| Friday 5 June 2026 |
Issue #2 |
Australia-wide 🇦🇺 |
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FREE · INDEPENDENT · WEEKLY
Built for tradies. Written by one. Every Friday arvo.
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🔨 A note from the editor — Issue #2
G'day. Last week I promised you three things — builder insolvency warning signs, a proper tool comparison, and a look at the job management apps. All three are in this issue. I keep my word, even when the knees don't cooperate.
Tuesday morning the Fair Work Commission handed down its wage decision: award rates go up 4.75% from 1 July. If you employ anyone on the Building and Construction Award, you've got four weeks to sort your payroll. And the fuel excise cut — 32 cents a litre since April — ends on 30 June. The budget didn't extend it. That's a ~29 cents a litre hit at the bowser, overnight, no warning.
This week:
- How to spot a builder in financial trouble before you're chasing a liquidator
- Milwaukee vs Makita vs DeWALT — finally, the impact driver breakdown I promised
- Tradify vs ServiceM8 vs Fergus for small businesses under six people
- Victoria's new security of payment laws — what changed and what it means for your invoices
- Queensland's $3.8 billion Olympic stadium broke ground this week — and what it means for tradies
Also: this is the first issue with reader-submitted jokes and Tradie of the Week. Thanks to everyone who sent something in. If you missed the callout, you're on the tools reading this — flick us a joke or a story at any time.
If you know a tradie who'd get something out of this, forward it on. Takes two seconds and costs nothing.
— Topher · The Knockoff
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⚠️ Builder Insolvency
HOW TO SPOT A BUILDER IN TROUBLE BEFORE IT'S YOUR MONEY ON THE LINE
3,596 Australian construction firms collapsed in FY2024–25. Record high. That's one in every four corporate insolvencies nationally, for the fourth year running. [TrustSignal, March 2026] NSW accounts for 43% of the lot — 1,567 firms gone in a single year. If you're a subcontractor or a supplier, the question isn't whether this affects you. It's whether you're watching the right signs.
Beechwood Homes is the clearest recent example. Forty years in business, 15,000+ homes to their name. By February 2026, winding-up proceedings in the Victorian Supreme Court. The warning signs had been visible for months — unpaid subbies, stalled sites, phone systems rerouted. Most people working for them didn't know where to look until the liquidator walked in. [TrustSignal]
Here's what to watch. Payment terms stretching beyond what was agreed — especially if you're getting excuses instead of ETAs. Work stoppages on site without explanation. Other subbies knocking on doors asking for direct payment. Requests for front-loaded progress payments that don't match the contract. Vague company statements about "operational difficulties." Rectification orders popping up on the public register. Any of these on their own is worth a question. Two or more together and you need to act.
What to do: check the builder's ASIC registration before you sign anything — search free at asic.gov.au. Talk to other trades working the same builder's sites. If payments are running late and the explanations don't stack up, get a solicitor on the phone before the debt gets any bigger. The builders who collapse don't usually go quietly — the signs are there if you know where to look. [ASIC]
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💸 Award Wages
4.75% WAGE RISE FROM 1 JULY — PAYROLL DUE FOR A CHECK
The Fair Work Commission handed down its 2026 Annual Wage Review this Tuesday: modern award minimum wages up 4.75% from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. The National Minimum Wage gets a bigger jump — nearly 6% to $26.44 an hour. The Commission said the decision was "particularly challenging," with fuel prices and inflation still squeezing the lowest-paid workers hardest. [FWC, 2 June 2026]
If you employ anyone on the Building and Construction General On-site Award, or the Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award, your minimum rates go up 1 July. Four weeks to get your payroll sorted. The FWO's pay calculator at fairwork.gov.au will have the new rates up shortly.
⛽ Fuel Excise Cliff
32 CENTS A LITRE DISAPPEARS ON 1 JULY. NO EXTENSION COMING.
The government's fuel excise cut — 32 cents a litre since 1 April — was not extended in the May Federal Budget. It ends 30 June 2026. With GST calculated on top, the real pump-price jump from 1 July is closer to 29 cents a litre. On a 100-litre diesel tank, that's an extra $29 per fill. Three fills a week, that's $87 a week back on your fuel bill, starting Monday 1 July. [ATO]
If you haven't already factored this into your quotes for July onwards, now is the time. And if you've got jobs running through July on fixed-price quotes you wrote in April, have another look at your fuel allowances.
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Diesel — $2.22/L (5-city avg, 27 May)
Down from a peak of $3.22/L on 31 March — a 100-cent drop since the excise cut kicked in. But that relief expires 30 June. Expect prices to jump ~29c/L overnight on 1 July when the excise reverts. Fill the tank before June 30. [ACCC, 29 May 2026] |
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Labour Costs — Award rates up 4.75% from 1 July
That's on top of the 3.5% rise that hit in July 2025. If you employ trades on award wages, your labour costs are rising again. A chippy on $35/hr becomes $36.66. On a 6-person team over a year, the compounding is significant — model it before you price your next job. [FWC, 2 June 2026] |
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Construction Costs — 4–7.5% escalation forecast for 2026
Altus Group forecasts 4–4.5% cost escalation for Sydney and Melbourne, and 7.5% for Brisbane — where the Olympic pipeline is already pulling labour and materials. Projects priced before the Middle East conflict in February carry unpriced exposure on fuel, freight, concrete, and aluminium. [Altus Group, Q1 2026] |
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Apprentice Underpayment — 68% of investigated employers non-compliant
The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) recovered $750,000+ in back-pay for construction apprentices in the 15 months to March 2026. Most failures weren't complex — wrong hourly rates, overtime miscalculated, leave entitlements missed. One Victorian builder lost the right to employ apprentices entirely. With award rates jumping 4.75% on 1 July, run a payroll check now. [Fair Work Ombudsman, May 2026] |
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⚖️ Security of Payment · Victoria
VIC SUBBIES: THE RULES ON GETTING PAID CHANGED IN APRIL. HERE'S WHAT'S NEW.
Victoria's Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act got a major overhaul, and it came into force on 15 April 2026 — applying to every existing VIC construction contract, not just new ones. If you're a subcontractor or supplier working in Victoria, this directly affects how and when you can claim payment.
The three biggest changes: First, "reference dates" are gone. Previously, your contract specified a date each month from which you could serve a payment claim. Now you can claim from the last day of the month in which you did the work — no more waiting for a contractually-set trigger date. Second, payment terms are capped at 20 business days after your payment claim is served. Any contract that tries to impose longer terms can't enforce them. Third, if a contract has a clause that makes it unreasonably hard for you to claim — say, a notice requirement with an impossible timeframe — an adjudicator can now strike that clause out as unfair.
The changes apply retrospectively. That means your existing contracts, signed before April, are covered too. Head contractors can no longer rely on clauses that were drafted to lock subbies out of the process.
What to do: review your current payment claim process on Victorian jobs. If you've been accepting slow payment because "that's what the contract says" — check again. The contract may no longer say what you think it does. If you're owed money on a stalled VIC project, talk to a construction lawyer about whether the new regime opens up a claim. [Holding Redlich, April 2026]
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Milwaukee vs Makita vs DeWALT — Impact Drivers, Straight Up
I said last issue I'd run this comparison properly. Here it is. All three platforms are genuinely good — the question is which one suits how you work.
Milwaukee M18 FUEL is the torque king — 2,000 in-lbs, 4-mode DRIVE CONTROL, and a platform with more tool options than you'll ever need. If you're driving big fasteners into structural timber regularly, nothing beats it. The price reflects that. DeWALT DCF887 is the best all-rounder. 205 Nm, three speeds, PrecisionDrive mode, and available at every tool shop in the country. It's the one I'd hand to a new chippy starting out — good balance of power, price, and repairability. Makita XDT19 trails on raw torque but wins on compact size and the Quick-Shift precision mode, which is genuinely useful for hinge work and cabinetry.
The bigger decision isn't the driver — it's the battery platform. Whichever you pick, you're building an ecosystem. Buy a Milwaukee and you'll want Milwaukee grinders, drills, and site lights eventually. Think about what else you run before you commit. [Power Tool Insider, 2026]
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Tradify vs ServiceM8 vs Fergus — For Businesses Under Six People
All three do quoting, scheduling, invoicing, and Xero/MYOB integration. The differences are in where each one is stronger.
ServiceM8 (from $29/month, unlimited users) is built for high-volume, short-duration service work — plumbing callouts, electrical maintenance, anything where you're doing dozens of jobs a week. Mobile-first, clean, fast. The catch: SMS reminders cost extra credits, which adds up. Tradify ($47/month) is better for quote-heavy trade businesses where you're spending time on estimates before the job starts. The quoting workflow is its strongest suit, and reminders are included. Slightly pricier but well-rated by users. Fergus sits between the two and is the pick if you're material-heavy — it has the best supplier price book tracking and job-cost visibility, which is what you need when your margins depend on material accuracy.
Short answer: service/maintenance business → ServiceM8. Quote-driven trade → Tradify. Material-heavy or multi-trade → Fergus. All three have free trials. Try before you commit. [TradieAutomate, April 2026] [Software Advice]
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Fuel Tax Credits — Are You Claiming Everything You're Owed?
Not gear exactly, but worth knowing before 30 June. If you use diesel in plant, equipment, or machinery off public roads — excavators, compressors, generators, tractors — you're likely eligible for fuel tax credits on your BAS. The current reduced-excise rate runs until 30 June. From 1 July, the credit rate changes again when excise reverts.
The ATO has an online calculator at ato.gov.au. If you've never claimed or haven't checked recently, it's worth five minutes. You can claim back up to four years. A lot of sole traders on plant-heavy work leave money on the table here. [ATO]
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| VIC |
WorkSafe Victoria fined a civil construction company $90,000 this week after a pipe layer was electrocuted when an aluminium measuring pole came too close to overhead power lines. Principal contractors: your safety obligations cover every person on site, not just your direct employees. [WorkSafe VIC, 29 May 2026] |
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| NSW |
Building approvals fell 3.4% in April to 16,710 nationally (ABS, 2 June) — but private house approvals held above 10,000 for the third straight month. Last time that happened was late 2021. The pipeline is still there, even if it feels slow to convert to actual work. [ABS, 2 June 2026] |
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| QLD |
The $3.8 billion Brisbane Olympic Stadium broke ground at Victoria Park on Monday 1 June. The 63,000-seat venue needs to be done by 2031. Construction Skills Queensland forecasts a shortfall of 50,000 trade workers in QLD by 2026–27 — and that pipeline hasn't even fully ramped up yet. If you're in Brisbane and thinking about rates, this is the context. [SBS News, 1 June 2026] |
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| WA |
The WA government is backing two prefab housing manufacturing facilities — Built Living in Neerabup and Atlas Precast in Kwinana — with the aim of cutting construction costs by 20% and build times in half. First jobs from late 2026, 300 construction roles between them. Meanwhile Perth's construction costs are forecast up 5.3% this year. Capacity is near peak. [Build Australia, May 2026] |
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| SA |
The SA government launched its Build Connect program (21 May) in partnership with Master Builders SA — targeting 30,000 new construction workers over three years, including 15,000 skilled tradies. Whether they get there is another matter, but it's the clearest signal yet that the state knows it can't hit its housing numbers without getting serious about workforce. [SA Premier, 21 May 2026] |
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TAS
NT
ACT |
All three deferred the National Construction Code 2025 to 1 May 2027 (voluntary early adoption available now). ACT had a public holiday Monday 1 June — WA Day also fell on Monday, so if you had workers in those states, check your public holiday pay obligations. Award rates up 4.75% from 1 July applies everywhere. |
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Supported by a local tradie business
Your Business Here
Reach thousands of Australian tradies every Friday arvo. No lock-in contracts. No industry body strings attached.
Get In Touch — [email protected]
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— 😂 Joke of the Week —
I dropped my drill off a two-storey scaffold. Landed perfectly upright, still running.
Meanwhile I threw my back out reaching for a biscuit.
Thanks Jarrod, NSW
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Your Story Here · Issue #3
"Nothing in the inbox this week — and that's on me for not asking loud enough."
If something's happened on a job that made you laugh, swear, or shake your head — I want to hear it. Doesn't have to be a disaster. Doesn't have to be long. Best story gets the spot next issue.
First name and state is all I need. Everything else is optional.
— Topher
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| Got a story from the tools? Send it to [email protected] |
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That's Issue #2 done. Big week for numbers — wages going up, fuel credits going down, building approvals down but houses holding steady. A lot to factor into your pricing for July. If none of this is in your quotes yet, it probably needs to be.
If you found something in here useful, forward it to one tradie who hasn't seen it yet. That's how this thing grows — no algorithm required, just a tap and a send.
If something in this issue is wrong, out of date, or you've got a better read on it from the ground — reply to this email and tell me. I read every one. Tips, corrections, and stories all welcome at [email protected].
Stay safe out there. 🔨
— Topher · The Knockoff
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The Knockoff
Written by a tradie, for tradies · Free every Friday arvo · No industry body funding · No BS
theknockoff.au · Australia-wide
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