Checks before you book
Match the trade to the job
Plumbing, gasfitting and drainlaying are separate licences. A califont needs a gasfitter, and digging up a broken drain needs a drainlayer. Our guide to plumber, gasfitter or drainlayer sorts out which.
Get the names of the people
Licences belong to people, not companies. Ask who will actually be on site, and get each person's first and last name.
Look them up on the register
Search each name on the PGDB public register and make sure the current licence column shows a tick or green. How to check the PGDB register walks you through it.
Ask about supervision
Only certifying plumbers, gasfitters and drainlayers work without a supervisor. Everyone else works under a named certifying supervisor, and PGDB suggests you look that person up too.
Get more than one written quote
PGDB's advice is to shop around and collect a range of written quotes before deciding. See reading a plumbing quote for what each should contain.
Ask about the paperwork
Ask, before the work starts, which documents you'll get when it's done. Any gas job ends with a Gas Safety Certificate once the work is connected.
See the card on the day
PGDB says to ask to see the New Zealand practising licence and check its expiry date. You might be shown a physical card, or a digital card on their phone through PGDB's app.
Red flags
- Only a business name. If nobody will tell you who's doing the work, you can't check them, because the register works on a person's name.
- "I'm registered." Registration is a one-off milestone. It's the practising licence, renewed every year, that authorises the work, and the register still lists people whose licence has lapsed.
- A licence for a different trade. A plumbing licence doesn't cover gasfitting or drainlaying.
- Signing off work they can't certify. In October 2026 PGDB reported a repeat offender fined $14,000 after he gave a homeowner a Gas Safety Certificate signed as "Certifier", with no authority to issue one.
- Someone else's registration number. In April 2026 a man was fined $8,000 for illegal plumbing and drainlaying at five properties, including a hot water cylinder installation. He had signed a producer statement using another practitioner's registration number.
- A spoken price only. Without a written quote, there's nothing to hold the final bill to.
- "No paperwork needed" on gas work. All gasfitting needs a Gas Safety Certificate once it's connected.
- Pressure to decide on the spot. A genuine tradie won't mind you taking a few minutes to check the register.
Questions for the first call
- Who will do the work, and what are their full names?
- Which licence class do they hold, and who supervises them?
- Is this a fixed quote or an estimate?
- Does the job need a building consent, and who will apply for it?
- What documents will I receive when the work is completed?
- Do you hold civil liability insurance?
Why checking protects you too
PGDB warns that some people advertise plumbing, gasfitting and drainlaying without being licensed or authorised. If unlicensed work on your home goes wrong, your insurance policy may be void, leaving you with the repair bill.
There's a legal side as well. It's an offence to knowingly permit or pay someone to do unauthorised sanitary plumbing or drainlaying, with a fine of up to $10,000. For gasfitting, knowingly paying an unauthorised person can cost an individual up to $50,000. The word that matters is knowingly, and a register check before you agree is the simplest way to be sure.
Reviews help, but the register decides
Reviews tell you how someone treats customers: whether they turn up, clean up and stick to the price. They can't tell you whether that person holds a current licence for your kind of work. Use reviews to choose between people who have already passed the register check, not instead of it.
If something goes wrong
Under the Consumer Guarantees Act, services from a business must be carried out with reasonable care and skill and be fit for purpose, and those rights can't be signed away. Raise the problem with the business first; if it isn't resolved, the Disputes Tribunal can make a final decision.
If the issue is a tradie's competence or conduct, PGDB takes complaints through an online form. Photos, invoices, quotes, compliance documents and any report from whoever put it right all help.
Where PlumbMatch fits
We pass your job to authorised local tradies who cover your area. They see the job, your first name and your suburb, and only the tradie who takes your job gets your contact details. Whoever rings you, check their name on the register exactly as you would anyone else's. How it works explains the rest.
What we would do
Get the names first, then spend two minutes on the register before agreeing to anything. A current licence in the right trade, a supervisor who checks out and a written quote rule out most of the problems PGDB ends up prosecuting. If that's too much to juggle in a busy week, ask us to match you with a licensed local specialist for the job, and check the name of whoever rings you just the same.