SiteWise Registration vs Tōtika and PREQUAL: NZ Costs 2026

Short answer: SiteWise registration costs $250 + GST a year if you're a subbie at Level 3. A Tōtika assessment costs anywhere from $149 to $1,499 + GST, depending on your category and which member scheme you buy it through. PREQUAL by Impac is one of those Tōtika member schemes, not a separate standard. I checked these prices on 5 October 2026. The fees themselves aren't the expensive part. The expensive part is paying for all three when one would have done.

SiteWise, Tōtika and PREQUAL: what's the actual difference?

People talk about these three like they're rival products. They're not, quite.

SiteWise is Site Safe NZ's prequalification scheme. You fill in an online assessment about your health and safety systems, you get a score, and clients who use SiteWise look you up on their database. It's been around a long time and plenty of councils and main contractors still use it.

Tōtika is the national prequalification standard, run by CHASNZ (Construction Health and Safety New Zealand). Tōtika doesn't assess you itself. It approves member schemes to do the assessment, then puts you on one central register that every Tōtika buyer can check. Assess once, get recognised by all of them. That's the whole point.

PREQUAL is Impac's assessment. These days Impac sells it as a Tōtika assessment. So if a client says "we need PREQUAL", what they usually mean is "we need a Tōtika assessment, and we're used to Impac".

On the Tōtika side, the member schemes are Qualify365, SHE Pre-Qual, Impac PREQUAL and Avetta. When I checked, SiteWise wasn't one of them. That one fact decides most of what you end up spending.

What does H&S prequalification cost in NZ? (prices as at 5 October 2026)

Every price below is in NZ dollars, excluding GST, and comes from each provider's own website. Prices change, so check the provider's page before you pay.

A few details that matter. SiteWise gives you three goes at the assessment in your first year, then one go a year after that. Any extra attempt is $100 + GST. Level 2 only opens up once you've scored over 75% at Level 3.

Notice that Category 1 Tōtika is a two-year assessment. Spread over the two years, it costs about the same per year as SiteWise Level 3, or less.

Which Tōtika category are you?

Roughly speaking, going by how the member schemes describe it:

• Category 1: up to 20 people, normal construction risk, contracts up to $2.5 million.
• Category 2: up to 200 people, contracts up to $20 million, no very high-risk work.
• Category 3: over 200 people, contracts over $20 million, or very high-risk work as Tōtika defines it.

Some schemes add a sole trader tier underneath Category 1. Your scheme confirms your category during the assessment, so don't pick a lower one to save money. Get the category wrong and it comes back to bite you.

How cross-recognition stops you paying three times

Here's what people hate hearing. Most small contractors who've paid for three prequals only ever needed one. They paid twice more because three clients asked three different questions and nobody checked what each client would actually accept.

Here's the order I'd do it in:

1. List the clients you actually want work from. Not every council in the country. The five or six you're quoting for, or want to.
2. Ask each one in writing what they accept. Ask the question exactly like this: "Do you accept a Tōtika assessment from any member scheme, or do you need a specific one? Do you still use SiteWise?"
3. If most of them say Tōtika, pick one member scheme. Choose on price and on which assessment process suits you. Once you're on the register, every Tōtika buyer sees you. Wellington Water, for example, asks contractors to meet the Tōtika standard.
4. Check whether you already hold something Tōtika recognises. Tōtika accepts ISO 45001 certification from an IAF-accredited body as an alternative. SafePlus on-site assessments and Q-Safe can also count, depending on your category. If you already have one of those, you might not need a new assessment at all.
5. Only add SiteWise if a client you want insists on it. At $250 + GST it's not a disaster. Just buy it because someone asked for it, not because you panicked.

That's the logic. One Tōtika assessment covers every Tōtika buyer. SiteWise is a separate subscription. Buying PREQUAL and a second Tōtika scheme is just paying for the same register twice.

Which one should a small NZ contractor get first?

If you're a sole trader or a small crew doing subcontract work, here's my verdict.

Get a Tōtika assessment at the right category from whichever member scheme suits you. It's the standard the bigger buyers are moving towards, and one assessment travels with you to every client.

Then wait. If a council or main contractor you really want comes back and says SiteWise only, pay the $250 + GST and do it. Not before.

If you're bigger and sometimes run your own subbies, you'll likely land in Category 2. Budget around $1,000 + GST a year and plan the renewal like you'd plan a WOF. Same date every year, in the diary, paperwork ready.

What a prequal grade does and doesn't get you

I ran a property maintenance company in London that did work for housing associations and letting agents, using a network of subcontractors. Different country, same game. Every big client has a vetting gate, and every gate costs something, in fees or in admin hours.

The rule I'd give you is simple. A prequal doesn't win you work. It gets you through the door to price. After that it's the same as always: turn up, quote properly, finish clean, invoice on time.

A prequal doesn't replace your duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 either. If you're a PCBU (a person conducting a business or undertaking) on a shared site, you still have to consult, co-operate and co-ordinate with the other PCBUs there. A good score on a form doesn't do that for you. Your systems on site do.

And it isn't the only route to work. A lot of good work never goes near a tender portal. It comes through operators (the contractor businesses that hold the client, run the job and bring in subbies and their own operatives) who build their own trusted network.

Where Plan@Job fits

Plan@Job is project and operations management software for construction and property businesses. Operators use it to run jobs, split them into stages, and share work with subcontractors.

The prequal part matters here. In supported workflows on Plan@Job, a subbie can price a job before vetting is finished. Checks and approval happen at the right stage, and a person makes that call. A points score doesn't decide whether you get to see the job. Daniel Reed, our AI Operations Manager, helps operators share eligible jobs with their existing vetted network and follows up on quotes and proposed dates. He doesn't award work or set prices. The operator does that.

Straight answer on availability: the UK is the live market right now. In New Zealand, you can reserve your spot on the Plan@Job NZ contractors page, and we'll let you know when it opens there. If you want to see how the job and stage side works first, have a look at project management in Plan@Job, or meet the AI staff.

So get one Tōtika assessment, add SiteWise only if a client asks for it, and put the money you save into the work itself.

FAQ

Is SiteWise registration recognised by Tōtika?

When I checked in October 2026, SiteWise wasn't one of Tōtika's member schemes, so your SiteWise score doesn't put you on the Tōtika register. Treat them as two separate things. Ask each client which one they accept before you buy either.

Do I have to pay Tōtika to be on the register?

No. Listing on the Tōtika register is free for contractors and suppliers. What you pay for is the assessment, through one of the member schemes. That's the fee in the table above.

Is prequalification a legal requirement in New Zealand?

No law says you must hold SiteWise, Tōtika or PREQUAL. It's a client requirement. Clients use it to show they've checked their contractors under their own health and safety duties. If a client you want asks for one, it's effectively compulsory for that work, so budget for it like any other cost of doing business.