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INBuilding and Construction Award Pay Calculator
Work out what a week under the Building and Construction Award actually pays — the right CW/ECW level, the all-purpose industry allowance, weekend overtime rates, casual loading and super, calculated the way the award says.
How the Building and Construction Award is applied
- Minimum rates are set per CW/ECW level — the calculator uses the adult rates from clause 19.1(a), current from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026.
- The industry allowance is the trap: $67.15/week (residential building: $53.72) is paid for all purposes, so it folds into the hourly base before every penalty and overtime rate — a CW/ECW 3’s real ordinary rate is $31.22, not $29.45. The calculator uses the bare minimums; add the allowance for compliance-grade numbers.
- Casuals get a 25% loading, and the weekend and public-holiday percentages here already include it.
- Weekends are overtime, not penalty rates: Saturday pays 150% for the first 2 hours then 200% after 2 hours or past noon (whichever comes first), and all Sunday time is 200% with a 4-hour minimum.
- Overtime beyond 38 weekly hours steps at 2 hours, not 3: 150% for the first 2, then 200% (casuals: 175% / 225%).
- Superannuation (12%) applies to ordinary-time earnings — but not to overtime, and in construction that includes most weekend work.
Who the award covers
- General building and construction — building, altering, extending, restoring, repairing or demolishing buildings and structures on-site
- Civil construction — roads, bridges, dams, tunnels, power transmission, dredging and traffic management
- Metal and engineering construction on-site — structural steel, mechanical, electrical/electronic and fabrication work
- Site clearance and earthmoving
- Installation of fittings and services on-site
- Full-time, part-time, casual and daily hire employees in Schedule A classifications
This award is for work done on-site. Electrical contractors have the Electrical Contracting Award, plumbers and fire sprinkler fitters the Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award, and off-site workshops and fabrication sit under the Manufacturing or Joinery awards — check before you classify.
Which level is your team member?
The Construction Award runs one broadbanded ladder — CW for general building and civil work, ECW for engineering construction, same money at every level. Entry is time-based: CW/ECW 1 has four sub-levels tied to months in the industry, then progression is by skill and structured training. CW/ECW 3 is the trade level and the award’s standard rate. The table here covers the 10 levels to CW/ECW 7 — the ladder most on-site SMBs actually use.
| Level | Per hour | Per week (38h) | Typical roles | The test |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CW/ECW 1 (a) | $26.67 | $1013.50 | New entrant · First job in the industry | The entry point: someone who has never worked in on-site building construction before, working under general supervision. Moves to level (b) after 3 months. |
| CW/ECW 1 (b) | $27.20 | $1033.50 | Labourer · Trades assistant (3+ months in the industry) | Automatic after 3 months in the industry — same general-supervision work, often training towards level (d) or CW/ECW 2. |
| CW/ECW 1 (c) | $27.56 | $1047.30 | Labourer · Trades assistant (12+ months in the industry) | Automatic after 12 months in the industry. Progression from here is by skill, not time. |
| CW/ECW 1 (d) | $28.05 | $1066.00 | Demolition labourer · Concrete gang worker · Steel erector · Tradesperson’s labourer | The substantive Level 1: a skills test, structured training or equivalent experience — responsible for their own work quality, operates small plant, hand tools and forklifts, assists tradespersons. |
| CW/ECW 2 | $28.62 | $1087.50 | Scaffolder · Steelfixer · Concrete finisher · Traffic controller · Hoist or winch driver | Works under limited supervision, may supervise Level 1 employees: interprets plans, sequences tasks, calculates safe loads — typically 20 modules of structured training or the skills equivalent. |
| CW/ECW 3 | $29.45 | $1119.10 | Carpenter · Bricklayer · Painter · Fitter · Rigger · Welder 1st class | The trade level: a completed apprenticeship (or AQF equivalent) exercising trade skills, or the non-trade equivalent — works individually or in a team under limited supervision. The award’s “standard rate”. |
| CW/ECW 4 | $30.38 | $1154.40 | Electrician special class · Special-class joiner · Pile driver · Mobile crane up to 10 tonnes | Trade plus structured training beyond CW/ECW 3: precision skills, plans construction sequencing, operates and maintains plant. |
| CW/ECW 5 | $31.31 | $1189.60 | Special-class tradesperson · Grader operator · Mobile crane 10–100 tonnes | Advanced trade or operator skills above CW/ECW 4 — complex plant, complex sequencing, guidance to the work team. |
| CW/ECW 6 | $32.14 | $1221.30 | Electronics tradesperson · Instrumentation and control tradesperson · Mobile crane 100–140 tonnes | High-precision work on complex circuitry, control systems or heavy plant — provides training as well as trade guidance. |
| CW/ECW 7 | $33.06 | $1256.30 | Sub-foreperson · Tower crane operator · Mobile crane over 220 tonnes | Contributes to work design and the organisation of work teams, prepares complex reports — the step below foreperson. |
- CW/ECW 1 has four sub-levels and the first three are about tenure, not skill: level (a) on commencement, (b) after 3 months, (c) after 12 months, (d) on meeting the substantive skill requirements. Track start dates — the rate moves by itself.
- CW/ECW 3 is the trade benchmark: a completed apprenticeship (carpenter, bricklayer, painter, fitter) or equivalent skills test belongs here or above. It is also the standard rate every wage-related allowance is measured against.
- The ladder continues above this table — CW/ECW 8 ($33.86/hour) for advanced tradespersons and forepersons, and ECW 9 ($34.46/hour) in the metal and engineering construction sector only.
- Daily hire is a distinct employment type common in this industry, with its own engagement rules and a follow-the-job loading — the weekly rates here are the full-time minimums.
Allowances that can apply on top
Base rates and penalties aren’t the whole pay picture. The Building and Construction Award adds allowances for particular duties and situations — being the designated first aid officer, working overtime without notice, using your own car. They’re small lines individually, but they’re legal entitlements and they add up. The common ones (1 July 2026 amounts):
The calculator below doesn’t include allowances — add the ones that apply to your team on top of the result. The full list lives in the award’s allowances clause.
Break entitlements under the Building and Construction Award
Breaks are part of the award too — and missed or worked-through breaks usually carry a penalty rate, so they belong in the roster, not just the tea room. Here’s what the Building and Construction Award requires:
Working through the meal break attracts penalty rates (clause 29.6). The full rules live in clause 18 of the award.
Calculate a week under the Building and Construction Award
Enter the week as it’s actually rostered. Weekend, evening and public-holiday hours are paid at the award’s penalty rates; anything beyond 38 hours is priced as overtime; super is applied to ordinary-time earnings only.
Rates current as of 1 July 2026 (adult minimums, MA000020) — first full pay period on or after that date.
This week’s numbers
Nothing is stored or sent — the maths runs on this page.
Are these the exact legal rates?
The level minimums are the adult CW/ECW rates from clause 19.1(a), current at 1 July 2026 — but under this award the all-purpose industry allowance sits inside the legal ordinary rate, apprentices have their own scale, and daily hire employees carry a follow-the-job loading. Treat the result as a planning number and confirm against the award or your payroll adviser.
What does the “all-purpose” industry allowance actually do?
It becomes part of the ordinary hourly rate itself — $67.15 a week ($1.77 an hour) in general construction — so every penalty, overtime and leave calculation is a percentage of the loaded rate, not the bare minimum. Paying penalties on the bare rate is one of the most common underpayments in construction.
Is Saturday a penalty or overtime?
Overtime — from the first hour. 150% for the first 2 hours, then 200% after 2 hours or past noon, whichever comes first: a crew starting at 11am hits double time at noon. And the Saturday after Good Friday pays 250% for every hour.
Does super apply to weekend rates?
Only on ordinary-time earnings — and under this award weekend work is overtime, so the 12% super guarantee generally doesn’t apply to it. Super does apply to ordinary weekday hours including the all-purpose allowances. The calculator applies exactly that split.
What about portable long service leave?
Construction is the original portable long service leave industry — every state and territory runs a scheme (NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the NT), most of them decades old. It’s not levied on wages the way super or the newer community-services schemes are — it’s a levy on the value of the building work itself (for example, NSW charges 0.25% and Queensland 0.575% of project cost, usually paid by the builder or principal contractor when the job’s approved), so it doesn’t appear as a per-worker line in this calculator. Workers still accrue leave that follows them between employers in the industry — check the relevant state scheme (e.g. the Long Service Corporation in NSW, QLeave in Queensland, MyLeave in WA) for registration and entitlement details.
This is a general calculator, not legal advice. It applies the award’s published adult minimums to the hours you enter — it can’t see your enterprise agreement, allowances or individual arrangements, and junior, apprentice and shiftwork rates differ. Always confirm pay against the award, your agreement or your adviser. If you believe something here is materially wrong or out of date, please contact us — we’ll review it promptly.
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Tommy applies the right award rates to every shift as you roster — penalties, loading and super included. Start with your email and your numbers come along.
