By Greg Allan, tradesman and creator of Data First Coaching
Why do so many concreters get the award question wrong?
Most concreters assume one award covers every person on the tools, when the Fair Work Ombudsman actually splits the industry by what the work is, not just the trade name. A crew pouring driveways, slabs and footpaths on-site sits under a different award to a crew making precast product in a yard, or a crew batching and delivering ready-mix.
The Building and Construction Award summary from the Fair Work Ombudsman covers general building and construction work, which includes the kind of on-site concreting most driveway, slab and footpath businesses do, along with formwork, reo fixing and finishing. The full Building and Construction Award also sets out job classifications that name concreting roles directly, so a concreter checking this award will usually find their own crew described in it.
A business set up differently is treated differently. The Concrete Products Award summary covers employers who fabricate or manufacture products such as panels, pipes, blocks, pavers and precast slabs, rather than pouring on-site. The Premixed Concrete Award summary covers batching and supply staff, and the Fair Work Ombudsman is clear that it does not apply to the on-site building and construction industry, which is covered by the Building and Construction Award instead.
Why does the award classification matter more than the day rate on the quote?
Most owners treat the award as a once-off box to tick, when the real cost it sets can move week to week with weather delays, overtime on a pour day, loadings and super, and that cost either gets built into the quote or quietly eats the margin after the invoice is banked.
A driveway or exposed aggregate quote priced on a flat day rate for the crew can look profitable line by line and still fail to convert that margin into cash, because the labour line never moved when the real cost of running the crew did.
Picture a concreter whose business had been running two qualified tradespeople on every pour, a costly way to crew work where much of the day is base preparation, finishing and curing rather than work that needs two fully qualified hands. The business restructured so one qualified tradesperson now works alongside a second-year apprentice instead of a second qualified tradesperson on jobs that suit it. That single change moves the award cost sitting under every quote, and the gross margin the job actually books.
Staffing pressure like this is not a one-off problem. Overtime on a weather-delayed pour, a callout to fix a control joint that moved, or covering a crew member out sick all push the real cost of labour above what a day rate assumed, and that pressure tends to turn up again rather than once.
How do you know which award applies to your crew and your job type?
It depends on what the crew actually does, not just the business name, so check whether the work is on-site concreting, yard manufacturing or batching and supply before assuming.
If your crew is on-site pouring driveways, slabs, footpaths, doing formwork, excavation and base preparation, the Building and Construction Award is the one to work from. The Fair Work Ombudsman's page on working in building and construction confirms this covers construction work done on-site in a commercial capacity. If you also run a yard making precast concrete products, or you supply premixed concrete from a plant, those parts of the business can sit under the other two awards instead, so it pays to separate the two in your own records rather than apply one award to everything.
Many concreters also work as subcontractors to a builder on a job-by-job basis. The Fair Work Ombudsman's page on contractors in building and construction describes exactly this arrangement, a builder engaging a concreter with their own business to lay concrete, which does not change which award applies to the staff the concreter directly employs.
How do you keep the real award cost in each pour instead of buried in overhead?
You protect gross profit margin by making sure the award cost of the crew on a job, not an average day rate from memory, is the number booked against that pour, every time, not just at quoting stage.
Most quoting happens from a remembered day rate, built months ago and rarely revisited. Your own job data, pour by pour, shows what the crew actually cost once penalty rates on a delayed pour, loadings and super are counted, and that is where the gap between a quote that looks like twenty seven per cent gross and what the job actually nets usually starts. This is what data first coaching means in practice: starting from your own numbers rather than a feeling about what a slab or driveway job should return.
AI agents, software that does a job the way you would, with your prices, wording and rules, can carry the office work of matching each job's real labour cost against what was quoted, so the gap shows up on the job rather than three months later on an activity statement.
What changes when AI agents carry this paperwork for you?
What changes is that the record of what a pour actually cost to crew sits against that job from the day it happens, not from memory at quarter end, so pricing the next driveway or exposed aggregate job starts from fact rather than a guess.
An AI agent built around how your business actually quotes and crews jobs can hold the award rate, the loadings and the super for the crew you used on a pour, and flag it against the quote the moment the job is costed, rather than waiting for someone to reconcile it later. That frees the office time that would otherwise go on checking timesheets against invoices after the fact, and puts it back into quoting the next job properly or being on the tools.
This is general information, not legal, tax or employment advice. Check your own situation with the body named here or a qualified adviser.
Where can you check the current rules?
- Building and Construction Award summary, the Fair Work Ombudsman's plain-English guide to who this award covers.
- Building and Construction Award (MA000020) full text, classifications, including concreting job titles, and current pay terms.
- Concrete Products Award summary, for businesses manufacturing concrete products rather than pouring on-site.
- Premixed Concrete Award summary, for batching and supply staff, separate from on-site crews.
- Contractors in building and construction, how subcontracting arrangements with builders are treated.
- Working in building and construction, what counts as on-site commercial construction work.
How does Data First Coaching approach this?
Data First Coaching, built by Greg Allan, starts from the owner's own job and pay data through the Trade Business Intelligence, not from a description of the business. For a concreter, that means looking at what each pour actually cost to crew against what the quote assumed, because the award question usually turns out to be a symptom of pricing that was set once and never updated. The how, matching real crew cost to each job and building that into future quotes, is worked through inside the Academy, with members, because the Trade Business Intelligence is powered by every member and the Academy is built for owners who are open minded, innovative and willing to share what they learn.
Looking for a business coach who starts from your numbers? Concreter Business Coach or every answer for concreters.
