Sector guide · Construction & building
The deal killers when you sell a construction business
These five issues sink or discount more construction sales than everything else combined. All fixable, all needing lead time.
Nothing on this page is legal, financial or taxation advice. Free confidential appraisal, no cost and no obligation. Last updated 15 September 2026.
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These five issues sink or discount more construction sales than everything else combined. All fixable, all needing lead time.
01The owner is the licenceThe big oneOwner dependence
One nominee, one estimator, one relationship holder, all the same person. This is the defining risk in Queensland construction sales, and buyers price it brutally because they are buying a business that legally and commercially stops without you. Building licensed depth under you takes years, which is exactly why it starts now.
02WIP that does not survive scrutinyThe numbers
Overclaimed jobs propping up this year's profit, underclaimed jobs hiding it, and margins that fade as projects complete. Buyers in this sector bring advisers who live in job ledgers, and one discovery of massaged WIP poisons every other number you have shown them.
03An unquantified defects tailLiability
No register, no process, no idea of the true exposure across completed projects. Buyers assume the worst and price for it, or walk. A year of honest tracking before market shrinks the fear back to the small number it usually is.
04One client is the pipelineConcentration
A single developer or head contractor feeding most of the book makes your business an extension of theirs, and buyers price the risk that the relationship does not survive the handover. Diversifying the client base takes time in this industry, which is why it belongs early in the window.
05Selling into a pipeline gapTiming
Buyers pay for the future, and in construction the future is contracted work. Going to market as your biggest projects complete, with nothing signed behind them, invites lowball offers regardless of your history. Time the sale so the buyer steps into momentum, not a restart.
Statutory warranty periods and the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme
| What is covered or required | Period or figure |
|---|---|
| Scheme trigger value | Residential construction work in Queensland valued at more than $3,300, including labour, materials and GST |
| Period of cover | 6 years 6 months from the earliest of premium payment, contract agreement or work starting |
| Structural defect claim | The owner must become aware within the 6 years 6 months, and must claim within 3 months after first becoming aware |
| Non-structural defect claim | The owner must become aware within 6 months of substantial completion, and must claim within 7 months after the work is substantially complete |
| Non-completion claim | The contract must end within 2 years of work starting or of contract entry, and the claim must be made within 3 months after the contract ends |
| Premium payment by the licensed contractor | Within 10 business days of entering into the contract, with the premium included in the contract price and collected as part of the deposit |
| Direction to rectify, outer limit | 6 years and 6 months after the building work was completed or left incomplete, under section 72A(4) |
| Direction to rectify, non-structural work | QBCC will consider issuing a direction within 12 months of the building work being completed |
| Rectification period on a direction | Usually 35 days |
| Defects liability period where the contract is silent | Retention or security must be released 12 months after practical completion |
The scheme does not cover buildings more than 3 storeys above a carpark, commercial and industrial work, registered retirement villages, non-residential structures or guest houses. QBCC received 1,964 scheme claims in 2024-25 and approved $60.7 million in payouts, and issued 1,223 directions to rectify in the same year. QBCC can pursue recovery against the licensee after paying a claim, so in a share sale the whole tail rides with the entity the buyer acquires. Figures current as at August 2026.
The 12 to 24 month preparation window
The owners who get the best outcomes start one to two years out and work a sequence. Here is the one I take Queensland construction clients through.
Know where you stand
Start hereGet a confidential market appraisal that covers the number and the licensing map together: what the business is likely worth, how a sale could be structured around the QBCC position, and which levers would lift the figure.
Clean the engine room
12 to 24 months outBring project accounting up to standard with honest WIP reporting, start the defects and retentions registers, separate business and personal spending, build the normalised earnings schedule, and confirm the financial requirements position has clean headroom. Begin the licensing conversation with your advisers and identify who could hold nominee capability beyond you.
Build the premium
6 to 18 months outDevelop your estimator and site leadership, support key people toward supervisor or nominee capable licences, spread client relationships beyond yourself, diversify the client book, and build contracted forward work toward your target sale window. This is the phase where the business stops being a licensed individual with helpers and becomes an enterprise a buyer can complete on.
Go to market from strength
Going to marketTimed with contracted work ahead and the licensing transition mapped, the business goes confidentially to qualified buyers, approached directly rather than advertised, and several of them at once. Two builders who both want the licence position and the forward book will pay more than one builder negotiating against nobody.
Don't wait until you think you're ready
The sequence above is the ideal run up, but it is not a queue you have to join at the back. Queensland is carrying one of the largest construction pipelines in the country, from Olympics linked infrastructure to the housing task across the south east, and established builders with licences, prequalifications, capable teams and forward work are precisely what interstate players and expanding contractors want to buy, because building that position from scratch in this state takes years the market will not give them. A business with the right licence classes, a strong client book or a rare prequalification can attract strategic buyers today.
Others can fast track: if your project accounting is already clean, your forward book is contracted and someone beyond you already carries licensed capability, the two year plan collapses into months.
Ask what it is worth
Free, in writing, and nobody finds out you asked. Tell me the trade and the suburb and I will do the rest.
Nobody finds out you are selling. This goes to me only, into my own database in Sydney. I will not contact your accountant, your landlord, your bank or your staff, ever, unless you ask me to.
If you would rather not put anything in writing yet, ring 0431 124 128. Prefer to pick a time yourself? Book a time in my diary.
Start with the licence question, then the number
Thirty minutes, on the phone or in person, at a time that suits you including evenings. You will get a straight read on where the business sits today and what would move the number. It costs nothing, there is no obligation, and nobody finds out you asked.