Productivity is once again front and centre for the construction industry as we move into 2026—and for good reason.

A flurry of major policy work over the past few months has put a spotlight on an issue the sector can no longer afford to ignore.

In December 2025, the Federal Productivity Commission released five reports examining productivity across the economy, alongside the National Competition Policy review on national occupational licensing. This was followed in January 2026 by the release of the Queensland Productivity Commission’s final report into the construction industry, along with the Queensland Government’s formal response.

The message across jurisdictions is consistent, and it’s not new: construction productivity is going backwards.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. There are so many innovative programs, pilots and products coming online.

If we can double down on those that are having an impact, and if governments can make some bold decisions, we could make a big impact in a short space of time.

While traditional measures of construction productivity continue to decline, there are areas of the built environment where innovation is clearly delivering results. The energy sector is a great example.

Solar panels today generate significantly more energy from the same roof space than they did just a few years ago. Battery technology continues to improve, delivering greater storage capacity in smaller physical footprints. Distributed energy resources—solar, batteries, smart inverters and energy management systems—are being rolled out at pace, providing cleaner, more resilient energy for homes and businesses across the country.

Critically, policy settings have played a role. Incentives and Small-scale Technology Certificates (STCs) have accelerated adoption and driven scale. In this case, the system is working.

The next wave of productivity improvement might come with MMC. But other less obvious changes are also needed and go hand-in-glove with modern methods. For example, changes to how information flows through the construction supply chain.

Digitised product conformance and traceability is much-needed in the construction sector, combined with modern compliance systems built on principles of interoperability.

Too much time is lost chasing paperwork, duplicating compliance documents, or trying to confirm what was installed, when, and by whom. This is friction that adds cost but delivers no value.

Imagine a different model.

A simple QR code inside a meter box can give instant access to essential information on building products and electrical installations. A homeowner can easily find details of the installer, operations & maintenance manuals, installation dates and compliance certificates.

Regulators can easily find compliance records. Installers on site could have one easy online method of lodging records across systems.

Product recalls would be much simpler. Think about the automotive industry – when a car part is recalled, the VIN can be traced to the current owner quickly. But if faulty inverters or cabling is installed, it is a lengthy and expensive exercise to track down where these products are, and not all will be found.

As a colleague of mine once pointed out: If I can see in the supermarket where my grapes were grown, I should be able to see where a building product was manufactured and know if it is compliant.

The work of the National Building Products Coalition shows how this could be done. It is an industry alliance, bringing together groups from across the construction supply chain to collectively advance a national building product traceability framework for Australia. The Traceability and Digitalisation Guide and soon-to-be-released Good Practice Conformity Guides are a must-read.

Productivity commissions can diagnose problems, but real change will come from industry and government working together to modernise systems that haven’t kept pace.

Work is underway internationally and in pockets of the sector. We need to build on pilot programs, ensure interoperable digital platforms are embedded, and accelerate the quiet revolution of digitisation.

As construction grapples with rising costs, skills shortages and increasing regulatory complexity, these incremental improvements matter. They save time on every project, reduce risk, and create a more transparent, trusted system for everyone involved.

The challenge for 2026 is not whether the tools exist. The challenge is whether we are willing to use them.

 

Kate Raymond, CEO Master Electricians Australia

 

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