Cert III Concreting

You need 22 units of competency: 17 core units and 5 elective units. Of the electives, 3 must be selected from Group A specialist concreting units. The remaining 2 may come from Group A, Group B, or any currently endorsed Training Package or accredited course at Certificate III or Certificate IV level.

The National Training Register states there are no entry requirements for this qualification. However, the construction industry strongly affirms that training and assessment must be undertaken in an actual workplace or very closely simulated workplace environment, and this qualification requires all units of competency to be delivered in that context.

The 17 core units cover common construction skills such as setting out, erecting and dismantling formwork for footings and slabs on ground, hand excavation, basic levelling, measurements and calculations, reading plans and specifications, and WHS. They also include concreting specialist units on handling materials, using plant and tools, determining concrete supply, placing, finishing and curing concrete, and placing and fixing reinforcement.

Group A specialist electives include planning concrete work and briefing a team, decorative finishes, repairing and rectifying concrete, cutting concrete, constructing tilt panels on site, sprayed concrete, high performance concreting, off-form vertical operations, slump testing, agitator truck operation, topping slabs, pump delivery operations, and coring concrete. You must complete at least 3 of these.

Yes. The register notes that completion of the general construction induction training program specified in the Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Construction Work is required by anyone carrying out construction work. Achieving CPCWHS1001 Prepare to work safely in the construction industry meets this requirement.

Licensing, legislative, regulatory or certification requirements apply to concreting in some states and territories. The qualification itself does not list a single national licence, so you should check with the relevant regulatory authority in the jurisdiction where you intend to work before starting work or study.

Release 2 is the current release, dated 24 December 2024, and it updated the reference to the general construction induction training program. Release 1 was first released on 27 November 2020 with CPC Construction, Plumbing and Services Training Package Release 5.0, and it superseded and is equivalent to CPC30318 Certificate III in Concreting.

Start with the common construction core units, particularly reading plans and specifications, measurements and calculations, levelling, setting out, and WHS, because the concreting specialist units build on them. Several units carry prerequisites, so check each unit's prerequisite requirements before enrolment and confirm the order with your registered training organisation.

A frequent difficulty is treating the qualification as theory only. All units must be delivered in a real or closely simulated workplace, so candidates without site exposure struggle with placing, finishing, curing and reinforcement tasks. Another risk is neglecting prerequisite units, which must be assessed before any unit marked with an asterisk, and leaving Group A elective choices too late.