Pay & Wages
CPB Contractors Pay Rates 2026: Site, Trade & EA Pay
What CPB Contractors workers should be paid in 2026 — the Building and Construction General On-site Award floor by classification, casual loading, penalties, and where the CPB Contractors enterprise agreements sit.
Who covers CPB Contractors workers — award or agreement?
CPB Contractors — the former Leighton Contractors — is CIMIC Group's construction business and one of the biggest builders of roads, tunnels, rail and defence infrastructure in the country, from Sydney's motorway and metro projects to Queensland's Cross River Rail. Its site workforce is civil construction workers, plant operators, tradespeople and project staff.
CPB negotiates project enterprise agreements with the construction unions (below), which set the actual site rates. The federal safety net is the Building and Construction General On-site Award 2020, tabled below — project agreement rates sit well above it.
The federal awards relevant to CPB Contractors roles:
- Building and Construction General On-site Award 2020 (MA000020)
Workforce snapshot. In the 2024-25 Workplace Gender Equality Agency reports, Cpb Contractors Pty Limited, CPB PROJECTS PTY LTD reported 4,214 employees (part of the HOCHTIEF Australia Holdings Limited group, 19,731 employees in total, 12.8% casual and 19.8% women). Source: WGEA 2025 Public Data File, data.gov.au (CC-BY 3.0 AU).
Construction award floor (1 July 2026)
The Building and Construction General On-site Award 2020 (MA000020) adult minimums are:
| Classification | Permanent | Casual (incl. 25%) |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 (CW/ECW 1) — CW1 (a) | $26.67/hr | $33.34/hr |
| Level 1 (CW/ECW 1) — CW1 (b) | $27.20/hr | $34.00/hr |
| Level 1 (CW/ECW 1) — CW1 (c) | $27.56/hr | $34.45/hr |
| Level 1 (CW/ECW 1) — CW1 (d) | $28.05/hr | $35.06/hr |
| Level 2 (CW/ECW 2) | $28.62/hr | $35.77/hr |
| Level 3 (CW/ECW 3) | $29.45/hr | $36.81/hr |
| Level 4 (CW/ECW 4) | $30.38/hr | $37.98/hr |
| Level 5 (CW/ECW 5) | $31.31/hr | $39.14/hr |
| Level 6 (CW/ECW 6) | $32.14/hr | $40.17/hr |
| Level 7 (CW/ECW 7) | $33.06/hr | $41.33/hr |
| Level 8 (CW/ECW 8) | $33.86/hr | $42.33/hr |
| Level 9 (ECW 9) | $34.46/hr | $43.08/hr |
On-site pay also carries the award's industry, tool, travel and site allowances, plus a 36-hour week with RDOs on most projects — project agreements restructure all of this, and sit well above the ladder.
Source: Fair Work Commission modern awards pay database, current-operative rates (1 July 2026 annual wage review). Casual figures add the 25% casual loading.
The CPB Contractors enterprise agreements
Enterprise agreements set rates above the award, with their own classification structures and allowances. Current CPB Contractors agreements in our corpus (9 in total):
- CPB Contractors & Acciona Construction Australia - Logan and Gold Coast Faster Rail (Rail Package) Greenfields Agreement 2026-2030 — approved March 2026, nominal expiry 15 March 2030.
- CPB Contractors Pty Ltd Cross River Rail – TSD (Station Buildings Works Stage) Enterprise Agreement 2024 – 2028 — approved January 2025, nominal expiry 30 January 2029.
- CPB Contractors Pty Ltd Cross River Rail - Rail Integration and Systems (RIS) Enterprise Agreement 2024-2028 — approved October 2024, nominal expiry 10 October 2028.
- CPB Contractors NSW Civil Works Enterprise Agreement 2023-2027 — approved December 2023, nominal expiry 7 December 2027.
- CPB Contractors Pty Limited / CFMEU Collective Agreement 2024-2027 — approved April 2026, nominal expiry 4 July 2027.
- CPB Contractors Hunter Region Precast Facilities Greenfields Agreement 2022-2026 — approved March 2023, nominal expiry 1 February 2027.
- JOHN HOLLAND CPB CONTRACTORS JOINT VENTURE – ROZELLE INTERCHANGE AND WESTERN HARBOUR TUNNEL ENABLING WORKS, AWU TUNNELLING WORKS AGREEMENT 2023 – 2026 — approved July 2023, nominal expiry 1 December 2025.
- CPB Contractors (Victoria) Pty Limited and the CFMEU (Victorian Construction and General Division) Builder Enterprise Agreement 2020-2023 — approved April 2024, nominal expiry 30 April 2024.
Plus 1 more — search "CPB Contractors" in our agreements database.
We don't reproduce agreement dollar figures here — the agreement covering your site, state and stream is the document to read. Find your agreement, then your classification, then your pay point, and compare it with your payslip. The award tables on this page are the floor every one of these agreements must beat.
Construction pay issues worth checking on any payslip
General award-compliance issues that come up across the construction sector. This is a checklist for your own payslip, not a finding about CPB Contractors:
- Site allowances, tool and travel allowances missed from the agreement.
- RDOs and the 36-hour week not honoured on projects that use them.
- Wet-weather and inclement-weather pay withheld.
- Wrong CW level for the tickets and skills actually used.
What to do if your pay looks wrong
Match your payslip to your classification in the agreement (or the award tables above), and price any gap with our back-pay calculator. Raise it in writing with payroll or your manager first — most underpayments are fixed at that step. Unresolved, the Fair Work Ombudsman (13 13 94) recovers underpayments at no cost, up to six years back, and your union can run the claim for you. Not sure which instrument covers you? Ask our AI advisor with your role and location.
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FairWork Mate is an independent Australian publisher of workplace-rights information. Our content is prepared with AI assistance and draws on primary sources — the Fair Work Act, modern awards, and Fair Work Commission and Fair Work Ombudsman material. It is general information, not legal advice.