The short answer
Every QBCC licence carries a Maximum Revenue limit — the annual revenue ceiling tied to your licence category. Exceed it is not a technicality; it is a breach of your licence conditions, and the consequences can be serious: licence suspension, cancellation, or being unable to tender for work you have already committed to. The good news is that exceeding the limit is almost always avoidable — provided you can see it coming. That is what regular catch-ups are for.
What the Maximum Revenue limit actually is
When the QBCC grants a licence, it assigns a turnover category — Self-Assessable, Tier 1, or Tier 2 — and with it a Maximum Revenue limit. That limit is the most revenue you are permitted to earn in a financial year while holding that licence. It is tied to the financial evidence you put forward when you applied or renewed: your net tangible assets, your tangible net worth, and the working capital that supports the category.
The limit is not a target. It is a ceiling. And it is calculated on revenue, not profit — so a strong year of billings can push you over even when margins are tight.
What happens when you exceed it
Exceeding your Maximum Revenue limit is a breach of your licence conditions. The QBCC can and does act on it:
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Suspension or cancellation of your licence. The Commission can suspend or cancel a licence where the holder has exceeded the maximum revenue for their category. Without a live licence, you cannot lawfully contract for or carry out the building work your business depends on.
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Work already underway is at risk. If your licence is suspended mid-project, you may be unable to complete contracted work, and your clients may be exposed — which can trigger disputes, defects claims, and unpaid invoices.
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Future work is blocked. You cannot tender for, contract for, or carry out new work that requires a licence you no longer hold. Pipelines and forward commitments evaporate.
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Financial and reputational fallout. A suspension affects your bonding, your finance arrangements, and your standing with principals and subcontractors. It is visible, and it lingers.
The worst part: most of this is preventable if you see the limit approaching.
Why exceeding it usually means you were flying blind
Licence holders exceed their Maximum Revenue limit for one of two reasons. Either the business grew faster than the structure could absorb — a good problem, handled badly — or no one was watching the number against the limit until it was already crossed.
Both come down to the same thing: reporting that arrives too late to act on. A set of annual accounts delivered months after year-end tells you what happened. It does not tell you what is about to happen. By the time you see you have blown through the ceiling, the breach has already occurred.
How regular catch-ups keep you under the limit
This is the part that matters. The Maximum Revenue limit is a rolling number against a fixed ceiling. The only way to stay under it is to track revenue against the limit through the year — not at the end of it.
Regular catch-ups do exactly that. On a fixed cadence — monthly or quarterly, not just at year-end — we:
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Track revenue against your Maximum Revenue limit. We watch your year-to-date billings against the ceiling for your category, so you can see the gap closing before it closes.
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Forecast where you will land. We project forward from your current run-rate and pipeline, so you know months in advance whether you are on track to exceed — not after the fact.
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Plan before you breach. If the numbers show you approaching the limit, we act early: slowing revenue recognition where legitimate, scheduling work into the next financial year, or — if growth genuinely warrants it — preparing the financial evidence to move you up a category before you cross the line.
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Keep your financial position licence-ready. The turnover category is supported by your net tangible assets and working capital. Regular catch-ups keep those numbers where they need to be, so a category change is available when you need it rather than a scramble.
The point of a catch-up is not a status update. It is the early-warning system that turns a licence breach into a managed decision.
How we help
We work with QBCC licence holders on exactly this. Our role is not to hand you a set of accounts once a year and hope for the best. It is to sit beside you through the year, watching the numbers that keep your licence live.
- We confirm your turnover category and Maximum Revenue limit, and make sure you actually know the ceiling you are working to.
- We set a fixed cadence of catch-ups — monthly or quarterly — where revenue against the limit is the first thing on the agenda.
- We forecast, we flag, and we plan, so a strong year becomes a reason to move up a category, not a reason to lose your licence.
- If you are already close to the limit, we move fast: we assess your position, prepare the financial evidence for a category change, and guide the application so your licence stays live while you grow.
The one question to ask now
Do you know your Maximum Revenue limit — and do you know, right now, where your revenue sits against it? If the answer to either is no, you are one strong quarter away from a problem you did not see coming.
Call the direct line. We will confirm your limit, look at where you stand, and set up the catch-ups that keep you under it while you grow.
