Key takeaways
- A card fee on a trade invoice is visible in a way that a shop’s card fee is not, so the client’s reaction to it matters more than the amount.
- The business can absorb the fee, build it into the price or surcharge it, and each option carries different disclosure and record-keeping obligations.
- Any surcharge is limited to the cost of accepting the card, and the rules are set nationally and have been revised, so the current position must be confirmed before a fee is set.
- The surcharge must be shown on the quote before the client accepts, as a separate line on the invoice, and on the payment page before card details are entered.
- The calculation, the card types covered and the treatment for GST and the books should be kept on file and confirmed with the accountant before the first surcharge is applied.
Taking card payments on a trade job is now the normal way to get paid, particularly for smaller invoices, deposits and the final payment on a job where the client wants the money in a day. Every card payment costs the business something. The payment provider takes a fee on each transaction, and that fee comes straight off the amount received. On a large invoice the cost is noticeable, and many builders start to wonder whether the fee should be passed on to the client.
That question has two parts. The first is commercial: whether to recover the cost at all. The second is legal and disclosure: if the business does recover it, how it must be set out so that the client knows what they are paying and why. Builders often think about the first part and skip the second. Getting the second part wrong can turn a sensible cost recovery into a complaint, a refund and a reputation problem that outweighs the fee.
This article covers how card fees are recovered on trade invoices, how they should be disclosed on quotes and invoices, and how they should be recorded. It is a narrow payments topic. It does not cover general cash flow management or bookkeeping systems, which are covered elsewhere. Surcharging rules are set at the national level and have been revised more than once, so confirm the current position with your payment provider and the Reserve Bank of Australia before you set any fee.
Why card fees matter more on trade work than in a shop
A retailer selling a small item at the counter can absorb a card fee across a large number of sales and a predictable margin. A builder invoices a few large amounts, often with long gaps between them, and the fee on each one is a visible amount that the client can see. A fee that would be invisible in a shop becomes a line on a payment request for a bathroom renovation, and the client reads it as a charge for paying, not as a cost of the payment system.
The timing also matters. A builder who takes a deposit by card at the start of the job, a progress payment mid-way and the final payment on handover pays the fee three times, and each payment comes at a point where the client is already carrying the cost of the project. The fee does not stop the client paying. It can make them ask whether a bank transfer would be easier, and for many trade businesses a bank transfer is the simpler answer.
Finally, the builder has to think about the relationship. A client who has agreed a price and then finds a new line added at the point of payment will feel they have been surprised, and that feeling tends to outlast the amount. The question is never only whether the fee can be charged. It is whether the client would have accepted it knowing about it at the start.
Absorb, build in or surcharge: the three options
There are three practical ways to deal with a card fee. The first is to absorb it, meaning the business pays the fee out of its own margin and the price is unchanged. This is the simplest approach and the one that causes no disclosure problems. It is also the approach that costs the most over a year if the business takes a lot of card payments.
The second is to build the fee into the price, so that the quoted amount already includes an allowance for the cost of card payments. This keeps the client’s total simple and avoids a separate line. The risk is that the client who pays by bank transfer is effectively paying for the card fee too, and some clients will notice and object. Where the price is built in, the quote should say so in plain terms, so that the client understands the basis of the figure.
The third is to surcharge: to add a separate charge when the client pays by a particular card, shown as its own line. This is the option with the most rules attached, and it is the one this article spends most time on. A surcharge is only ever recovery of a cost, and it must be shown clearly before the client commits to paying by that method.
Absorbing, building in or surcharging the card fee
| Absorb or build into the price | Surcharge as a separate line |
|---|---|
| The client sees one simple total | The client sees a separate charge for paying by card |
| No separate disclosure is needed, though the quote should explain the basis | Disclosure must be clear on the quote, the payment page and the invoice |
| The client who pays by bank transfer may still carry the cost | Only the client who pays by the surcharged method pays the fee |
| The fee comes out of the margin or the price, and the risk is low | The fee is capped by the cost of acceptance, and the calculation must be on file |
The rules you have to check before charging a surcharge
Surcharging is regulated, and the rules set limits on what a business may charge and on which cards. The limits have been tightened over time, and the position has been under review, so the rules that apply on the day you set a fee are the ones that count. The Reserve Bank of Australia sets the surcharging standards, and your payment provider will know how they apply to the card types the business accepts. Do not rely on a figure you read on a forum or a competitor’s website, because the figure may reflect a rule that has since changed.
The general principle is that a surcharge may recover no more than the cost the business actually bears for accepting that card. That cost is set out in the provider’s statement, and a builder who adds a margin on top of it is exposed to a complaint or a regulatory question. Some card types may not be surcharged at all, and some payment methods may carry no fee for the business. The rules differ between card schemes, so check each one the business accepts rather than applying one figure to all of them.
Keep the calculation on file. Record the provider statement or the fee schedule that supports the surcharge, the date it was applied and the card types it covers. If the position is ever queried by a client, the bank or a regulator, a clear record of how the figure was reached is the best answer. A surcharge that cannot be explained is a surcharge that will be found to be wrong.
Do not add the fee after the price has been agreed. The mistake that costs the most is adding a surcharge at the point of payment, on an invoice the client has already accepted at a lower total. The client sees the total change, feels misled, and disputes the payment. The refund, the chargeback and the damage to the relationship cost far more than the fee was worth.
Disclosing the fee on the quote and the invoice
Disclosure is where most of the risk sits. The fee should be shown on the quote, before the client accepts the job, if the business intends to surcharge. The quote should say that card payments carry a surcharge, state how much it is, or describe how it is calculated, and say which card types it applies to. A builder who waits until the invoice to mention it has missed the moment when the client could have chosen another method.
The invoice should show the surcharge as a separate line, distinct from the amount for the work, and the total should be clear. The client should be able to see what they are paying for the work and what they are paying for the method of payment. A surcharge hidden inside a rounded total, or described in vague words such as “processing”, is hard to defend. Use plain words and the same description on every invoice.
Where the business sends payment links or takes payment through an online platform, check that the surcharge is shown on the payment page before the client enters card details. A surcharge that appears only after the card has been entered is the same problem as one added at the invoice stage, and it is the one most likely to produce a chargeback.
A workable line on a quote might read that card payments carry a surcharge which recovers the cost of accepting the card, and that a bank transfer carries no surcharge. Keep the wording the same on every quote, so that a client who compares two quotes can see that the terms are the same for everyone.
Before a card surcharge goes on a quote or an invoice
- The surcharge is shown on the quote before the client accepts the job.
- The surcharge is shown as its own line on the invoice, distinct from the work.
- The payment page shows the same surcharge as the invoice, before card details are entered.
- The surcharge is limited to the cost of accepting that card, as the provider’s statement shows.
- A bank transfer option is offered, with no fee attached to it.
- The calculation, the card types covered and the date applied are kept on file.
- The accountant has confirmed how the fee is treated for GST and the books.
Card fees on deposits and progress payments
A progress payment is a payment against a stage of the work, and the fee on it should be disclosed against that stage. A deposit taken by card at the start of a job is often the first place a client meets the surcharge, so the quote should set out the surcharge on the deposit as well as on the later payments. Make it clear which payments the fee applies to, and do not apply it inconsistently across the stages of the same job.
Keep the amounts for each stage on the invoices and the record. A client who pays a deposit by card, a progress payment by bank transfer and the final payment by card should see three separate treatments that match the method each time. Mixing the methods on one invoice without explanation is a common source of confusion, and the accounts become harder to reconcile at the end of the job. Where a client would rather pay in cash, the record-keeping that follows is covered in our article on cash payments on building jobs.
Recording the fee so the books and the return agree
The fee the business pays to the provider is a cost and belongs in the accounts as one. A surcharge the business collects is income, or a recovery of that cost, and it should be recorded so that it can be traced to the card payment it relates to. When the two are recorded consistently, the bank reconciliation and the sales records agree and the year-end is less painful.
Whether a surcharge is subject to GST, and how it should be shown on a business activity statement, depends on how it is characterised. That is a question for your accountant, and it should be settled before the first surcharge is applied rather than discovered at the end of the year. Ask the accountant to confirm the treatment in writing, and keep the answer with the surcharge calculation. The bookkeeping side of this is covered in more depth in our article on bookkeeping systems for builders.
What to say when a client objects
Some clients will object to a surcharge however clearly it was shown. The response should be calm and factual. Explain that the fee is the cost the business pays to accept that card, that it is shown separately so the client can see it, and that the same payment by bank transfer carries no fee. Offer the alternative, and let the client choose. A client who is offered a fee-free option is far less likely to dispute the surcharge than one who is told there is no choice.
Do not argue about the rules on the phone, and do not promise that the surcharge can be waived unless the business has decided that it will. If a waiver is given, record it and apply it consistently, because a waiver for one client that is refused to another will be noticed and may be raised as a complaint.
Worked example: a builder in western Sydney and a bathroom progress claim
A builder in western Sydney took card payments through a payment link for deposits and progress claims on renovations. The business had set a surcharge on credit card payments only, and the surcharge was shown on the quote as a separate line. The builder had kept the provider’s fee schedule on file, and the surcharge had been set against it. The system worked well for most clients, who understood the line and chose a method they were comfortable with.
A client paying a progress claim on a bathroom renovation objected when the payment page showed a surcharge that was not on the invoice. The builder checked the setup and found that the surcharge had been switched on in the payment platform after the invoice template was produced, so the invoice did not match the payment screen. The client had a fair complaint, and the builder apologised, refunded the surcharge to the client, and reissued the invoice showing the method and the fee together.
The fix was simple. The builder matched the invoice template to the payment settings, added a check before each progress claim was sent, and wrote a short note explaining the surcharge on every quote from then on. The builder also decided to offer a bank transfer option on every invoice, so that a client who did not want the fee had an easy alternative. The complaints stopped, and the card payments continued without the same trouble.
Settle the policy before the next job
A card fee policy should be written down before the business uses it: whether the business absorbs, builds in or surcharges, which card types are covered, how the fee is calculated and where the calculation is kept, how it is shown on quotes and invoices, and how it is recorded. Once the policy is written, use it on every job, and review it when the payment provider changes its fees or the rules change.
The business side of running a building company, including the records it must keep and the obligations that come with the licence, is set out in the context of the wider licence in PointCPD’s guide to how NSW builder CPD works. For a builder keeping that side of the business in order, a written policy on card fees is one of the simpler things to get right.
Questions builders ask
Can a builder add a surcharge for paying by card?
Possibly, but surcharging is regulated and limited to the cost of accepting the card. The rules have been revised over time, so confirm the current position with your payment provider and the Reserve Bank of Australia before you set a fee. The fee must be disclosed clearly before the client commits.
Where should the card surcharge appear on the invoice?
As a separate line, distinct from the amount for the work, with a plain description. It should match the surcharge shown on the quote and on the payment page. A surcharge hidden in a rounded total or described vaguely is hard to defend if it is queried.
Is it better to absorb the card fee or pass it on?
For many trade businesses, absorbing the fee or building it into the price is the simpler option, because it avoids disclosure problems. Surcharging is worth considering when card payments are frequent and the cost is significant. Make the decision as a written policy and apply it to every job.
Can I add a card fee to a deposit or a progress payment?
Only if the quote disclosed it for that stage and the same treatment applies consistently. Show the fee against the payment it relates to, and do not switch it on or off partway through a job without telling the client in advance.
How should a card surcharge be recorded in the books?
The fee the business pays is a cost, and any surcharge collected should be recorded so it can be traced to the card payment it relates to. Whether the surcharge is subject to GST depends on its characterisation, so confirm the treatment with your accountant before the first surcharge is applied.
What if a client refuses to pay the surcharge?
Explain calmly that the fee is the cost of accepting that card and that the same payment by bank transfer carries no fee. Offer the alternative and let the client choose. Record any waiver you decide to give, and apply the decision consistently to other clients.
Sources
- Continuing professional development for builders and swimming pool builders · NSW Government
- General building work licensing · NSW Government
- Home Building Act 1989 (NSW) · NSW Legislation
Published 21 October 2026. General information for builders, not legal, financial or engineering advice for a specific job. Check current requirements with the relevant regulator or standard before relying on them.
