QLD GUIDE

QBCC subcontractor prequalification checklist: what head contractors look for

A practical checklist for Queensland subcontractors: what a head contractor's prequalification reviewer usually checks, what trips people up, and how to get your pack in order before the next invitation lands.

Built by Tender Ready Tools, a Queensland-based engineer working in HV/LV project delivery. Published 30 October 2026 · 6 min read

Items marked verify refer to legislation or regulator guidance that changes over time. Check the linked official source before relying on them.

Prequalification is the quiet gate in front of every tender. Before anyone looks at your price, someone in a head contractor's commercial or HSEQ team works through a form, a portal or a spreadsheet and decides whether your business is safe to engage. If your pack is incomplete, out of date or hard to follow, you can be filtered out before your rates are ever read.

This checklist is written for Queensland subcontractors in building, civil and industrial electrical work, including HV/LV. It reflects what reviewers commonly ask for, not any single company's system. Every head contractor runs its own process, and the rules change, so treat each regulatory point marked verify as a prompt to check the current official source.

1. Licensing: the first thing checked, and the fastest fail

For most building work in Queensland, the reviewer's first question is whether your business holds the right QBCC licence class for the scope you are quoting. Licensing sits under the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991 verify, and the QBCC publishes licence classes and requirements verify.

• Your contractor licence number, the exact licensee name, and the licence class(es) that match the scope. If the licence is held by a company, make sure the entity on your quote matches the licensee.
• The nominee or nominated supervisor details where relevant.
• Licence expiry date, with a renewal reminder at least 60 days out.
• A printout or screenshot from the QBCC online licence search and registers verify. Reviewers will run the search themselves, so make sure what they find matches what you sent.
• For electrical work: your electrical contractor licence and worker licences are issued under the Electrical Safety Act 2002 through the Electrical Safety Office verify. Industrial and HV/LV packages often need both electrical and QBCC evidence, depending on the scope. Check which applies to the actual work.

Common trip-up: trading names. If your website, quote letterhead, ABN record and licence all show slightly different names, the reviewer has to work out whether they are the same entity. Line them up, or explain the relationship in one sentence on your cover page.

2. Financial position: can you survive the job?

Head contractors are wary of subcontractors failing mid-project. Expect questions about turnover, financial statements and sometimes a credit check. QBCC licensees also carry minimum financial requirements verify, including current ratio requirements for many licence categories verify.

• Last one or two years of financial statements (or accountant-prepared summaries), ready to send under confidentiality if requested.
• Your annual turnover and the largest single contract value you have delivered. Reviewers compare this with the package size.
• Evidence you are meeting your licence's financial reporting obligations verify.
• Bank or trade references, if your target head contractors ask for them.
• ABN and GST registration details that match your licence entity.

A practical rule of thumb many reviewers use: a single package worth a large share of your annual turnover raises a flag. You do not need to avoid those jobs, but be ready to explain how you will resource and cash-flow them.

3. Insurance: currency, limits and the named insured

Insurance is checked line by line. The usual set for subcontractors is public liability, workers' compensation, and depending on scope, professional indemnity, contract works and motor vehicle cover.

• Certificates of currency, not just policy schedules. Check the named insured matches your licence entity.
• Public liability limit. Many tier 1 and tier 2 contractors ask for $10M or $20M; check the head contract or prequal form for the actual figure.
• Workers' compensation through WorkCover Queensland for Queensland workers verify.
• Professional indemnity if you are doing design, including electrical design or design-and-construct packages.
• Expiry dates diarised. An expired certificate is one of the most common reasons a prequal is put on hold.

4. WHS system: evidence, not a binder

Work health and safety duties in Queensland flow from the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 verify and its regulation and codes of practice. Reviewers want evidence that your safety system is real and used, not a purchased manual with your logo on page one.

• A WHS policy signed by a current director and dated in the last year or two.
• Safe Work Method Statements for high-risk construction work in your scope. For electrical contractors this typically includes energised work controls, isolation and test-before-touch, and work near live parts.
• Your incident and injury statistics for the last three years (LTIFR or simple counts) and how you report and investigate incidents.
• A training and competency register: white cards, licences, high-risk work licences, LVR/CPR currency, HV switching or access authorisations where relevant.
• Evidence of consultation: toolbox talk records, prestart sign-ons.
• Any notices or prosecutions in the last few years, and what changed afterwards. Being upfront reads better than the reviewer finding it.

If you hold third-party WHS certification, include the certificate. If you don't, a well-organised, genuinely used system is still credible for most mid-sized packages.

5. Quality and environmental management

• A quality policy and an outline of how you control documents, inspections and nonconformances.
• Inspection and test plans (ITPs) for your main work types. For electrical packages, show examples of test sheets: insulation resistance, polarity, earth continuity, RCD testing, and HV test records where applicable.
• How you handle defects and nonconformance reports, with one de-identified example.
• An environmental policy and basic controls (waste, spills, noise) if the head contractor asks.

6. Experience and capacity

This is where you show you have done this type of work at this scale. Reviewers want relevance, not a list of every job since 2009.

• Three to five relevant projects with value, client, scope, dates and a referee who will answer the phone.
• An organisation chart and the key people you would put on this job, with their licences and tickets.
• Plant and equipment you own or can reliably hire.
• Current workload: what you have on now and when crews free up.

7. Contract and payment readiness

Some prequal forms now ask how you manage contracts, variations and payment claims. Being organised here protects you later. The QBCC has guidance on commercial contracts and subcontracts verify, and project trust account rules may apply on some projects; check the current QBCC trust account guidance verify, as the rollout and thresholds have changed over time.

• A standard way you price and record variations (who can direct them, in writing, before work starts).
• A payment claim template that clearly identifies the work and the amount. Our BIF Act payment claim checklist covers this.
• Someone responsible for reading contract special conditions before you sign.

How to present the pack

A reviewer may be looking at 20 submissions in a week. Make yours easy to assess:

1. One cover page with entity name, ABN, licence numbers, insurance limits and expiry dates in a table.
2. Consistent file names: 01_QBCC_Licence.pdf, 02_PL_Certificate_exp2027-06.pdf, and so on.
3. Answer the question asked. If a portal field asks for LTIFR, give the number and the period, not a 40-page safety manual.
4. Flag what's in progress, such as a renewal lodged or certification audit booked, with dates.
5. Keep a master folder and review it every quarter. Most prequal pain comes from finding documents in a rush.

Red flags reviewers notice

• Licence class that doesn't match the scope being quoted.
• Expired or soon-to-expire certificates of currency.
• Generic SWMS that don't mention the actual tasks or site conditions.
• No incident records at all over several years (it reads as "not recording", not "very safe").
• Referees who are unreachable or unaware they were listed.
• Different entity names across documents.

Where to start this week

Don't try to rebuild everything at once. Spend an afternoon on three steps: run your own licence search and save the result, collect current certificates of currency into one folder, and list what's missing against the seven areas above. If you want a structured way to do that, the free Subcontractor Readiness Scorecard scores each area and tells you what to tackle first.

This guide is general information only, not legal, WHS, insurance or tendering advice. Requirements vary by head contractor and project and change over time. Check each item marked verify against the current official source before relying on it.