FY27 Changes That Affect Your Quoting: What Australian Tradies Need to Update from July 1

1. The 4.75% award rate increase

The Fair Work Commission increased all modern award wages by 4.75% from the first full pay period on or after July 1, 2026. The National Minimum Wage rose 6% to $26.44 per hour ($1,004.90 per week).

What this means for your quoting

Even if you charge well above award, the increase signals where labour costs are heading across the industry. Your costs went up (staff wages, the super that sits on top of those wages, and the insurance premiums calculated against your wage bill). Your competitors absorbed the same increase. Holding your rate steady while costs rise means your take-home shrinks in real terms.

If you employ staff: Their award rate increased automatically. An apprentice on $22/hour moved to approximately $23.05/hour. A qualified tradesperson on award moved from roughly $31.40 to $32.90/hour. The 12% super guarantee is calculated on the new rate, so your total employment cost per hour increased by more than 4.75%.

If you are a sole trader: Your wage review is self-directed. If you charged $90/hour last July and your input costs rose 4-5%, your rate should move to $94-95/hour this July. The Fair Work decision is a useful forcing function for doing the annual review.

How it flows into quotes

Every line item that includes a labour component needs recalculating. A switchboard upgrade that included 4 hours of labour at $95/hour ($380 labour) becomes 4 hours at $100/hour ($400 labour). On a $2,500 job, that is a $20 increase to the client. Reasonable, expected, and invisible when presented as a line-item total rather than called out as a rate rise.

2. Payday Super is live

From July 1, 2026, superannuation guarantee contributions are due within 7 business days of each payday. Super is now per-payday. The rule applies in full from day one, to all employer sizes.

The practical changes

• Timing: If you pay staff fortnightly, super goes out fortnightly. Weekly pay means weekly super. The 7 business day window starts the day you pay the employee.
• Clearing house: The ATO's free Small Business Superannuation Clearing House closed to payments on June 30. If you were using it, you need a different route: your accounting software's built-in super payments (Xero, MYOB, and QuickBooks all have this), or a commercial clearing house.
• First-time payments: When paying super to a fund for the first time (new employee or fund change), you have 20 business days instead of 7.
• Penalties: The super guarantee charge applies to late payments. It includes the shortfall amount plus an interest component and an administration fee. Each missed window is its own compliance event.

How it affects your quoting

Your cash flow rhythm changed. Under quarterly super, you held 3 months of super obligations in your account before paying. That float now leaves your account each pay cycle. On a $2,800/fortnight payrun for a single employee, the super component ($336) leaves your account within 7 days instead of sitting for up to 90 days.

The amount you charge stays the same (super was always owed), but the timing of when the money leaves your account shifts. Tradies who priced jobs assuming they had the super float for working capital need to recalibrate. Your quote-to-cash cycle matters more: a quote that sits unaccepted for three weeks costs you differently when super leaves every pay cycle instead of quarterly.

Sole traders with no employees: You are outside the scope of this change. SG obligations only exist when you employ someone. If you are a company director paying yourself a wage through a Pty Ltd, you owe yourself super under the per-payday timing. If you have subcontractors who meet the ATO's deemed-employee test (primarily paid for labour, work under your direction), you owe them super on the new timing.

3. Fuel excise halved (July 1 to August 2)

The full 50% fuel excise cut (saving 32 cents per litre) ran from April 1 through June 30. From July 1, the government maintained a 25% cut (saving 16 cents per litre) until August 2. After August 2, the full excise rate returns.

What the numbers look like

Unleaded sat around $1.65/L through June. Expect it above $1.80/L from this week, and closer to $1.95-2.00/L after August 2 (depending on wholesale prices).

How it affects your quoting

If your callout fee or travel charge includes a fuel component, the cost basis is shifting. A tradie driving 300km per week in a ute averaging 12L/100km uses about 36 litres per week. The saving dropping from $11.50 to $5.75 per week (and to zero after August 2) adds roughly $300/year to fuel costs once the cut expires entirely.

Most tradies review travel charges alongside their annual rate update. If you held your callout fee steady during the cut period, you may not need to change it (the cut just padded your margin temporarily). If you dropped your callout to pass the saving through, you will want to move it back after August 2.

Fuel Tax Credits: These apply to heavy vehicles, generators, excavators, and off-road plant (vehicles over 4.5 tonnes or equipment used off public roads). Standard utes and vans on public roads sit outside the FTC scheme. If you run eligible equipment, check the updated ATO rate tables from July 1 as they adjusted with the excise change.

4. Permanent $20,000 instant asset write-off

The 2026-27 Federal Budget (May 12, 2026) made the $20,000 instant asset write-off permanent from July 1, 2026, for businesses with aggregated turnover under $10 million. The threshold had been renewed on a temporary basis every year since 2015. This is the first time it has been legislated as permanent.

What changes practically

• Buy when you need it. You can time purchases around project needs instead of the EOFY deadline. A $15,000 tool purchased in October gets the same instant deduction as one purchased in June.
• The limit is per asset, not per year. Three separate items at $18,000 each = three instant deductions, whether you buy them in July, November, and March.
• Negotiate in the quiet months. Suppliers know the EOFY rush pattern. July through September and January through February are traditionally quieter. You will get better deals and faster delivery.
• Items at $20,000 or above go into the general small business pool and are depreciated at 15% in the first year, then 30% each year after.

How it affects your quoting

This is less about individual quotes and more about your capacity to quote certain jobs. If certain jobs required a tool or piece of equipment you had not yet purchased, the permanent write-off lets you buy it any time of year and deduct it immediately. Buy the tool, take the work, deduct the asset. You set the timing around your projects.

For jobs where you factor in tool hire or equipment rental as a line item (common in demolition, excavation, concreting), owning the asset changes the economics. A concrete pump you hire at $800/day becomes a different calculation when you can write off the purchase price instantly.

Status note: The permanent measure was announced in the May 2026 Budget and is expected to pass with bipartisan support, though formal legislation is still in progress. The government has extended or re-announced this write-off every year since 2015 without exception.

5. NSW mandatory PI insurance (building practitioners)

Under the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020, registered building practitioners in NSW are required to hold Professional Indemnity insurance from July 1, 2026. The requirement covers practitioners who provide building compliance declarations for regulated building work (Class 2+ buildings and certain Class 1 residential work).

Who this applies to

• Registered building practitioners signing compliance declarations in NSW
• Registered design practitioners (structural engineers, architects signing declarations)

Who can set this aside

• Sole tradies doing standard residential repairs, renovations, and fit-outs who are not registered building practitioners under the DBP Act
• Tradies holding a standard contractor licence who do not sign compliance declarations
• Tradies in other states (this is NSW-specific)

How it affects your quoting

If the mandate applies to your work, PI insurance becomes a fixed annual cost. Factor it into your overhead calculation when setting hourly rates. The legislation leaves the coverage amount to the practitioner's judgment, based on the scope and nature of their projects. Policies typically start from $1,500-3,000/year for lower-risk residential work and scale with revenue and project size.

Timing note: The NSW Government has previously extended the start date (it was originally scheduled earlier). Reports from late June 2026 suggest lawmakers are considering a further 12-month delay to July 1, 2027. Check the NSW Fair Trading website for the confirmed date before purchasing a policy specifically for this mandate.

Your FY27 rate-update checklist

The first week of July is the natural time to run through this. It takes about 30 minutes if you have your current rates and a supplier login handy.

1. Update your hourly rate. Increase by 4-5% to match the award rise and your own cost increases. If you charged $90/hour, move to $94-95. If you charged $110, move to $115-120. Round to a clean number.
2. Check your top 10 materials. Log into your main supplier (Middy's, L&H, Reece, Bunnings Trade, Bowens) and compare your price-list prices to current shelf prices. Update anything that has moved more than 3%.
3. Review your travel or callout fee. Factor in the fuel excise change (16c/L less from July 1, zero from August 2) plus any insurance or rego increases. Adjust if the net is more than $5 different from what you charge.
4. Confirm your super process. If you employ anyone, verify your clearing house or accounting software is set to pay super within 7 days of each payrun. Test it on the first pay in July.
5. Update your quote templates. Pull up two recent quotes and check that item descriptions, scope inclusions, and exclusion wording are current. Names and prices shift over a year.
6. Record the date. Note "Rates updated July 2026" in your accounting software or price list. When you review again in six months (or next July), you will know your baseline.

Worked example: updating an electrician's quoting rates for FY27

Here is how the changes flow through for a sole-trader electrician in Sydney who employs one apprentice and quotes 8-12 residential jobs per week.

FY26 rates (last year)

• Labour (own): $110/hour
• Labour (apprentice): $55/hour (charge-out, not wage)
• Callout fee: $85
• Materials: Middy's trade pricing + 25% markup
• Standard powerpoint install: $180 per point (supply + install)

FY27 adjustments

Impact on a typical quote

A switchboard upgrade quoted at $2,850 in June becomes approximately $2,990 in July (5% increase). On a $180,000 annual revenue, the 5% rate lift adds $9,000 to gross revenue with the same volume of work. That covers the increased apprentice wages, the per-pay super cash-flow shift, and the fuel cost rise after August 2.

In FlowSpec, updating the labour rate in your Xero price list means every voice quote from July 1 automatically reflects the new rate. Record "switchboard upgrade, 12 RCDs, 4 hours" and the quote pulls your updated prices from Xero. The annual rate update takes 30 minutes; every quote for the rest of the year uses the current numbers.