Accountant for Builders — Rouse Hill & North West Sydney

Greenfield estates run on volume. Volume is where the accounting goes wrong.

The North West Growth Area around Rouse Hill is one of the busiest residential construction corridors in the country. Box Hill, The Gables, Tallawong, Schofields, Riverstone and Marsden Park are being built lot by lot by project home builders, small-volume builders doing five to twenty homes a year, and the frame carpenters, bricklayers, plumbers, electricians, plasterers and tilers who move from estate to estate. If that's you, you've probably noticed that the books get harder every time you add a job.

An accountant for builders in Rouse Hill has to deal with the things volume creates: a dozen subcontractors to report on a TPAR, progress claims on six houses at different stages, deposits that may or may not be GST-able depending on the contract, apprentices on Payday Super, a fleet of utes, and an icare eligibility limit that gets tighter every time you sign another contract. That's the work we do every day.

More subbies means a TPAR you can't afford to get wrong

If your business is primarily in building and construction (50% or more of your income or activity) and you pay contractors for building and construction services, the ATO requires a Taxable payments annual report by 28 August each year. For a new-estate builder that can mean dozens of contractors — and for each one the ATO wants the ABN, name, address, gross amount paid including GST, and GST paid. Payments for materials only, employees on PAYG withholding and invoices unpaid at 30 June are left out. The failure to lodge penalty is one penalty unit for every 28 days late, up to five units, and a penalty unit is $364 for breaches from 1 July 2026. We build the subbie register as you go, verify every ABN, and lodge the TPAR well before the deadline. Read our TPAR guide →

Contractor or employee? The question every subbie-heavy builder faces

The ATO says a label such as "independent contractor" in your agreement won't decide the relationship, and if you get it wrong you can be liable for super, PAYG withholding and penalties. A labour-only carpenter who works for you five days a week on your sites, with your materials, on an hourly rate, looks a lot like an employee whatever the invoice says. We check your arrangements before the ATO or icare does.

Progress claims on six houses at once

Cash flow is the thing that breaks growing builders in the North West. Slabs, frames and lock-up all cost money before the matching progress claim comes in, and if you're reporting GST on accruals you may be paying GST on claims before the customer has paid. Small businesses with aggregated turnover under $10 million can account for GST on a cash basis instead. On accruals, the ATO treats each progress claim as a separate sale, reported when you invoice or receive it, whichever is first, with a separate deferral rule for retentions. We set the right GST basis, forecast your cash month by month, and put the BAS money aside so the quarter doesn't come as a shock. More on BAS & GST for builders →

Moving up an icare tier

In NSW, every residential project over $20,000 including GST needs Home Building Compensation cover before you can take a deposit. icare's eligibility is set by open job value: a New builder is capped at $1.5 million, Tier 1 runs to $3 million, and the tiers step up from there. Eight houses under construction will blow through the New builder limit. Since 2 March 2026 most builders up to $12 million are assessed automatically from credit data, but moving between tiers or a weak score means a manual review with full financials, aged debtors and creditors, ATO statements and a WIP schedule. We prepare the pack, fix what's dragging your net tangible assets down, and can act for you on the HBCF Portal. More on HBCF eligibility →

From sole trader to company: when, not whether

A sole trader with eight contracts, three apprentices and a million dollars of open job value is carrying a lot of personal risk. A company, often with a family trust, can separate the business from your house and open up tax planning — but it adds cost, paperwork and, for HBCF, a new licensed entity that icare assesses from scratch. We model the numbers both ways and sequence the change so there's no gap in licensing, insurance or invoicing.

Apprentices and Payday Super

Super guarantee is 12%. Since 1 July 2026, Payday Super means it must be paid each payday and received by the worker's fund within seven business days (20 business days for a new employee's first contribution). The ATO's free Small Business Superannuation Clearing House has closed. We run payroll and STP so the super goes out with the wages, and we check federal apprentice incentives for every eligible hire.

Utes, trailers, tools and the permanent $20,000 write-off

Small businesses with aggregated turnover under $10 million using the simplified depreciation rules can immediately deduct each asset costing less than $20,000 in the year it's first used or installed ready for use; the limit is now permanent from 1 July 2026. A $40,000 ute goes into the small business pool instead (15% in the first year, then 30%). A ute designed to carry one tonne or more isn't a "car" for tax, so you claim the business portion of actual costs rather than cents per kilometre. More on tradie deductions →

Getting to us from Rouse Hill

Our office is at 204/11 Solent Circuit, Norwest — about ten minutes from Rouse Hill Town Centre down Windsor Road, with on-site visitor parking. Rouse Hill and Tallawong Metro stations are a few stops from Norwest. Most of our clients meet us a couple of times a year and run everything else through Xero, phone and email.

Suburbs we work in around Rouse Hill