BCA Technical Controller and Approved Person: who you need and what they do

CRS personnel and builder licence appointments

The Builders Licensing Scheme regulates specified building works. The Contractors Registration System classifies contractors by workhead and grade. A builder licence uses Approved Person (AP) and Technical Controller (TC) roles. CRS uses its own personnel categories, including P and T, and RP in the CW requirements. A person who meets one scheme does not automatically meet the other.

What does the Approved Person do?

The AP manages the building business. For a corporate licensee, the AP is a director or board member rather than an employee appointed only for this role. Sole proprietors and partnerships have their own appointment rules.

The Essential Knowledge course route belongs to the AP role. It is not a substitute for the TC qualification requirements. BCA also applies conduct and eligibility requirements, including relevant recent licence revocation.

What does the Technical Controller do?

The TC oversees and supervises the relevant building work. The qualification and experience must suit the licence class.

One person may serve as both AP and TC for the same company if qualified for both. A TC cannot serve multiple licensees. A newly earned award does not convert earlier employment into post-qualification years.

CRS technical personnel requirements

CRS technical personnel are different from a builder’s Technical Controller. They must be full-time and employed only by the applicant. Local or PR technical personnel need evidence of at least $2,400 monthly salary. For ME workheads, relevant mechanical, electrical or electronics diploma routes and BCA-approved alternatives apply. Some workheads allow specific EMA or M&E Coordination credentials; check the actual category before hiring or enrolling in a course.

For ME01–ME13 Grade L1, review both $50,000 paid-up capital and $50,000 net worth, $300,000 of relevant track record over the preceding three years, and one qualifying T technical person. L1 does not impose the three-year personnel-experience condition used at L2. New or additional entry-grade applications can use relevant ongoing as well as completed projects.

Paid-up capital is the amount shareholders have paid for their shares. Net worth is assets minus liabilities, supported by accounts; a $50,000 bank balance alone does not establish $50,000 net worth. Management accounts can be used at L1, while L2–L6 require audited accounts. Requirements vary by workhead; do not apply an ME table to every CRS category.

CR workheads have P/T requirements. CW has its own personnel definitions and higher-grade requirements. Do not assume an ME diploma route meets a specialist builder TC requirement.

What do CRS personnel abbreviations mean?

The current SRR gives the full qualification and institution definitions. BCA can approve other qualifications where the rules allow; do not treat a short institution list as exhaustive.

What evidence should you review?

• The exact award, awarding institution and subject.
• The date the qualification was awarded.
• Employment history describing the relevant work and dates.
• Whether the person meets the required appointment and employment conditions.
• The licence or workhead’s current specific requirements.

Options if your personnel do not meet the requirements

Compare recruiting a suitable person, a genuinely available qualification route or a different application scope. Further study may help a longer-term plan, but cannot remove the experience requirement. Confirm the award’s acceptance before paying for a course.

Assess the person against the actual work

Start with the licence class and the work the business intends to carry out. Then assess the person’s qualification, appointment and relevant experience separately. A degree title alone does not describe what the person studied, and a senior job title alone does not establish experience in the relevant building work. An applicant might have managed procurement for ten years without supervising the construction activities required for the proposed TC appointment.

For an overseas award, prepare the certificate and transcript, the awarding institution’s details and the graduation date. Explain any difference between the teaching institution and the institution that issued the award. If the subject or institution is uncertain, obtain clarification before making the appointment or committing to a course. The BCA licensing page links the current AP and TC requirements.

Prepare an experience record that can be checked

Describe work performed, rather than repeating “construction experience” on every line. For a project manager, distinguish site execution from administration. For a specialist role, explain the specialist activities; unrelated building experience may not resolve the requirement. If projects overlapped, show the dates accurately instead of adding overlapping periods together as consecutive years.

Example: a new qualification and earlier work experience

Illustrative example: a candidate obtains a construction-related degree in 2026 after working in the industry from 2020. The employment record does not automatically become six years of post-degree experience. Assess the applicable qualification route and the experience after that qualification. If an earlier diploma is relevant to another permitted route, check that route separately rather than assuming the new degree changes all earlier years.

This is why training should be planned before an application deadline. Ask what award will be issued, whether its subject and institution fit the intended role, and how much relevant experience will still be needed after completion. An AP course and a TC qualification solve different requirements.

Compare available personnel options before applying

• Review an existing director or employee against the precise role requirements.
• If recruiting, verify the qualification and experience before offering an appointment dependent on BCA acceptance.
• If studying, confirm the award and the remaining experience period before paying course fees.
• If changing the application scope, check whether it still covers the work the company intends to undertake.

A personnel review is useful even when the company is not ready to apply. It can identify whether the gap is the award, the experience period, the appointment or the project evidence. Bring the intended licence class and a brief qualification/employment chronology to the BCA enquiry; private identity documents are not needed for the first enquiry.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

• BCA: builder licensing ↗
• BCA: AP and TC FAQs ↗
• BCA: August 2026 ME requirements ↗

Related guides

• BCA builder licence: who needs one and how to apply →
• BCA workheads explained: choose the category for your construction work →