Rescuing a Growing AU Construction Firm from Payroll & Super Chaos.
Civil Construction & Landscaping (Australia)
Payroll had become a weekly crisis. The director was spending 10+ hours every Sunday manually calculating award rates, overtime, and shift penalties while also trying to determine which subcontractors needed super contributions.
The Challenge
What the client was facing
The business came to us with three high-risk pain points:
- SGC risk: Super payments were missed twice due to quarterly lump-sum pressure on cashflow.
- STP issues: Payroll categories weren’t mapped correctly under STP Phase 2, triggering an ATO warning.
Award complexity: With variable shifts and mixed employment types, they weren’t confident they were aligned with the Building and Construction General On-site Award requirements.
Our Solution
How we solved it
We implemented a structured, three-part rollout:
- Award-Driven Payroll Automation
Integrated time-tracking (TSheets / QuickBooks Time) into Xero and configured pay rules to automate overtime and penalty calculations removing manual processing. - The “Monthly Super” Shift
Moved super from quarterly lump payments to monthly contributions, easing cashflow pressure and reducing missed-deadline risk. - Real-Time Payroll Compliance Sync
Reviewed and re-mapped payroll categories to align with STP Phase 2 disaggregated reporting ensuring cleaner reporting and fewer compliance flags.
Results
Results & metrics achieved
- Time saved: Director reclaimed 10 hours per week back to quoting jobs and managing growth.
- Compliance confidence: 100% on-time BAS/IAS and super processing since transition.
- Cost efficiency: Estimated $45,000/year saved vs hiring a local part-time payroll manager.
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