What the role really costs to employ, what the market is paying, and which licences actually gate it. Written for the employer doing the hiring.
This page is about taking a site supervisor onto your payroll, not about booking one for a job. A site supervisor at the bottom of the advertised market band, $120,000 a year, costs about $138,729.10 a year once superannuation, leave loading and workers compensation are counted, against a wage of $120,000.00. That is roughly 15.6 per cent on top.
Cost basis
$120,000
Award free or set by the parent award, see below
Market band
$120,000 to $140,000
National advertised range, SEEK, refreshed 1 July 2026
Real annual cost
$138,729.10
At the award floor, full time, South Australian on-costs
The wage is the smallest honest answer. Worked from the bottom of the market band, full time, 38 hours a week:
| Line | How it is worked out | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Wages | Bottom of the market band, $120,000 a year | $120,000.00 |
| Annual leave loading | 17.5% of four weeks' wages | $1,615.38 |
| Superannuation | 12% of wages plus loading | $14,593.85 |
| Workers compensation | 1.85% of wages, loading and super | $2,519.87 |
| Real annual cost | Against a $120,000.00 wage | $138,729.10 |
There is no award floor for this role, so the wage line starts at the bottom of the national advertised band published on SEEK, refreshed 1 July 2026. Superannuation 12 per cent for 2026-27, ATO. Leave loading 17.5 per cent of four weeks, Fair Work Ombudsman. Workers compensation 1.85 per cent, ReturnToWorkSA scheme average, which varies by state and industry so use your own insurer's rate. Payroll tax is excluded because most employers sit below the threshold. Checked 5 August 2026. Full method on what an employee really costs.
That is the floor, not the offer. The market band above is what the role is actually advertised at, and an offer pitched near the legal minimum is the one experienced people scroll past. The full rate detail for this role has the classification ladder.
Follows the trade. On construction, a white card is mandatory and a supervisor is normally expected to hold or have held the relevant trade qualification. First aid and specific high risk work tickets are commonly required. Some jurisdictions require a builder or site supervisor registration for particular work, which is separate again from any trade licence.
There is no supervisor award. Supervisor classifications sit inside whichever award covers the trade being supervised, which is why we cannot publish a single national floor for this role. The Manufacturing Award goes further and sets its supervisor rates as a formula: a percentage of the highest employee supervised, with a floor. So the same job title can produce quite different legal minimums depending on the industry and on who is being supervised.
| Classification | Hourly floor | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Building and Construction level 6 (CW/ECW 6), residential weekly hire | $33.55 | Base rate |
| Building and Construction level 7 (CW/ECW 7), residential weekly hire | $34.47 | Base rate |
| Building and Construction level 9 (ECW 9), residential weekly hire | $35.87 | Base rate |
| Manufacturing C6 advanced engineering tradesperson level I | $33.77 | Base rate |
| Manufacturing C3 engineering associate level II | $37.24 | Base rate |
the parent trade award, not a separate supervisor award (), adult full-time minimums effective 1 July 2026, from the Fair Work Ombudsman pay guides. Casual loading of 25 per cent sits on top. Which classification applies is decided by the work actually performed, not by the job title.
Widening or narrowing the brief by one role often does more for a stalled vacancy than raising the rate. The nearest neighbours:
Supervisors are made rather than hired: almost everyone in the role came up through the trade, so the pool is limited to experienced tradespeople who also want to manage people and paperwork, which is a much smaller group than the trade itself.
On the Jobs and Skills Australia 2025 Occupation Shortage List this role appears as 133111 Construction Project Manager, in shortage nationally and in every state and territory. There is no ANZSCO 2022 occupation for construction site supervisor specifically, so this is the closest assessed match. In the newer OSCA classification, construction site supervisor is rated as not in shortage nationally. That is the national picture, not a claim about your town, and it is the reason an advertisement alone often does not produce a shortlist.
Advertising a supervisor role at a trade rate plus a little. The step from doing the work to being accountable for it is large, and the offer needs to reflect that or the good candidates stay on the tools. The second is not saying how many people and how many sites, which is the first thing an experienced supervisor asks. The third is expecting trade skill and people management to arrive in the same person automatically.
Four checks before a name reaches you: licences verified, screened against your brief, history checked, rate locked. If one step fails, the name never reaches you. The whole process is written out here, including where reference checks actually sit.
You pay nothing until your hire starts, and if they leave inside the first 90 days we replace them free.
At the award floor of varies an hour, about $138,729.10 a year once superannuation, leave loading and workers compensation are added, against a wage of $120,000.00. That is roughly 15.6 per cent on top of the wage. Payroll tax is excluded because most employers sit below the threshold.
The national advertised band is $120,000 to $140,000. The award floor of varies is the legal minimum, not the market. An offer pitched near the floor is the most common reason a vacancy in this trade stays open.
No. Supervisor classifications sit inside each parent trade award, so the answer follows the trade rather than the title.
As a formula rather than a fixed rate: a percentage of the highest employee supervised, with a minimum floor. So the rate moves with the team.
Because coverage follows the trade being supervised. A supervisor on a construction site and one in a factory sit under different awards with different structures.