Construction productivity isn’t only a labour problem. It’s a payments problem.

We don’t have enough tradies, and we’re wasting the capacity we already have.

Bodies like the Australian Constructors Association have consistently pointed to the same issue: construction productivity in Australia has barely improved in decades.

We’ve built an industry where highly skilled tradies spend hours each week doing admin they were never trained for and then wonder why productivity stalls.

That isn’t about effort on site. 

More than nine-in-ten construction firms see overdue payments, and nearly 40% of invoices are paid 30+ days late, a drag on cashflow, time, and productivity before tradies even step on site.

Too much time is lost chasing deposits, variations, approvals, and progress payments.

Across the industry, small teams lose 10+ hours a week to this kind of admin.

That load creates cashflow stress, slows decisions, and drives disputes, especially for lean crews. The fastest productivity gains won’t come from new gadgets on site.

They’ll come from fixing how jobs are approved, funded, and paid.

Productivity improves when the system gets out of the way.

#Construction #SmallBusiness #Cashflow #Productivity #Payments #Witzer