The state’s consumer watchdog now has a dedicated team targeting dodgy tradies, and it is already putting serious money behind the message.
South Australia has established a dedicated enforcement unit inside its consumer watchdog, with the Building Industry Response Team now operational and already issuing more than $200,000 in fines against unlicensed builders, plumbers, gas-fitters and electricians.
The Consumer and Business Services Building Industry Response Team, known as BIRT, came into effect earlier this year. It is part of a broader regulatory overhaul that has been building since the Malinauskas Government launched a formal review of the state’s building and construction industry in 2024.
The timing matters. The team’s establishment coincides with substantially tougher penalties that took effect in January 2026, when the Statutes Amendment (Building and Construction Industry Review Penalties) Act 2025 came into operation. New offences now cover unlicensed work, hiring unlicensed subcontractors to undertake licensed work, using another contractor’s licence number, and falsely claiming to be licensed or registered. Maximum penalties have increased significantly, reaching up to $150,000 for individuals and $550,000 for companies for repeat offences.
That is a dramatic shift. The legislation passed by SA Parliament in December 2025 delivered a 30-fold increase in maximum penalties for unlicensed building work. Before the reform, the maximum penalty for operating without a licence was just $5,000.
BIRT is the enforcement arm putting those new powers to work.
Who Has Been Fined
The public warning notices issued alongside the fines name eight operators, and the conduct alleged is consistent with what compliance bodies across every state have been raising for years.
The largest single penalty went to Khorshed Alam, who allegedly posed as an “owner builder” across three properties in Salisbury and Elizabeth East. He received expiations totalling $75,000, covering three counts of operating without a licence and three counts of performing building work without the required Building Indemnity Insurance.
Jase Henry, trading as SOS Home Renovations, allegedly held himself out as a licensed building work contractor without the appropriate licence and received $25,000 in expiations for five counts of operating without a licence. CBS notes that investigations are continuing into further potential breaches.
Others named in enforcement action include Anu Anand trading as The Decor Planet SA, Ras Pro Pty Ltd, Mohammed Konneh trading as MFK Roofing, and Michael Wheeler trading as Maintena Property Maintenance, each receiving $5,000 in expiations for allegedly operating or advertising without a licence. Brady Lachlan Moldenhauer received $10,000 in expiations for allegedly failing to attend two compulsory conciliation conferences.
CBS has issued public warning notices against all of the above, urging consumers not to engage them and to report any dealings to the regulator.
The Owner Builder Loophole
The Alam case highlights one of the more specific problems CBS has been trying to close through this reform cycle.
The review identified that unlicensed builders have been posing as owner-builders as a mechanism to avoid licensing requirements. The government flagged the introduction of a permit system for owner-builders specifically to address this pattern.
An owner-builder in South Australia can legally manage their own domestic building project without holding a contractor’s licence. But that exemption has a defined scope. Using it to run what is effectively a commercial building operation, contracting with clients and performing work across multiple properties, falls outside it. The $75,000 in expiations issued to Alam reflects the seriousness with which regulators are now treating that kind of conduct.
“Operators hit with enforcement action include individuals allegedly claiming to be owner-builders across multiple investment properties, and those advertising for building work without any licence at all.”
What the New Penalties Actually Mean for Licensed Operators
For licensed operators, the penalty reforms carry a risk that may not be immediately obvious.
Licensed builders who engage unlicensed subcontractors to perform work that requires a licence are now themselves criminally liable. The risk extends beyond the unlicensed operator to the builder who hired them, who faces the same penalties.
This is a material change to how subcontractor management needs to work on South Australian sites. Checking a licence number before engaging a subcontractor is no longer just good practice. It is a legal obligation with a five-figure minimum expiation sitting behind it.
CBS has a free licence check function on its website. The check takes less than a minute. The alternative is now exposure to penalties that, for a small residential builder, could be existential.
Part of a Larger Package
BIRT and the new penalties are part of a reform program that has been running across multiple fronts since 2024.
From 1 October 2025, the policy limit for new Building Indemnity Insurance policies increased to $250,000, up from $150,000. From 10 November 2025, the threshold at which Building Indemnity Insurance is required also shifted, rising from $12,000 to $20,000.
The South Australian Government Financing Authority reported that over $18.7 million in claims were paid under the Building Indemnity Insurance scheme in 2023 to 2024 alone. The old $150,000 cap no longer covered what it costs to complete a modern home. The 66 per cent lift in the policy limit reflects that reality.
Further reforms under consideration include mandatory registration for building inspectors, a binding rectification order scheme to resolve defective work disputes without court proceedings, and a possible shift of domestic building contract disputes to SACAT for faster resolution.
Why This Matters Beyond South Australia
South Australia is not the only jurisdiction running dedicated construction compliance operations. NSW Building Commission has been active across the state with regional blitzes. Victoria’s WorkSafe has escalated falls enforcement. Western Australia has been progressively tightening building licensing requirements.
The pattern across states is consistent: regulators are moving from reactive complaint handling to active, targeted field enforcement. They are naming names publicly. They are issuing fines that move well beyond the cost of a speeding ticket.
For builders operating legitimately, this is the right direction. The operators named in BIRT’s first round of action are the kind of competition that undercuts pricing, exposes clients to risk, and damages the reputation of every licensed tradie working to a higher standard.
For those with exposure, the message from South Australia is plain. The team is active, the penalties are serious, and CBS has asked anyone who has had dealings with the named operators to come forward.
| THE GOOD BUILDER TAKE Licensed operators in South Australia have long had to compete against unlicensed work that the regulator had limited capacity to address. A dedicated enforcement team changes that equation. The Alam case alone, at $75,000, is more than fifteen times the old maximum penalty for unlicensed work. The fact that it came from a single operator allegedly working across three properties gives a sense of the scale CBS is now prepared to pursue. If you are managing residential builds in South Australia and have not recently verified the licences of every subcontractor on your site, this is a reasonable prompt to do so. The compliance obligation is now on you, and the new legislation makes that explicit. Check licences at cbs.sa.gov.au or call CBS on 131 882. |
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