders CPD Online describes itself as RTO 91528. On training.gov.au, RTO 91528 is listed as South Pacific Training Group Pty Ltd, with Builders CPD Online among its business names (checked 23 September 2026). If you want nationally accredited training, that registration is a real advantage, and it is the sharpest difference between the providers in this market.

Verify any RTO number on the register yourself. A number printed on a provider’s own page is a claim; the register is the record.

Note the other side of it. NSW does not require an RTO for the 1-point-per-hour interactive tier of the scheme, so a provider without registration can still deliver CPD that counts in that tier. Decide which tier you are buying in first, then check the register.

3. Find out whether the course is assessed, and what happens if you fail

CPD Points For Builders describes its courses as “Read Only – No Test Required” (read from its site on 16 September 2026). That is a legitimate model and plenty of builders want exactly that. The point is to know which model you are buying before you pay, because reading and being assessed are not the same product.

If there is an assessment, ask two questions: what is the pass mark, and what happens if you do not reach it. A provider that lets you retake without limit is treating the assessment as a way to make the material stick. A provider that charges a re-sit fee is treating it as something else. Either answer is workable. Not knowing the answer is not.

4. Ask what the certificate actually records

A certificate that says “12 points completed” and nothing else does very little for you if anyone asks you to substantiate it later. You want your name, your licence number, the topic area and the points on the document, and you want to know whether a third party can confirm it without telephoning the provider.

Ask before you buy. If a provider cannot tell you what appears on its own certificate, you have learned something.

5. Find out who wrote the content, and whether they are named

CPD exists so that licensed builders stay current on the things that get people hurt, sued or shut down. Material written by someone with no building background wastes your afternoon even when the points are valid.

Look for a named person with a checkable registration. “Our team of industry experts” is not something you can check.

6. Check whether they describe the NSW rules accurately

This is the quickest test here. If a provider claims to be “NSW Fair Trading approved”, it is describing something that does not exist. NSW approves activities by description, not providers, and Building Commission NSW endorses no provider at all. A provider making that claim has not read the scheme closely enough to be relied on to explain it.

Read the provider’s own rules page carefully. If the basics are wrong there, assume the course material was written to the same standard. Our full position on this is at accreditation and approvals.

What the prices looked like

Read from each provider’s own site on 16 September 2026: Builders CPD Online advertised 12 points at $169, 24 at $329 and 36 at $449. CPD Points For Builders advertised the same three tiers at the same prices, plus 60 points at $649, and listed 35 courses worth 2 points each, saying it had delivered over 20,000 completed courses. Prices move, so check them on the day rather than trusting this paragraph, including where it concerns us.

Where PointCPD sits against the same six checks

We are new, and we have no published reviews either. There is no rating for us on ProductReview.com.au or Trustpilot, because nobody has written one. We would rather tell you that here than have you discover it after paying.

• Which business this is. PointCPD, at pointcpd.com.au. The ABN is in the footer of every page and on abr.business.gov.au.
• RTO status. We are not a registered training organisation and we do not deliver nationally recognised training. Our courses sit in the NSW scheme’s 1-point-per-hour interactive tier, which any provider with industry expertise may deliver. If nationally accredited training is what you need, Builders CPD Online is the provider on this page that holds that registration, and you should buy from them.
• Assessment. Every course ends in one. The pass mark is 80%, attempts are unlimited, and every question carries an explanation, so a wrong answer teaches you something instead of costing you money.
• Certificate. It records your name, licence number, topic area and points, and carries a serial number that anyone can check at verify a certificate, including an auditor, without contacting us.
• Who wrote it. Course content is reviewed by Daniel Betros, a licensed Building Practitioner, who is named on the site rather than described as an anonymous expert.
• Position on the rules. No provider is approved, including us, and we say so on the accreditation page rather than implying otherwise in our marketing.

We are not asking you to take our word for any of it, and we would rather you did not. Put the providers side by side on our comparison pages, where we say plainly which of them is the better buy for which builder, then run the same six checks yourself. Check the domains, check the ABNs, check the RTO register, ask what is on the certificate and ask who wrote the content. That will tell you more than a review page that does not exist.

Questions builders ask

Sources: Provider claims and prices read from each provider’s own site on 16 September 2026: builderscpdonline.com.au, cpdpointsforbuilders.com.au. Review-platform and directory checks run 9 October 2026. RTO registration checked on training.gov.au on 23 September 2026. The CPD tiers and the position that no provider is endorsed come from the NSW Government page on continuing professional development for builders and swimming pool builders.