Construction productivity is back in the national spotlight. With Australia experiencing its weakest productivity growth in decades, pressure is building for industries like ours to do more with less. Despite being one of the country’s largest contributors to GDP and employment, construction productivity has barely shifted in 30 years. According to the Australian Constructors Association (ACA), it has actually declined by 7.8% since 2002, while wages have risen more than 85%.
At Payapps, we believe the opportunity for change lies not just on site, but in the way construction businesses manage their day-to-day operations — particularly in the back office. While cranes and concrete dominate the headlines, some of the biggest productivity gains are waiting in the background — in how we handle contracts, approvals, and payments.
The Construction Productivity Bottleneck Behind the Scenes
When we talk about lifting productivity, the conversation usually starts with what’s happening on the jobsite — labour, materials, equipment. But in our experience, the biggest blockers to efficiency are found in fragmented, manual workflows that happen off-site.
Across commercial, finance and operational teams, too many businesses are still juggling spreadsheets, emails, PDFs and legacy systems to manage payment processes. Tasks like budgeting, subcontractor onboarding, progress claim tracking, and approvals are bogged down by inefficiencies.
These aren’t minor frustrations. They affect decision-making, visibility, compliance, and team productivity — and in a tight-margin environment, those friction points can seriously drag down performance.
“When builders and subcontractors are still chasing claims through inboxes and spreadsheets, productivity suffers,” says Mark Ballinger, Director of Product Strategy at Payapps. “It’s a hidden cost that shows up in delays, disputes and burnout.”
Where the Time (and Money) Really Goes
In 2024, we surveyed over 1,000 quantity surveyors and contract administrators to understand how admin affects productivity:
- 26% are still managing progress claims manually
- 44% deal with frequent disputes linked to claims or variations
- 1 in 4 spend over 10 hours a week on repetitive admin tasks
That’s time that could be better spent on forecasting, pricing, strategy and stakeholder management. Instead, it’s lost to chasing documents, checking spreadsheets, and resolving payment queries — all things that can and should be automated.
Where Technology Can Move the Construction Productivity Needle
The good news? These are solvable problems — and the technology already exists to address them.
The ACA has suggested that digitising construction workflows could unlock $56 billion in additional capacity each year. Our own data backs that up. Among teams using Payapps:
- Productivity improvements are nearly twice as likely compared to less digitised peers
- Time savings average between 14 and 31 hours per week
- Subcontractor queries are significantly reduced due to greater process visibility
“Technology doesn’t have to be complex to be impactful,” says Ballinger. “We see builders streamline claims and approvals in a matter of weeks, freeing their teams to focus on more strategic work.”
Because Payapps integrates with leading ERPs and accounting systems, we help create a single source of truth for payment claims, approvals, variations and compliance — improving accuracy and cutting down delays.
Progress Claims: The Everyday Risk We Can Control
Progress claims are often treated as simple admin — but they’re anything but. When handled manually, they create risk: delayed payments, compliance issues, and strained relationships between contractors and subcontractors.
From our research with finance teams:
- 41% still use manual claim processes
- 53% report challenges meeting Security of Payment timeframes
- 44% say claim inefficiencies affect staff satisfaction and retention
Digitising this workflow strengthens resilience. It gives teams confidence in what’s been submitted and when — while giving subcontractors visibility into where things stand.
“What’s exciting is how quickly you see the change,” Ballinger explains. “It’s not just the time saved — it’s the boost in confidence, collaboration and control across the business.”
What Needs to Change — and What Doesn’t
Construction doesn’t need brand-new inventions to improve productivity — we just need broader adoption of the tools that already work. What’s holding many businesses back isn’t the tech itself — it’s the mindset.
“Construction doesn’t need more bespoke tools,” Ballinger adds. “It needs practical, connected solutions that scale. Progress claim automation is a great place to start — it’s measurable, it’s fast to implement, and it touches every part of the business.”
Building Better Through Smarter Progress Claim Workflows
Improving productivity doesn’t have to mean doing more with less — it can mean doing better with what we already have. When we give teams better systems, they spend less time on admin and more time driving value.
We’re proud to support builders and subcontractors across Australia and New Zealand who are leading the way in smarter construction. If you’re ready to reduce admin, increase compliance and drive better outcomes across your projects — we’d love to help.
