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
Topic
Apprentices
Articles and news about Apprentices for Australian builders.
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
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
Psychosocial hazards on building sites: the WHS duty many builders are still missing
Long hours, impossible deadlines, bullying of apprentices, aggressive clients and isolation are WHS hazards, not personality problems. The law now says so explicitly. What builders are required to do, and what actually helps.
8 min read
Technology your apprentices will actually use on site
Most site software fails not because it is the wrong tool but because the people holding it are standing in the sun with one hand free. Adoption is a design problem, and the tool-hand is the best test of it.
11 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
Trade shortages still entrenched: bricklayers and tilers hardest to find
The Housing Industry Association’s latest Trades Report shows shortages easing only slightly, trade prices up 5.1% in the first half of 2026, and regional WA and Queensland worst hit.
6 min read
Hiring your first employee in a building business
The first non-apprentice hire is the point where a building business stops being you and a ute. It changes your insurance, your record keeping, your supervision load and your cash flow before the new person has set foot on site.
10 min read
Supervising apprentices: your WHS duties and the competency record
An apprentice is a worker under WHS law, and a young one with almost no ability to see risk. The duty sits with you, and the evidence of how you discharged it sits in your records.
13 min read
Temporary power boards and lead safety on residential sites
Temporary power boards and extension leads are where most residential electrical incidents start, because the supply is moved, patched and shared every day. This article covers what to check before the first tool is plugged in, and what to do when something fails.
11 min read