Pay under the Building and Construction Award

Crane and cement truck

Understand how to check pay under the Building and Construction Award.

On this page:

Important: Electricians, plumbers and other trades

This page has information on the Building and Construction Award.

Electricians, plumbers, landscapers and other labourers may be covered by another award.

For pay and entitlement information, follow our steps to check pay and award rules.

Pay

An employee’s minimum wage under the Building and Construction Award is set by their award classification.

An award classification (also known as a level or grade) is a description of a role and the type of work involved.

To work out an employee’s minimum pay rate, you will need to know:

  • the award that covers the employee (the Building and Construction Award)
  • their classification level (for example, ‘Construction worker level 1’).

For help working out an award classification, go to How to use this information

Pay rates (including penalty rates and allowances) can be calculated using our Pay and Conditions Tool.

There are also pay guides that list all the pay rates for an award. You can download them at Pay guides.

For general information about pay and entitlements, see Pay and wages.

Example: New employee finding pay rates

Sylas has started a new role as a labourer for a bricklaying company. His letter of employment says he’ll be covered by the Building and Construction Award as a ‘Level 1 CW/(ECW) (level a)’.

Sylas wants to check that he is classified and paid correctly.

Sylas uses the Pay and Conditions Tool and discovers that he’s employed at the right level because he has no experience or qualifications.

The tool tells him his pay rate and helps him calculate penalties, loadings and allowances.

Juniors

The Building and Construction Award doesn’t have junior pay rates. This means that all employees, other than apprentices, are paid adult rates of pay.

For general information about junior employees, visit Junior pay rates.

Example: Paying employees under the age of 21

Olaf is a painter. His business and employees are covered by the Building and Construction Award.

He wants to hire Kris, his 16-year-old nephew, to do some general labouring duties during the school holidays while one of his workers takes some time off.

Olaf checks fairwork.gov.au for Kris’s pay rate.

Olaf learns that there’s no junior rates in the Building and Construction Award. Based on Kris’s duties, Olaf will pay him as a Construction worker level 1. Kris gets the same pay rate as other adult workers employed at the same level.

Allowances

Employees covered by the Building and Construction Award can receive allowance pay if they:

  • perform certain tasks
  • require a particular skill to do their job
  • work in hazardous conditions
  • incur expenses while doing their job.

For more information visit, Allowances in the Building and Construction Award.

Example: Calculating penalty rates

Phil is a plasterer. He’s a Construction worker level 3 under the Building and Construction Award.

Phil will be working on a public holiday for the first time and wants to know his pay rate. He finds the Pay and Conditions Tool on fairwork.gov.au and answers some questions about his job.

The tool calculates his hourly rate, which he learns includes base rate allowances. It allows him to also select penalties, like public holidays and overtime.

Phil works out his public holiday pay. He also saves the web link to the tool for use in the future.

Overtime

An employee covered by the Building and Construction Award gets overtime pay when they work:

  • outside the span of ordinary hours, or
  • more than the maximum number of ordinary hours.

Different rules apply if the employee is involved in shiftwork.

Find tailored information by using the industry filter at When overtime applies.

Example: Employee checks overtime entitlements

Rachel is a concrete spreader working for a large concreting business. She normally works at building sites but has been rostered to work on the new highway project. Rachel works the day shift from Tuesday to Saturday.

Rachel isn’t paid overtime for her Saturday shift. She sees that fairwork.gov.au has information about overtime. Rachel uses the industry filter option on the When overtime applies page to read about the overtime rules that apply under her award.

Rachel finds out that civil construction shiftworkers don’t get overtime when working ordinary hours on a Saturday. Now she knows the overtime rules that apply for the different worksites.

An employee may get other additional pay such as a penalty rate for working on a weekend or public holiday. Calculate rates of pay, including penalty rates, by using our Pay and Conditions Tool.

Inclement weather

Inclement weather is weather conditions that makes working unreasonable or unsafe for employees. Inclement weather rules in the Building and Construction Award only apply to employees in the:

  • general building and construction sector, or
  • civil construction sector.

Severe weather conditions that prevent work include:

  • rain
  • hail
  • extreme temperatures
  • high wind
  • severe dust storms.

An employee (including a casual employee) directed to stop work due to inclement weather will continue to get paid for their normal hours up to a maximum of 32 hours in a 4 week period.

Specific rules also apply to new employees.

Learn about inclement weather entitlements, and use the industry filter to check award entitlements, at Pay during inclement or severe weather and natural disasters. Select ‘building, construction and on-site trades’ for tailored advice.

Example: Inclement weather entitlements

Dan is a brickie working on a residential construction site without any covered working areas.

The weather turns while he is working at the building site. It starts to rain heavily and the weather forecast predicts hail.

Dan’s foreman, Angelo, directs him and his workmates to stop working. Dan asks whether they will still get paid. Angelo confirms that all employees will continue to get their usual pay because they are stopping work due to inclement weather.

Angelo says he will let Dan and his workmates know when it will be safe to work again.

Payment for time lost due to inclement weather is a maximum of 32 hours in a 4 week period.

Rostered day off

The Building and Construction Award has a rostered day off (RDO) system for ordinary hours of work. The system is based on the employee:

  • working 40 hours a week
  • being paid for 38 hours a week
  • having one paid day off every 4 weeks.

An RDO must be taken:

  • once every 4 weeks, or
  • by a method agreed to in writing by the employer and majority of employees.

The Building and Construction Award allows for RDOs to be banked if the balance isn’t more than 5 days.

On termination, RDOs that aren’t taken are paid out.

A workplace doesn’t need to have an RDO system if the employer and majority of employees agree in writing.

Learn more about how RDOs work by reading our Library article Rostered days off (RDOs) for non-shiftworkers in the Building and Construction Award.

For more information on RDOs under the Building and Construction Award, use the industry filter on our Rostered days off page. Select ‘building, construction and on-site trades’ for tailored advice.

Example: Employee accrues an RDO

Ravi works in the building and construction industry.

The work hours at his workplace are 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week. Ravi gets paid 38 hours a week. The extra time worked accrues towards a paid day off.

Ravi gets a paid RDO once every 4 weeks.

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How to use this information

Follow our tips to find pay and other entitlements:

Find out if the Building and Construction Award applies

Most employers and employees in this industry are covered by an award or enterprise agreement.

To check if an enterprise agreement applies, follow our steps on Finding an agreement.

If there’s no enterprise agreement, an award will most likely apply such as the Building and Construction Award. To understand who this award covers, go to About the Building and Construction Award.

Not sure if the Building and Construction Award is the right award? Learn about other common awards in this industry at Working in building and construction.

You can also search award coverage by occupation or industry by using our Pay and Conditions Tool.

Check which award classification applies

To work out the minimum pay rate under an award, find out the classification level that applies.

An employee’s classification will depend on the:

  • type of duties they perform
  • level of experience or qualifications needed to work at that level.

Work out which classification level applies under the award by:

Calculate pay rates

Check pay rates, including overtime rates and allowances under an award, using our Pay and Conditions Tool.

We have a pay guide for each award, which contains all the relevant pay rates, penalty rates and allowances. Find the pay guide for your award on Pay guides.

Understand award entitlements

Use our industry filters to find tailored information about the different award entitlements and conditions.

Go to the pages below and select the ‘building, construction and on-site trades’ industry from the drop-down menu:

Search our Library

For information on specific entitlements, visit our Library. It has more technical information not covered on our main website.

Examples of Library articles include:

Fix a workplace problem

If there’s an issue with pay, an employee or employer should speak to the other person in the first instance. This is often the simplest and most effective way to resolve issues.

We recommend:

If a small business employer has a workplace problem, they may be able to access free and tailored written advice from our Employer Advisory Service. Find out more: Employer Advisory Service.

Tools and resources

Related information