By Greg Allan, tradesman and creator of Data First Coaching
Which award covers a scaffolding business's staff in Australia?
The Building and Construction Award (MA000020) is the award that covers most scaffolding businesses in Australia. The Fair Work Ombudsman's summary explains that the award covers employers in the building and construction industry whose employees fit its classifications, and the full award text names scaffolders among the trades working in that industry (Building and Construction Award). That means the crew who erect and dismantle scaffold on site, the labourers working the yard, and the truck drivers moving modular gear between jobs can all sit inside the one award, provided their role fits one of its classifications.
Whether every person on your payroll falls under this award depends on what they actually do and how they're engaged. The external award viewer also sets out that the award covers employers who supply scaffolders on an on-hire basis, and the on-hire employees themselves, when they're working in the on-site building, engineering and civil construction industry (FWO external award viewer). So a scaffolder running their own crew, and a scaffolder supplying labour to another business, can both be sitting inside the same award.
What counts as scaffolding work under this award?
The award defines the building and construction industry as work done on-site, including general building and construction, civil construction, and metal and engineering construction, with scaffolders specifically listed among the classifications it covers (Building and Construction Award). That covers the full range of scaffolding work: erect and dismantle on a residential build, edge protection and swing stage work for a commercial builder, and the modular systems used across both.
The full award text also sets out a scaffolding or rigging certificate allowance, paid to a tradesperson who holds a scaffolding or rigging certificate and is required to act on it while doing work that needs a certificated person (Building and Construction General On-site Award 2020). The award also doesn't cover certain other awards, such as the Electrical Award or the Plumbing Award, so a scaffolder running a mixed crew with other licensed trades on board needs to check each role against its own classification rather than assuming one award fits everyone.
Why does a quoted hire period often cost more in real labour than the quote assumed?
Award rates aren't one flat number across a hire period. They build in penalty rates for early starts and extended hours, travel and site allowances, and the scaffolding or rigging certificate allowance, and all of that moves depending on how the job actually runs, not how it was quoted (Building and Construction General On-site Award 2020). A hire period priced at the handover stage, based on one crew and one site schedule, rarely allows for a job that runs past the original handover certificate date, a crew pulled onto early starts to suit a builder's tower crane schedule, or a weekly hire that gets extended without the cost of the crew running it being revisited.
Most scaffolders price a hire period on what a similar crew cost running a similar job last time. That works fine when the job runs to plan. It stops working the moment the job doesn't: a site inspection holds up dismantle, a builder pushes the handover certificate out a fortnight, or the crew ends up doing site safety inductions and early starts the quote never priced in. The award cost of the crew on site changes before the invoice does.
Where does the gap between the gross profit quoted and the net profit banked actually start?
Picture a scaffolder running erect and dismantle crews across a mix of residential and commercial jobs, who has been staffing every crew with two qualified tradespeople on the tools. It's a costly way to run the work once the award cost of two qualified wages, certificate allowances and penalty rates for early starts are all counted into the job. The gross profit on the quote can look fine, because the markup was applied the way it always is. The net profit once the job closes off tells a different story, because it's built from the real cost of the crew that actually erected, held through the hire period, and dismantled the scaffold.
A scaffolder looking at that same job might instead run a qualified tradesperson alongside a second-year apprentice rather than a second qualified tradesperson. That changes the labour cost sitting inside every quote, without changing what gets erected, tagged and handed over at the end of the job.
How can AI agents keep award costs from disappearing into that gap?
An AI agent is software that does a job the way you'd do it yourself, with your prices, wording and rules. For a scaffolder, that can mean taking on the paperwork of matching the award classification and allowance that applies to each person on each job, so the labour cost on a quote is built from what the crew will actually cost, not what a similar-looking job cost last time.
This is where working data first matters more than it looks. Instead of pricing a hire period from memory of what a crew cost on the last job, your own job and payroll data show what a crew erecting, holding and dismantling scaffold under current award conditions actually costs, early starts, site allowances and certificate pay included. AI agents can carry that checking in the background, and a second agent can watch a hire period once it's running on site, flagging the moment a job runs past the original handover certificate date or a weekly hire gets extended, so the cost of running the crew longer gets priced before the job closes off, not after the truck's already back in the yard.
Where can you check the current rules?
- Building and Construction Award (MA000020) summary, the Fair Work Ombudsman's plain-language summary of who the award covers and who it doesn't.
- Building and Construction Award, external award viewer, covers on-hire labour arrangements and group training or apprentice engagements in the industry.
- Building and Construction General On-site Award 2020, the full award text, including the scaffolding or rigging certificate allowance.
Licence and certification requirements for scaffolding work sit outside this award and depend on the state or territory the job is in, so that's one to check directly with the relevant work health and safety regulator for your situation. This is general information, not legal, tax or employment advice. Check your own situation with the body named here or a qualified adviser.
How does Data First Coaching approach this?
Data First Coaching, built by Greg Allan, starts from a scaffolder's own job and payroll numbers rather than a general rule of thumb about what a crew should cost. Through the Trade Business Intelligence, it looks at what each hire period actually cost to erect, hold and dismantle against what was quoted, and traces any gap back to where it started, often in award-driven labour costs that never made it into the price. Greg talks about pricing a job to “make sure that we've got enough cover through that,” especially when a crew is run flat out through a busy stretch. The how of building that into a scaffolder's own systems is worked through inside the Academy, with members, because the Trade Business Intelligence is powered by every member who is open minded, innovative and willing to share what they learn.
