By Greg Allan, tradesman and creator of Data First Coaching
Does a fabricator need a specific trade licence to operate in New Zealand?
There is no single trade licence for welding and fabrication work in New Zealand, the way an electrician or a plumber has to be registered to hold a licence. What trips a lot of fabricators up is assuming the business is either fully covered already or needs nothing at all, when the real picture is a set of separate obligations stacked on top of each other: business registration, health and safety duties as a PCBU, equipment and substance standards, and in some cases a licensed building practitioner or compliance certificate depending on the job. A workshop welding mild steel, aluminium or stainless for a homeowner's gate or balustrade sits under a lighter mix of these obligations than one fabricating a structural steel package from an engineer's shop drawings, or doing the site install on an architectural steel feature that forms part of a building's structure. Not knowing which mix applies is often what keeps a fabrication business stuck quoting one-off residential jobs instead of the steadier work builders and engineers hand to workshops they already trust.
What registration does your fabrication business itself need?
Every fabrication business needs to exist as a registered legal entity, and the paperwork depends on how you have set it up. If you trade as a company, you must register it with the Companies Office, and you are required to file an annual return each year to confirm the company is still operating, according to Starting a company. Whether your workshop runs as a sole trader, a partnership, a trust or a company, you can also get a New Zealand Business Number, since the Companies Office says any business structure in New Zealand can hold an NZBN, according to NZBN and the Companies Register. For a fabricator chasing structural or architectural steel work, this NZBN is often the number a builder, an engineer or a council asks for before they will put you on a tender list or a subcontractor panel, so it is worth having well before you need it.
What health and safety duties apply to the workshop and site work?
As a PCBU, a person conducting a business or undertaking, you carry direct duties under New Zealand's health and safety law once you run a welding and fabrication operation. WorkSafe says a PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers and must eliminate or minimise risks, according to Health and safety in welding. That includes making sure your welders and other crew are adequately trained in the safe use of substances, PPE and respiratory protective equipment they use, and having enough people trained in first aid in your workshop or on site. Where welding fume is a risk from cutting, folding and welding steel, aluminium or stainless, WorkSafe's separate guidance on exhaust ventilation also applies to any PCBU carrying out welding work, according to Welding and local exhaust ventilation. A fabricator who can show a builder or engineer these duties are properly managed is in a stronger position to be handed ongoing structural or architectural steel work, rather than being treated as a one-off quote.
Does your welding equipment, gas or hazardous substances need certification?
Yes, in several separate ways, and each one is part of the credibility you build with commercial customers. Electric welding machines used in your workshop must comply with recognised safety standards such as AS/NZS 3820:2009 or an accepted conformity scheme, according to Electric welding machines. Gas cylinders and fire extinguishers you use in cutting and welding work must be periodically tested to stay safe for continued use, according to Gas cylinders and fire extinguishers. And if your workshop stores or uses flammable, oxidising, toxic or corrosive substances above the thresholds in the Health and Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2017, a location compliance certificate from an authorised compliance certifier may be required, according to Location compliance certificates. None of this is paperwork for its own sake. It is the record you can put in front of a builder or engineer who needs to trust the workshop behind a structural steel package before they hand it over.
When does structural or architectural steel work need a licensed building practitioner?
Once a job moves from a standalone gate or balustrade into restricted building work, the rules change, and this is where certification starts to open doors rather than just tick boxes. Under section 84 of the Building Act 2004, restricted building work must be carried out or supervised by a licensed building practitioner who is licensed for that kind of work, and a person who is not licensed commits an offence if they carry it out unsupervised. If you take on structural steel packages, balustrades tied into a building's structure, or architectural steel that affects weathertightness, this applies directly, especially once galvanising or powder coat lead times are built into the programme a builder is managing. Being able to show the right licensed practitioner is involved, alongside your own registration and WorkSafe compliance, is often the difference between being asked to quote one job and being asked to quote the next five.
Keeping track of which jobs needed a licensed practitioner, which certificates are current and which customers asked for proof is something most fabricators carry in their head or in a folder in the office, and that picture is usually out of date by the time a council or an engineer asks for it. Pulled from your own job records instead, data first, it becomes a different exercise: you can see from past quotes and jobs which customers and job types actually required this paperwork, rather than guessing from memory. AI agents, which are simply software doing a job the way you would do it yourself, with your own wording and rules, can hold the renewal dates, the certificate numbers and the job types that need them, and flag it before a quote goes out rather than after a builder asks for proof you do not have on hand.
This is general information, not legal, tax or employment advice. Check your own situation with the body named here or a qualified adviser.
Where can you check the current rules?
- Health and safety in welding, WorkSafe's guidance on training, PPE, respiratory protection and first aid duties for anyone running welding work.
- Welding and local exhaust ventilation, WorkSafe's fact sheet on managing welding fume and the duties of a PCBU carrying out welding work.
- Starting a company, Business.govt.nz's guide to registering a company with the Companies Office and filing annual returns.
- NZBN and the Companies Register, how any business structure, including sole traders and partnerships, can get a New Zealand Business Number.
- Electric welding machines, the standards welding equipment sold or used in New Zealand must meet.
- Gas cylinders and fire extinguishers, WorkSafe's rules on periodic testing of refillable cylinders used in cutting and welding work.
- Location compliance certificates, WorkSafe's guidance on when storing or using hazardous substances requires a compliance certificate.
- Building Act 2004, the Act setting out when restricted building work must be carried out or supervised by a licensed building practitioner.
How does Data First Coaching approach this?
Data First Coaching does not start by asking which licence is missing. It starts with the owner's own quotes, jobs and customers, read through the Trade Business Intelligence, to see whether the real block is registration and certification, or something earlier, like which types of jobs the fabricator is putting themselves forward for in the first place. Greg Allan teaches that “you need to focus on things that are really going to shift gears in the business,” and for many fabrication businesses that means deliberately pursuing structural and architectural steel relationships with builders and engineers rather than repeating the same gate and balustrade jobs. AI agents can then carry the certificate tracking and renewal paperwork once that direction is set. Greg coaches fabricators online across New Zealand, starting from the business's own data, so where the workshop is does not change how the coaching works. The how of building this out is worked through inside the Academy, with members who are open minded, innovative and willing to share what they learn.
