If you're a sub-trade trying to get on a tier-one builder's site for the first time — Lendlease, Multiplex, John Holland, Built, Probuild's successors, the rest — the gate is a pre-qualification process. It's run through one of three platforms (Cm3, Avetta, or PreQual), it takes between two and five business days when everything's in order, and it can take six weeks when it isn't.
This is the list. It's the list we built our construction packs against. If you can hand a head contractor every item on it, dated within twelve months and aligned to the project specifics, you'll get the green tick.
Tier 1 — what every head contractor asks for
These are universal. Every tier-one head contractor will refuse to onboard you without them.
1. WHS Policy
A written document setting out the PCBU's commitment to health and safety. Must reference the relevant state WHS Act (NSW: WHS Act 2011 (NSW); Victoria: Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic)). Must be signed by a director or owner. Must be dated within the last 12 months.
Common rejections: signed by an admin, not the PCBU. Dated more than 18 months ago. Generic — doesn't name the business or its specific work.
2. Safe Work Method Statements (SWMS)
One per high-risk construction work activity you perform on this project, per regulation 299 of the Model WHS Regulations. The activity list is in regulation 291 — you'll need at minimum the ones relevant to your trade.
If you're a tiler: heights work over 2m, manual handling, dust (silica). If you're a plumber: confined spaces, hot works, working in trenches over 1.5m. If you're an electrician: work near energised installations, work in roof spaces, isolation procedures.
Each SWMS must be project-specific. The head contractor reviews these. They will reject a generic SWMS that references "the construction site" without naming the project address.
3. Public liability insurance — Certificate of Currency
$20m minimum for tier-one residential. $50m for commercial. Some Sydney CBD tier-one jobs require $100m. The certificate must name your trading entity correctly and be in date for the duration of the works.
4. Workers compensation — Certificate of Currency
State-specific scheme: iCare in NSW, WorkSafe in Victoria, WorkCover Queensland. Even sole traders in some states are required to hold a notional workers comp cover for the purpose of pre-qualification. This trips up about 30% of first-time applicants.
5. Subcontractor's statement
A statutory declaration that you've paid your workers, complied with workers comp obligations, and are up to date with payroll tax. Different forms in different states; the head contractor will tell you which one they want.
Tier 2 — most head contractors
These are required by perhaps 80% of tier-one contractors. Different platforms ask for different combinations.
6. Quality Management Plan or QA System
A written document describing how you check your own work. Doesn't need to be ISO 9001-certified for sub-trades, but it does need to describe your inspection points, hold points, and how you record non-conformances.
7. Environmental Management Plan
How you manage waste, dust, runoff, noise, and chemical storage on site. Must reference the relevant state EPA. Some commercial tier-one jobs require ISO 14001 alignment.
8. Drugs and alcohol policy
Including the testing protocol you follow and what happens after a positive test. This one increasingly trips up smaller subbies — the policy has to actually be enforceable, not aspirational.
9. Fatigue management policy
Particularly relevant for trades doing extended hours, weekend work, or night shutdown projects. Must define maximum shift lengths and minimum rest intervals.
10. Incident notification procedure
A flow showing how a notifiable incident — death, serious injury, dangerous incident under section 37 of the Model WHS Act — moves from the on-site worker to the regulator within the prescribed timeframes. Must name the responsible person.
11. Rehabilitation and return to work policy
For any business with workers compensation cover. Must comply with the relevant state scheme's RTW guidelines.
Tier 3 — project-specific
These are sometimes asked for depending on the project. Don't waste effort generating them unless the tender documents require them.
- Asbestos management plan (required if the work involves disturbing pre-2003 materials).
- Silica dust management plan (now required by SafeWork NSW for any cutting, grinding, or polishing of engineered stone).
- Cranes and lifting operations procedure (required for any project using mobile or tower cranes).
- Working at heights register (a roll-up of all height-specific risks across the project).
- Hot works permit register (for any welding, grinding, or open-flame work).
What head contractors don't want
This part is not on most checklists, but it should be.
They don't want a 600-page binder. They want a well-organised set of documents they can find quickly. The pre-qualification reviewer at a head contractor processes hundreds of these a quarter. The application that gets approved fastest is the one structured exactly the way Cm3 / Avetta / PreQual asks.
They don't want documents from 2019. The platforms reject anything dated more than 12 months ago. A WHS Policy with a 2021 review date will get bounced even if it's perfectly written.
They don't want generic insurer-supplied templates. The head contractor's assessor sees the same template every week. It signals that you outsourced to your broker rather than authoring something specific to your business. It doesn't fail the application by itself, but it shifts you to the slower review queue.
They don't want lawyers' boilerplate. A 40-page WHS Policy that opens with two pages of legal definitions is a red flag. The good policies are tight: 8 to 14 pages, written in plain English, with clear ownership of each control.
Where PolicyPack fits
We built our construction pack against this exact list. Selecting "Construction & trades" on the build flow, picking your state, ticking the high-risk activities you perform, and naming your business produces a pack that hits items 1 through 11 above by default. Items 12 onwards are project-specific add-ons available on the second screen.
The output is structured the way Cm3 reviewers expect — dated, signed-block ready, with a cover index that maps each document to the regulation or platform requirement it satisfies. We've had subbies tell us they cleared pre-qual on the same day they downloaded.
That's the bar. Generate your construction pack if you want to test it on your next tender.