Negative gearing and CGT changes: why new builds are about to become the investor product
The negative gearing and capital gains tax reforms announced in the May Budget are now law and start on 1 July 2027. They favour new builds over established homes. Here is what changes and what builders should expect.
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.
Negative gearing and CGT changes: why new builds are about to become the investor product
The negative gearing and capital gains tax reforms announced in the May Budget are now law and start on 1 July 2027. They favour new builds over established homes. Here is what changes and what builders should expect.
7 min read
Subcontract agreements: the clauses that decide who pays for defects, delays and disputes
Many builders run jobs on a quote and a handshake with their trades. It works until a defect, a delay or a payment dispute. The clauses that protect both builder and subcontractor, and how security of payment laws apply.
7 min read
Winning renovation work: running the sales process from first enquiry to signed quote
Renovation work is won or lost in the week between the enquiry landing and the quote going out. This is how to run that week as a process rather than an interruption.
11 min read
NSW home building contracts: the $5,000 and $20,000 thresholds, deposits and must-have clauses
NSW sets out exactly what a residential building contract must contain, and the rules change at $5,000 and $20,000. Here is what builders must include, the payment rules, and the mistakes that make contracts unenforceable.
8 min read
Invoice fraud and payment redirection: how builders and their clients get scammed
A client pays a progress claim to a bank account that isn’t yours, after an email that looked exactly like yours. Payment redirection scams hit building businesses hard. How they work and how to stop them.
8 min read
TPAR for builders: who must lodge by 28 August, what to report and what to leave out
If your business is primarily in building and construction and you pay contractors, the ATO expects a Taxable Payments Annual Report by 28 August. Here is who must lodge, what goes in, what stays out, and how to avoid a penalty.
8 min read
Marketing a residential building business in NSW: lead generation and conversion that holds up
Most small builders do not lose work because nobody called. They lose it because the enquiry was never qualified, the quote went out flat, and nobody followed up. Here is how to fix the pipeline before spending more on ads.
12 min read
Construction management software for small builders: what it should do and how to choose
Spreadsheets, a paper diary and a phone full of photos will run a building business, until they don’t. What construction management software should do, what it costs you to switch, and how to pick one without regret.
9 min read
How to write a building variation that gets signed and paid (NSW rules included)
Variations are where good jobs go bad. A clear, signed, priced variation before the work starts is the single best protection a builder has. Here is how to write one, and what NSW requires.
9 min read
AI for builders: 12 practical uses that save hours, and where it will get you into trouble
AI will not build a house, but it will write the variation, tidy the site diary, summarise a 60-page spec and draft the client email. Here is what works, and where AI output needs a builder’s eye before it goes anywhere.
10 min read
Keeping good apprentices and trades on your team
Getting a good apprentice onto the books is the easy part. Keeping them past the point where they can read a plan and run a small job is a supervision and business problem, and it is cheaper to solve than to keep re-hiring.
11 min read
Why building costs jumped in 2026: fuel, plastic pipe, bitumen and what comes next
The 2026 Middle East conflict pushed diesel, plastic pipe and bitumen prices up sharply. Here is what it did to building costs, what the cost indices show, and how builders on fixed-price contracts can protect themselves.
9 min read