How to Start a Gas Fitting Business in NZ: Licences, Costs, and Getting Customers

You must hold a current Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board (PGDB) practising licence under the Gas Act 1992 before doing any gas fitting work for hire or reward. The PGDB issues several registration classes for gas fitters (see below). If you're already registered and working for someone else, applying to move to self-employment or set up a company is a paperwork step — your existing registration transfers. Licences must be renewed annually.

All gas fitting work in NZ requires a Certificate of Compliance (Form 12) issued by a Certifying Gasfitter before the gas supply is connected. If you are not a Certifying Gasfitter yourself, you must have a Certifying Gasfitter employed or subcontracted to issue CoCs for your jobs. Many small operators are both the tradesperson and the certifier — this is the cleanest setup for a sole operator or small business. If you're not yet a Certifying Gasfitter, factor that into your structure from day one.

Choose your structure: sole trader (simplest, fast to set up, personal liability), partnership (if going in with someone else), or limited liability company (protects personal assets, recommended if you have a vehicle, tools, and staff). Register a company at companies.govt.nz if going that route. Register for GST when your turnover exceeds $60,000 — most trade businesses hit this quickly. Open a dedicated business bank account.

You need at minimum: public liability insurance ($2M–$5M recommended for gas work — gas incidents carry higher liability than most trades), tools and equipment cover, and vehicle insurance. Professional indemnity is increasingly required by commercial clients and is worth having regardless. Some insurers offer trade packages that bundle all of these. Gas work has a higher risk profile than general trade work — don't underinsure.

Typical startup costs for a gas fitting sole operator or small company: tools and test equipment ($8,000–$15,000), van or ute purchase or deposit ($15,000–$40,000), van fit-out ($2,000–$5,000), first 3 months of insurance ($2,000–$4,000), PGDB fees and initial compliance ($500–$1,000), accounting and legal setup ($1,000–$2,500), working capital for materials and wages before receivables come in ($10,000–$20,000). Total: $38,000–$87,000. Have at least 3 months of operating costs in reserve before you start.

NZ gas fitters typically charge $100–$160/hr for labour (2026 rates, varying by region). Common job types: gas hob installation ($300–$600), gas water heater replacement ($800–$1,500), gas central heating installation ($4,000–$12,000), commercial kitchen gas fit-out ($3,000–$20,000+). Price to recover your true costs: labour, materials, vehicle running costs, insurance, PGDB fees, and business overheads. Underpricing to win early work is a trap — you need sustainable margins from day one.

Gas fitting work comes from specific referral sources. Introduce yourself to: builders and renovation contractors (they need a gas fitter on every project with a gas component), kitchen designers and retailers (gas hob installations flow naturally from kitchen renovations), plumbers (many plumbing businesses subcontract gas work), real estate property managers (gas appliance servicing for rental properties), and manufacturers' agents (Rinnai, Rheem, and other gas appliance brands sometimes refer customers to approved installers). A few good referral relationships can sustain a solo operator indefinitely.

Gas fitting has a compliance load that must be managed from the first job: Form 12 CoC issued before gas supply connected, pressure test records retained per job, as-built drawings for new installations. Setting up a simple system on day one — even just a folder structure per job — is far easier than trying to retrospectively organise records after 200 jobs. A job management app that logs CoCs and compliance documents digitally against each job is the most reliable approach.

Before your first job: set up quoting software (quote on-site, not the next morning), invoicing (same-day invoicing gets paid faster — critical for cash flow), accounting software (Xero or MYOB — GST returns are simpler with software), and a job management system that handles compliance document storage. The gap between a gas fitter who works for themselves and one who runs a business is usually the systems.