Owner Builder Course WA — Online Training for Form 75

Regulator alignment

ABE Education is a direct training provider for this course. WA operates a knowledge-requirement model under Form 75, which any competent provider may deliver.

What is the WA owner builder course and who needs it?

The WA owner builder course is the knowledge training accepted on Form 75 — the application Western Australians lodge with the Building Services Board to build or renovate their own home without hiring a registered builder. You need it if you plan work worth more than $20,000 on land you own, and you’re not already a registered building practitioner.

Western Australia treats owner building as a privilege, not a default right. Before approving your permit, the Building Services Board (administered by the Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety — LGIRS) needs evidence that you understand your legal, safety, and contractual responsibilities as the person in charge of the build. Completing an accepted owner builder course is the standard way to demonstrate that knowledge on Form 75.

ABE Education’s WA course is delivered online, self-paced, and designed specifically around the knowledge requirements listed on Form 75. You don’t sit an exam at a venue. You work through the modules at your own pace, pass the online assessments, and receive your Certificate of Completion — which you upload or attach to your Form 75 submission.

Who typically takes this course

• Homeowners planning a new house, granny flat, or major extension over $20,000
• Landowners constructing a garage, shed, carport, or other non-habitable outbuilding
• Small commercial owners adding to or altering a building under 500 m² (non-Class 10, not a detached dwelling, not a farm building)
• Anyone without current Building Practitioner registration who wants to project-manage the build themselves

How does ABE’s WA owner builder course work?

You enrol online, log in straight away, and work through the modules at your own pace. Most students finish in 3–5 hours across one or two sittings. Each section ends with a short assessment; when you pass the final assessment, your Certificate of Completion is issued the same day and emailed as a PDF ready for your Form 75 application.

Step 1 — Enrol and log in

Enrolment takes under two minutes. Pay securely online, receive your login details, and start immediately. Your enrolment stays active for 12 months, so you can work at your own pace and revisit the material whenever you need to.

Step 2 — Work through eight modules

Core knowledge areas aligned to the Form 75 checklist:

• Your legal responsibilities as the permit holder
• The approvals and permits you’ll need (and from whom)
• Engaging and managing tradespeople, including contracts and payments
• Building insurance — home indemnity insurance and public liability cover
• Workplace health and safety obligations on an owner-built site
• Record-keeping, inspections, and practical completion
• What you can and cannot do as an owner builder in WA
• Selling, renting, or transferring an owner-built property

Step 3 — Pass the final assessment and download your certificate

After the final assessment, your Certificate of Completion is generated automatically and emailed to you as a PDF. Print it, attach the PDF to your Form 75 submission, or upload it with your online application.

What will the WA owner builder course teach you?

You’ll learn everything LGIRS expects you to know before they approve your Form 75 — the legal framework of owner building in WA, how to engage trades safely and contractually, your insurance obligations, your WHS duties on site, and the practical steps from permit to completion. The content is written specifically for WA law, not generic Australian owner-builder material.

Learning outcomes

• Understand the legal structure of WA owner building under the Building Services (Registration) Act 2011 and the Building Act 2011
• Identify which approvals you need — building permit, occupancy permit, and related local-government consents
• Engage subcontractors lawfully — licensed trade requirements, written contracts, and payment rules
• Apply WA’s home indemnity insurance rules and understand when cover is required
• Meet WorkSafe WA duty-of-care obligations as the person in control of the workplace
• Plan for inspections, variations, defects, and practical completion
• Know the restrictions on selling, leasing, or transferring an owner-built property

Course outline

Eight modules, roughly 3–5 hours total, mapped to the Form 75 knowledge areas LGIRS tests for.

1. 01

   Your legal responsibilities as the permit holder

   30 min

   Understanding the owner-builder role under the Building Services (Registration) Act 2011 and the Building Act 2011 — what LGIRS expects of you as the person in charge of the build.

2. 02

   Approvals and permits you’ll need

   30 min

   Building permit, occupancy permit, and local-government consents — how they fit together and in what order they are obtained.

3. 03

   Engaging and managing tradespeople

   35 min

   Licensed-trade requirements, written contracts, and payment rules when you, not a registered builder, are signing the subcontracts.

4. 04

   Building insurance obligations

   25 min

   WA’s home indemnity insurance rules, public liability cover, and when each applies on an owner-built site.

5. 05

   Workplace health and safety on an owner-built site

   35 min

   WorkSafe WA duty-of-care obligations when you are the person in control of the workplace.

6. 06

   Record-keeping, inspections, and practical completion

   30 min

   Inspection triggers, variation records, defect management, and what practical completion looks like for an owner-built home.

7. 07

   What you can and cannot do as an owner builder in WA

   30 min

   Scope limits, prohibited sub-contracting arrangements, and the specific categories of work permitted under LGIRS rules.

8. 08

   Selling, renting, or transferring an owner-built property

   25 min

   The seven-year rule, home indemnity insurance on sale, and the restrictions on commercial letting or resale intent.

How the course maps to Form 75 knowledge areas

Form 75 knowledge area	Covered in module
Duties and responsibilities of an owner-builder	Modules 1, 2
Engaging building trades	Module 3
Insurance obligations	Module 4
Workplace health and safety	Module 5
Building approvals and inspections	Modules 2, 6
Selling or renting an owner-built property	Module 8

Who can enrol, and what are the WA owner builder eligibility rules?

Anyone 18+ can enrol in the course — there are no prior qualifications required. To use the certificate for owner builder approval, you must also meet LGIRS’s separate application rules: you own the land, you intend to live in or use the finished building, you’ve held a White Card, and you haven’t held an owner builder permit in the last six years (unless you get a waiver).

ABE course enrolment requirements

• No prior qualifications — the course is written for non-builders
• Reliable internet and a computer, tablet, or phone
• English reading and comprehension at a working level (the course is delivered in plain English)
• Around 3–5 hours of study time

LGIRS eligibility rules for Form 75 applicants

• Each applicant must be an individual — not a corporate body, trust, or other entity
• You (or all co-owners) own the land, or hold a prescribed interest in it
• You intend to occupy or use the building when finished — not sell or rent on completion
• At least one applicant holds a current White Card or Blue Card — the General Construction Induction training card covering the unit of competency ‘Prepare to work safely in the construction industry’
• You haven’t been approved as an owner builder in the last six years, unless you’ve applied for a waiver on the last page of Form 75
• Your owner-builder knowledge course was completed no more than two years before you lodge Form 75

Form 75 version change — important for 2026 applicants

How long is an owner-builder approval valid?

An owner-builder approval expires six months after the date of issue if you don’t lodge a building permit application in that window. If you do apply within six months and the permit is refused, the approval expires on refusal. If the building permit is granted, the approval then runs for the life of the building permit — and building permits are valid for two years, with scope to request a longer term at application or to extend an existing permit afterwards through your local government.

How much does ABE’s WA owner builder course cost?

ABE’s WA Owner Builder Course is $179 — a single one-off fee including all modules, assessments, and your Certificate of Completion. There are no extra charges for the certificate and no monthly subscription. The LGIRS Form 75 application fee is paid separately to the Building Services Board.

What you pay, and who you pay it to

Two separate fees. ABE charges for the training; LGIRS charges for the Form 75 application.

Cost	Amount	Paid to
WA Owner Builder Course (training)	$179	ABE Education
LGIRS Form 75 — residential building — non-refundable	$212	Building Services Board (LGIRS)
LGIRS Form 75 — industrial/commercial building — non-refundable	$467	Building Services Board (LGIRS)

LGIRS application fees verified against the LGIRS Building and Energy fee schedule on 21 April 2026. Fees are set by WA government regulation and may change at any time — confirm the current fee on the LGIRS schedule at time of lodgement.

ABE Education's training fee is separate from the LGIRS permit application fee. Completing our course does not constitute application for owner builder approval — you must still lodge Form 75 with the Building Services Board after completing the training.

Enrol now — $179

Why take the WA owner builder course with ABE Education?

ABE Education is a direct training provider operating since 2007, with state approvals in the ACT (Access Canberra) and Tasmania (CBOS), and course content meeting LGIRS Form 75 knowledge requirements in WA. We’ve trained more than 31,000 students across Australia. Our WA owner builder course is written specifically to the knowledge areas LGIRS tests for on Form 75 — not generic Australian owner-builder content with state names swapped in.

• WA-specific content. Course content references the Building Services (Registration) Act 2011 and Building Act 2011 (WA), LGIRS application procedures, and WorkSafe WA WHS duties — not generic national material.
• Same-day certificate. Pass the final assessment and your PDF certificate is emailed within minutes, ready for Form 75 submission.
• 12-month access. Revisit the course content for a full year after enrolment — useful if your build timeline stretches out.
• Experienced course development team. Developed by a licensed NSW builder with 40+ years of construction experience and independently reviewed for compliance and currency.
• Real human support. Call +61 2 9798 5000 or email the ABE team during business hours — not a chatbot.

How is this course developed and reviewed?

Every ABE course goes through a two-stage quality process. First, the course content is developed by Dominic Ogburn — a licensed NSW builder with 40+ years in Australian construction. Second, the published course page is independently reviewed by Warwick Smith — Senior Consultant, Compliance and Operations at Corporate Development Resource Group — to verify that every legislative reference, regulatory name, and fee figure is current and accurate.

This is how ABE verifies that the information on this page matches what Western Australian owner builders actually need to do under current LGIRS rules. The course developer works from the Form 75 knowledge areas and Australian building legislation. The compliance reviewer then checks the published page for currency against the live LGIRS website, the current Form 75 PDF, and the Building Services (Registration) Act 2011. Any time LGIRS updates Form 75, a regulation changes, or a fee figure moves, the page is flagged for re-review.

Developed by — 14 April 2026

Dominic Ogburn

NSW Builder Licence 369417C — 40+ years

Dominic has built residential and commercial projects across NSW for more than 40 years, holds NSW Builder Licence 369417C, and received the 2005 NSW Ministers Award for construction excellence. He sits on Standards Australia committee BD-038 and is co-author of the Allen & Unwin title on residential construction practice. His work has been cited in NSW Hansard on owner-builder policy. Dominic develops and updates every ABE owner-builder course.

• NSW Builder Licence 369417C
• 2005 NSW Ministers Award
• Standards Australia BD-038
• Co-author — Allen & Unwin residential construction title
• Cited in NSW Hansard

Reviewed by — 14 April 2026

Warwick Smith

27+ years in vocational education compliance

Warwick is Senior Consultant for Compliance and Operations at Corporate Development Resource Group, with more than 27 years working across the Australian vocational education and training sector. He reviews ABE course content for regulatory currency, alignment with state knowledge requirements, and quality of assessment design.

• Senior Consultant — Compliance and Operations, Corporate Development Resource Group
• 27+ years in the VET sector