Why building a house costs so much in 2026: construction costs explained
House construction costs are more than half as high again as before the pandemic, and the fuel shock of 2026 pushed them up again. Here is what drives the cost of building a home, where costs are heading, and how builders can protect their margins.
7 min read
Blog
Business and Contracts
Most builders who struggle are good builders with weak paperwork. This is the business side: contracts, pricing, cash flow, people and disputes.
Why building a house costs so much in 2026: construction costs explained
House construction costs are more than half as high again as before the pandemic, and the fuel shock of 2026 pushed them up again. Here is what drives the cost of building a home, where costs are heading, and how builders can protect their margins.
7 min read
When a builder goes under: how subcontractors can protect themselves before and after
Builder and developer collapses hit subcontractors hardest, because they have usually done the work and are last in line to be paid. Most of the protection comes from what you do before the collapse, not after. Here is how to use it.
7 min read
Master Builders blueprint: four reforms to tackle a 141,000-worker construction shortage
Master Builders Australia’s new Future Workforce Blueprint says the construction skills gap is structural, not cyclical. It names four priority reforms it says would deliver almost 40,000 extra qualified workers over a decade.
6 min read
How to get a builder’s licence in NSW in 2026: qualifications, experience and the new police check
A NSW contractor licence for general building work needs an approved qualification, at least two years of supervised experience across a wide range of building work and, since 23 June 2026, a National Police Check. Here is how the process works and where applications fail.
7 min read
Scope creep: spotting the small unbilled favours before they eat the margin
Scope creep rarely arrives as a written instruction. It arrives as a small favour — and by the time you notice, the margin is gone.
11 min read
Statutory warranties in NSW: six years, two years, and what counts as a major defect
Every NSW residential building contract carries statutory warranties that cannot be contracted out of. What they promise, how long they last, what counts as a major defect, and how builders should handle defect claims.
7 min read
Site administration: the records that protect a builder when a job turns
Most builders do not lose disputes because they were wrong. They lose because they cannot prove they were right. Site administration is the discipline of creating that proof while the work is happening.
11 min read
Cash flow for builders: progress payments, forecasting and staying solvent in a turning market
Most building businesses that fail are not short of work; they are short of cash. How to structure progress payments, forecast properly, keep tax money separate, and spot the warning signs before they become a crisis.
7 min read
Taking on an apprentice in 2026: incentives, costs and getting them to finish
Housing construction apprentices now attract $10,000 in payments over their apprenticeship, and their employers up to $5,000 in the first year. What changed in 2026, what an apprentice really costs, and how builders keep them to completion.
7 min read
Bathla Group enters administration with 7,000 homes in its pipeline: what subbies and buyers should do
Bathla Group, a family-owned Sydney developer and builder with projects across NSW, South Australia and Victoria, has appointed Teneo as voluntary administrator. The steps subcontractors, suppliers and home buyers should take now.
6 min read
Business systems that keep a small building company sane
Most small building companies do not have a systems problem, they have a document-control problem. This is a template and control approach that keeps quoting, bookkeeping, WHS and project records consistent without adding software.
13 min read
AI takeoff and estimating: how much can a builder trust the numbers?
Software that reads a PDF plan and produces quantities in minutes is now common. It can cut hours from a quote, and it can also count a wall twice or miss a room. Here is how to use it without pricing yourself into a loss.
7 min read