Most builders and trades learned the business side on live jobs, with their own money. Several of the rules have moved in the past 18 months, and the people coming up through your sites are learning them the same way.
Phil Del Titto from WD Constructions has been in carpentry and building for 20 years and runs a renovation and extension business in Melbourne that has never paid for advertising. He still remembers writing his first invoice as a subcontractor.
“I wrote a Word document and I kind of had to pick other guys’ brains on site and go, hey, how do you do it,” he told our podcast. “Felt really embarrassed.”
His argument is that the gap has not closed. “When you’re quoting, how you invoice, what a purchase order is. I had never even seen one. My whole apprenticeship.”
Matt Hope, founder of franchise group Wattle Court, sees the same gap in builders who have been running jobs for years. Every builder who joins puts in 13 weeks of training. “It’s nothing about construction,” he said. “The guys that come to us, they have a good construction knowledge. Builders, that’s the one thing they’re taught really well.”
What follows is not the basics. It is the set of rules that has shifted recently, or that experienced operators most often get wrong when they take on labour, subbies and apprentices, drawn from the regulators that set them.
Which rules have changed in the past 18 months?
Three changes reach most residential businesses.
Since 1 July 2026, payday super has replaced the quarterly cycle. The ATO requires super guarantee contributions to reach the worker’s fund within 7 business days of each payday. For a business that used the quarter as working capital between progress claims, that buffer is gone.
Victoria changed its home warranty scheme on the same date. The Building and Plumbing Commission’s Home Warranty now applies to eligible domestic work over $20,000 under contracts signed from 1 July 2026, with the builder paying the premium. The old domestic building insurance threshold was $16,000.
In Queensland, annual financial reporting for SC1 and SC2 individual licensees was removed in March 2025, according to the QBCC regulatory guide. The Minimum Financial Requirements themselves still apply.
When does a subbie on an ABN count as an employee for super?
This is the exposure that payday super has sharpened. The ATO treats an individual contractor paid mainly for their own labour as an employee for super guarantee purposes, whether or not they hold an ABN.
When is a contractor an employee for super?
Under ATO rules, an individual contractor paid mainly for their own labour is treated as an employee for super guarantee purposes. Mainly means more than half the dollar value of the contract is for the person’s labour. Holding an ABN does not change the test, and it does not reach a contractor trading through a company or trust. The super guarantee rate is 12 per cent, and contributions now fall due within 7 business days of each payday.
On a residential site, that covers a familiar arrangement: a carpenter, labourer or apprentice who has just finished their time, invoicing on an ABN for hours worked with no materials. Under the old quarterly cycle, a missed contribution might sit unnoticed for months. Under payday super, it is late within days.
What does the TPAR test actually cover?
Most builders know the taxable payments annual report exists. Fewer know the full test. The ATO requires it from a business that pays contractors for building and construction services where 50 per cent or more of business income in the current or previous year, or 50 per cent or more of business activity, relates to building and construction.
The activity limb catches businesses whose income comes mostly from something else but whose work is mostly construction. The report lists each contractor paid, with their ABN and the amount paid including GST, and is due by 28 August each year.
What does a subbie’s invoice have to show?
The ATO’s tax invoice rules require the seller’s identity and ABN, the date, a description with quantity and price, the GST amount, how much of the sale is taxable, and a statement that it is intended to be a tax invoice. For sales of $1,000 or more, it must also show the buyer’s identity or ABN.
Del Titto’s Word document would not have met that standard. The registration side matters too. A subbie whose GST turnover reaches $75,000, measured on the current or projected year, has 21 days to register under ATO rules.
Experienced operators rarely get caught on the basics. They get caught when a rule moves and the process built around the old rule keeps running.
What does the licence require in Queensland?
The QBCC Minimum Financial Requirements are a condition of holding a QBCC licence, at all times. They include a current ratio of at least 1 and net tangible assets of at least $0, plus a higher minimum tied to turnover. Holders of a builder licence need at least $46,000.
Del Titto noticed the same emphasis when he went for his builder’s licence. “The emphasis was on not going broke,” he said. “It was more so, what’s the longevity of your business? Are you gonna be here in ten years time?”
Where does insurance leave sole traders and small crews?
Workers compensation turns on whether there are workers, and owners are often outside their own policy. In Queensland, WorkCover Queensland says sole traders, partners and directors are not covered by their own accident insurance policy. In Victoria, WorkSafe Victoria says a sole trader who employs no workers does not need to register. Other states and territories set their own rules.
Home warranty thresholds also differ. In Queensland, the QBCC requires it on residential work over $3,300, with the contractor collecting the premium and paying it to the QBCC. In New South Wales, SIRA requires home building compensation cover on work over $20,000. A trade who takes on a small job direct from a home owner can be inside those rules whether or not they think of themselves as a builder.
Why does this sit with the business owner, not the bookkeeper?
Vinnie Vecchio, who coaches builders through The Professional Builder, draws the line between a tradesperson and a business owner by how each solves a problem. “A tradesperson will solve problems by picking up the hammer and swinging it themselves,” he said. “A business owner would solve problems by installing a person or a process.”
Every rule above is a process. A trade can be excellent on the tools and still be exposed on every rule here, because only one of those skill sets gets taught.
Del Titto’s own rule came from a job he priced late at night that ran six weeks and returned nothing. “I don’t do quotes late at night anymore. I don’t rush them through.”
The Good Builder Take
Experienced operators rarely get caught on the basics. They get caught when a rule moves and the process built around the old rule keeps running. Payday super, the Victorian home warranty change and the labour only subbie test are all examples.
The other exposure is the next generation. The apprentices and new subbies coming off your sites have the same gap Del Titto had 20 years ago. Whoever engages them inherits it.
Del Titto paid for his lesson with a Word document and a job priced at eleven o’clock at night. The rules are all on a regulator’s website. What has changed is how quickly some of them now bite.
Frequently asked questions
The ATO treats an individual contractor paid mainly for their own labour as an employee for super guarantee purposes, even if they hold an ABN. Mainly means more than half the dollar value of the contract. Since 1 July 2026, super guarantee contributions must reach the worker’s fund within 7 business days of each payday. The rate is 12 per cent.
Under the ATO test, a business that pays contractors for building and construction services must lodge if 50 per cent or more of its business income in the current or previous year, or 50 per cent or more of its business activity, relates to building and construction services. The report is due by 28 August each year.
Under ATO rules, a tax invoice must show that it is intended to be a tax invoice, the seller’s identity and ABN, the date issued, a description of the items sold with quantity and price, the GST amount, and the extent to which each sale is taxable. Sales of $1,000 or more must also show the buyer’s identity or ABN.
Under the QBCC Minimum Financial Requirements, licensees must hold net tangible assets of at least $0 plus a minimum tied to turnover, and a builder licence holder needs at least $46,000. Licensees must also maintain a current ratio of at least 1, at all times, as a condition of the licence.
In Queensland, home warranty insurance applies to residential work over $3,300. In New South Wales, home building compensation applies to work over $20,000 including GST. In Victoria, BPC Home Warranty applies to eligible domestic building work over $20,000 under contracts signed on or after 1 July 2026, replacing the previous $16,000 domestic building insurance threshold.
Related articles
- Melbourne Builder Phil Del Titto Finished His Apprenticeship Without Ever Seeing a Purchase Order. He Says the Gap Still Has Not Closed.
- Wattle Court Puts Every New Builder Through 13 Weeks of Training. None of It Covers Construction.
- Hire Ahead of the Work: Cheyne Hall on Building a Team That Lets a Building Business Grow
- Running a Building Business in Australia
Listen to the full conversations with Phil Del Titto and Matt Hope on The Good Builder Podcast, and follow us for more on running a building business.
Last updated: 26 October 2026. Tax, super and insurance rules as published by the ATO, ABR, QBCC, SIRA, BPC and WorkSafe at that date.
General Information Only: This article provides general information only and does not constitute tax, legal, financial or professional advice. Tax, super, licensing and insurance obligations depend on individual circumstances and differ between states and territories. Thresholds and rules change. Readers should confirm their obligations with the ATO, their state regulator and a registered tax agent or accountant before acting.
Author: TGB Editorial
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