BuildFair

BuildFair is payment infrastructure for Australian residential construction, connecting project funds with approved invoices and verified progress. It is best suited to builders who need owners and subcontractors to share one payment record. The trade-off is a tightly defined market and paid subscriptions that require 12-month commitments.

Overview

BuildFair puts payment administration around a project-fund workflow. Kobble, operated by Yondr Money Pty Ltd under AFSL 545391, holds the funds; BuildFair says it neither holds nor directly accesses customer money. Approved builder and subcontractor invoices are paid from those funds, with a stated seven-day period after approval.

That structure gives a project a defined route from claim to payment and makes the remaining balance visible to participants. It does not settle disagreements: BuildFair does not adjudicate payment disputes, so contentious claims still require another process.

Key features

Builder subscriptions cover subcontractor and supplier management, invoice-approval workflows, progress-payment schedules, bank reconciliation, quoting, contracts, variation and defect tracking, and audit exports. This is a broad construction-payment workflow rather than a general payroll or accounts-payable product.

Owners are invited to projects at no additional cost and can view claims, approvals, payments and remaining funds. Subcontractors can submit invoices, upload documents, follow payment status and view project funds. Those role-specific views make the same project record usable by the people requesting, approving and receiving payment.

Audit-trail exports work with Xero, MYOB and other major Australian accounting packages. Enterprise customers can use API integration. BuildFair describes a double-entry, hash-chained ledger, encryption in transit and at rest, multi-factor authentication and regular penetration testing. Sumsub verifies builders, subcontractors, owners and suppliers before they transact. Data is stored on Australian-based Microsoft Azure infrastructure and covered by the Australian Privacy Act 1988 and Notifiable Data Breaches scheme. Project records are retained for seven years, with audit trails and cashflow records exportable before or after cancellation.

Email and phone support is included for builder subscriptions, with enquiries answered within one business day.

Pricing

BuildFair uses a freemium model, but the free access is role-specific. The Owner plan costs 0.00 AUD with no charge for owners invited to a builder's project.

Subcontractor — monthly is A$250 a month with a 12-month minimum. The annual version is A$2,500 a year, paid upfront. These plans suit subcontractors who need their own submission and payment tracking; the annual term lowers the effective monthly cost but requires full-year payment.

Builder Tier 1 — monthly costs A$300 a month, billed monthly for an initial 12-month term and covering 1 to 5 projects per subscription year. Builder Tier 1 — annual is A$3,000 a year, equivalent to $250/mo +GST, with the same 1-to-5-project range.

Builder Tier 2 — monthly costs A$500 a month, billed monthly for an initial 12-month term and covering 6 to 10 projects per subscription year. Builder Tier 2 — annual costs A$5,000 a year, paid upfront, for the same range. Builders running 11 or more projects need the Enterprise plan at custom pricing. Supplier subscriptions are also negotiated separately through enterprise contracts. The 12-month minimum makes the paid tiers unsuitable for short engagements or cautious month-to-month adoption.

Platforms

BuildFair runs on the web. Its payment coverage is single-country, focused on Australia, and contractor self-service is supported.

Who it's for

Choose BuildFair if you run Australian residential projects and want funds, approvals, schedules and participant visibility in one system. It is particularly relevant to builders coordinating multiple subcontractors and owners who need a shared record of claims and balances.

It is not the right choice for commercial construction, which BuildFair does not currently serve, or for organisations that need the platform itself to decide disputed payments. The annual terms and project-based builder quotas also favour an established pipeline over occasional projects.

Pros and cons

Pros

Controlled fund flow: Kobble custody and payment against approved, rule-based progress claims separate project money from BuildFair itself.

Shared participant access: Owners receive project access free, while subcontractors can submit invoices and monitor payment status.

Construction-specific coverage: Schedules, variations, defects, contracts and reconciliation sit alongside invoice approval.

Australian record handling: Seven-year retention, Australian Azure hosting and exports for major accounting packages support ongoing audit needs.

Cons

Narrow market: The service is for Australian residential construction and excludes commercial work.

No dispute adjudication: A disagreement over a claim is not resolved inside BuildFair.

Long commitment: Monthly paid subscriptions still carry an initial 12-month minimum.

Quota boundaries: Builder tiers cover only 1–5 or 6–10 projects per subscription year before custom Enterprise pricing.

Alternatives

For a wider contractor-payment shortlist, see Contractor Payment Software.

Choose Zoho Payroll instead when payroll is the priority and Android or iOS access, a free plan and free trial matter.

Cleo Pay is a better fit for vendors and contractors needing incoming payments across Android, iOS, web and API, including a free one-user plan.

Pick PayWow for contractor payroll, especially if unlimited contractors and check payments on a free plan are more important than construction-project controls.

Payoneer Payer suits businesses seeking a paid, volume-oriented payer service with fees varying by method and location.

Petl Pay is an alternative for API and web-based project, contributor and invoice workflows.

Choose OnPay for US-oriented payroll with a paid monthly base fee and per-worker pricing.

Plane Contractor Management is aimed at broader contractor and employee administration through web and API.

IRIS Practice Engine is another paid alternative.

Verdict

BuildFair is a strong choice for Australian residential builders who want project funds, approval rules and participant visibility tied together. Its decisive advantages are construction-specific workflows and a shared payment record. Look elsewhere if you work in commercial construction, need dispute decisions, or cannot accept a 12-month paid commitment.