Labour Crews · For builders running their own scope

Our crew,
on your site.

Directly-employed carpentry and formwork crews — hired to you by the head. For builders and head contractors who already have the site management in hand, and just need the right trades on the job.

Machells crew on site — D5 Build, Brighton
From the field Machells crew on site — D5 Build, Brighton · Multi-residential · 2025
The positioning

Not labour hire. A carpentry business that also hires crews.

Typical labour hire is casual day-rate gig workers, rotating in and out of sites, accountable to no-one in particular. That's not what this is.

Our crews are directly-employed, full-time, on our books. The same lads you met last job are likely the lads turning up on the next one. They work to our standard whether they're running a Machells-delivered scope or supplied to a builder by the head — because they're our people either way.

The crews

Who you can hire.

  • Carpenters — first-fix, second-fix, and all-round. Read drawings, own the setup, work to tolerances.
  • Leading hands & foremen — crew leaders who can run a team on-site and interface with your project manager.
  • Formworkers — suspended slabs, walls, columns, stairs and complex formwork.
  • Labourers — experienced site labourers, white-card holders, suited to structural and carpentry support.
  • Full crews — pre-assembled crews (typically 1 foreman + 3–6 trades) where you want the team intact, not stitched together on day one.
How it works

Charged by the head. Paid by us.

Commercial structure. You pay an agreed rate per head to Machells. We pay the lads their wages, super, insurance and entitlements. You get the trades on-site, we carry the employment cost and compliance.

What you're buying. Skilled trades turning up ready to work — fully inducted, licensed, and insured. Not the management of the scope itself (that's you, on this arrangement) and not the commercial risk of the finished product.

What you're responsible for. Site management, scope direction, drawings, materials, QA sign-off, program. Our crew executes; you direct.

What we're still responsible for. Showing up on time, to standard, inducted and documented. If a crew member isn't working out, we swap them — that's part of the deal, not an extra.

Fit

When labour crews are the right call.

  • You run your own site management, scope the job internally, and want trades you don't have to hand-hold
  • You've used commodity labour hire before and got burned by the revolving door of rotating casuals
  • You need to scale a carpentry crew up or down across a multi-stage program
  • You've got a gap in your own crew — injury, leave, flat-out period — and need reliable cover without recruiting
  • You want to test a working relationship with us before putting a full scope our way
Machells have been a great contractor to work with. Their team understands what's required on site and gets on with the job without needing constant supervision. The quality of their carpentry is strong, and they're dependable when it comes to meeting deadlines and coordinating with other trades.
Serg Djurovic D5 Build · Head contractor
Looking for more?

Labour crews today, scope delivery tomorrow.

A lot of our client relationships start as labour crew on one job, then move to full scope delivery on the next. That's the ladder we're happy to climb with a builder — because once you've seen how our crews actually run, the conversation about handing over a whole scope becomes a much shorter one.

If you're considering the scope-delivery route instead, have a look at our capabilities or how we run a project.

Request our rates.
Get the brochure.

Tell us the basics — what crew you need, where the site is, when it starts. We'll send our current rate card by email and ring you to walk through it. No cold sell, no email spam.

Request our rates → General enquiry

Rates typically confirmed within one business day. Brochure covers all crew types, day & week rates, minimum bookings, and indicative scale discounts.

FAQ

Common questions.

Why not publish the rates on the website?
Rates move with market conditions, crew composition, site complexity and program length. Publishing a single rate would either be out of date in a month or wrong for the specific job you're calling about. We'd rather send the current brochure and talk the specifics through.

What's the minimum booking?
Typically one week for a full crew, three days for an individual trade. Shorter stints can work for leading hands — ask.

Who manages the crew on-site?
You do, as the head contractor. We provide a leading hand or foreman as part of the crew where it makes sense, but the site chain of command runs through your site supervisor — not ours.

What insurances and compliance do you carry?
Full public liability, WorkCover, and employer's indemnity. White cards, licences and tickets current for every head. Cert pack available on request.

Can we test the crew on a short engagement before a bigger one?
Absolutely — most good relationships start that way. One week on a small job tells you everything you need to know about whether the crew is right for you.

On the tools?

We're hiring.

Every crew on our books started with a message. If you're a carpenter, leading hand, foreman, formworker or skilled labourer looking for full-time work on quality Melbourne jobs — we want to hear from you.

We hire directly. PAYG, super paid on time, real progression, directors on-site. Not labour hire, not casual — a proper full-time crew.

See roles & apply → Email Jack directly