Frequently asked questions

When a builder uses a regular operating account, owner funds for the current project mix with everything else in that account. The same funds can be used to pay supplier debts from previous jobs, the builder's overheads, or any other purpose the builder chooses. Project funds sit in regulated custody, externally to the builder's operating account, and BuildFair sends release instructions only on verified progress. The funds for your project pay for your project.

It means the money sits in an account with our banking partner Kobble. Kobble is the regulated counterparty for the funds. BuildFair is the layer above that determines when funds release and to whom, based on the project rules you and your builder agreed to. The detail is on our Trust & Security page.

No. BuildFair never holds customer funds directly. The funds are held with our banking partner Kobble. BuildFair holds the rules, the records, and the audit trail. This separation is the central design choice of how the platform works.

BuildFair provides a transparent audit trail of every action taken on a project: invoices submitted, approvals given, payments released, defects raised. If parties disagree about a payment, all parties can see the same record of what happened. The platform supports hold periods on disputed amounts so the rest of the project doesn't stall while the dispute resolves. BuildFair doesn't adjudicate disputes itself. We give the parties involved the same factual record and the option to escalate to VCAT, the equivalent state tribunal, or external legal process.

Three reasons. First, you stop financing jobs out of your own cashflow. Owner funds are already held externally, ready to release for the work being done. Second, you stop being the small bank between owners and subcontractors. Subcontractors get paid from the project account, not out of your cash reserves. Third, your audit trail is automatic. Every payment, approval, and release is recorded permanently in a way an accountant, the ATO, or a future legal process can rely on.

Yes. The model only works if owner funds are held in escrow before they reach the builder, which means owners pay into the BuildFair project account rather than directly to the builder. Most owners welcome this once they understand it, because it gives them the same protection it gives the builder: a clear record of where their money is, and assurance it gets used for the project they paid for.

Subcontractors don't have to use BuildFair as their primary platform. They can receive payments out of a BuildFair project to their normal bank account once they're verified on the platform. The benefit of being on BuildFair properly is the visibility into project funds before invoicing, the audit trail, and access to other builders running their projects through the platform. Most subcontractors who try it stay.

Yes. BuildFair is payment infrastructure, not accounting software. We provide audit trail exports compatible with the major Australian accounting packages, including Xero and MYOB. Your accounting workflow doesn't change. What changes is how the underlying money moves through the project.

Your funds sit with our banking partner Kobble in a regulated account. They are not in BuildFair's operating account, not in your builder's operating account, and not at risk if either company has financial difficulties. The full architecture is explained on our Trust & Security page.

The funds you've paid into the project account remain in regulated custody and don't form part of the builder's insolvent estate, because they were never the builder's funds in the first place. Your funds are returned to you, less any amounts that have already been authorised for release for completed work or already paid to subcontractors who completed work on your project. This is fundamentally different from the situation where a builder collapses with your progress payments already absorbed into their general account.

BuildFair is free for owners. Builders pay the platform fee. Owners benefit from the protection without paying for it.

No. BuildFair is not a builder warranty product and does not guarantee performance. It guarantees that funds you pay into the platform are held safely and only released on verified progress for work that has been done. If your builder is unable to complete the work, your remaining funds in the project account come back to you, but BuildFair doesn't replace your builder or finish the work for you. For performance protection, owners typically rely on the state owner protection scheme (VMIA in Victoria, HBCF in NSW, QBCC in Queensland).

When you do work on a BuildFair-managed project, the money to pay you is already held externally. The builder isn't financing your invoice out of next month's progress payment from someone else's job. The funds are there, ringfenced for the project you worked on. Once your invoice is approved by the builder, the money releases from the project account directly to you.

BuildFair only protects you on projects where the builder runs the job through BuildFair. If you're working on a project not on the platform, you're back to the regular system: chase the builder, use your state's Security of Payment Act if needed, and watch for the warning signs that something is wrong. The Why subcontractors don't get paid in Australian construction piece covers this in detail.

$250 per month or $2,500 per year. The fee gives you full access to the platform, including project visibility, payment processing, audit trail, and the ability to work with any builder on BuildFair without per-project setup. Subcontractors who get paid faster on a single project often recover the monthly fee multiple times over.

No. The builder still has to approve invoices for work they've received. What BuildFair gives you is visibility (you can see the funds in the project account before you do the work), an audit trail (every interaction is recorded), and a faster release once approval happens. If approval is being unreasonably withheld, the dispute pathway is the same as it would be off-platform: escalate through the builder, then through legal channels if needed.

Most approved payments are released within 24 hours. Larger amounts may go through a dual-approval workflow which can add time depending on how your project is configured.

BuildFair maintains a complete record of every payment made on the platform, in a format your accountant or the ATO can rely on. We don't act as your tax agent and we don't calculate or remit tax for you. What we provide is clean, auditable records that make tax time substantially easier than reconciling a regular operating account.

Yes. Payments can be tied to project milestones, progress claims, or set at regular intervals. All scheduled payments still go through the project's approval workflow before release.

Yes. BuildFair doesn't hold customer funds. They are held through regulated account infrastructure. The architecture is on our Trust & Security page.

The funds aren't held by BuildFair, so a breach of BuildFair's systems doesn't give an attacker direct access to project funds. Kobble operates its own security infrastructure. We protect the platform itself with encryption at rest and in transit, multi-factor authentication, role-based access controls, full event logging, and regular penetration testing.

We comply with the Australian Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles. Your data is collected only for the purposes of providing the service and meeting legal obligations. The full detail is in our Privacy Policy.

Security is built into the platform: a double-entry, hash-chained, tamper-evident ledger, external identity verification through Sumsub, and project funds held by our regulated banking partner Kobble rather than in BuildFair's own accounts.

Identity verification is how we make sure the people on each side of a project are who they say they are. BuildFair isn't currently a regulated entity required to perform KYC, because we don't hold customer funds. We do it anyway because verifying everyone on the platform is part of making the platform trustworthy. It also makes the audit trail meaningful: every transaction is between identified, verified parties.

Most users complete identity verification in under five minutes. We use Sumsub, a global identity verification provider, to run the checks digitally without requiring physical document uploads in most cases.

Typically a government-issued photo ID (driver's licence or passport) and proof of address. The digital verification process handles most cases without uploads.

For builders: $300 per month or $3,000 per year (annual saves $600). The founding 100 builders pay for one year and get three years of access at the same price, locked in. For subcontractors: $250 per month or $2,500 per year (annual saves $500). For owners: free. Suppliers: contact us for custom pricing. Full pricing detail is on our Pricing page.

Yes. We provide audit trail exports compatible with Xero, MYOB, and other major Australian accounting packages. For enterprise customers we offer API integration.

Contact our support team and we'll start the closure process. Australian tax law requires financial records to be retained for 7 years, so the records of your transactions remain accessible to the relevant parties even after account closure, but no new activity is possible on a closed account.