What is rework on a construction job, and what does it cost?
Rework is work done twice: a failed test, a non-conformance report (NCR) or a wrong ground assumption that means something already built comes out and is built again. Across 115 Australian civil infrastructure projects it averaged 10% of contract value, more than a typical job's whole margin.
How it shows up on a job
The inspection failed. The next stage was already built on top of it.
- An earthworks lot fails its compaction test (TfNSW R44 Table R44.7, TMR MRTS04 Table 15.3(b)) after the next layer is already down.
- A hold point is not released, and the crew either stands down or builds over it.
- The same defect turns up lot after lot, because nobody saw the pattern.
- An NCR is raised and its notice misses the window: 1 working day under TMR MRTS50 cl 10.2 where a notifiable trigger applies, 24 hours under Main Roads WA Specification 201 cl 201.10.
What it costs
Six years of one Australian contractor's ledgers found it bore rework costs directly on 93% of its projects, and lost a mean 23% of its annual profit to rework. On a $5 million job with a 9% margin, that is about $103,500.
Source: Love, Ika, Ahiaga-Dagbui, Locatelli & Sing, Production Planning & Control 30(4), 2019A survey of 115 Australian civil infrastructure projects put total rework at 10% of contract value: $500,000 on a $5 million job, more than its whole planned margin.
Source: Love, Edwards, Watson & Davis, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 2010Counting only what was written down as rework finds 0.38% to 0.76% of contract value, and the same research found rework costs underreported by around 300%.
Source: Love, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 2026, as reported by ASCE
What we don't know. Most rework is never recorded as rework. A low rework number in your own system is more likely a recording gap than a good year.
Why the published figures disagree
Published rework figures run from 0.38% to 12.3% of contract value, about thirty times apart, because they count different things. A ledger counts what someone coded as rework. A survey asks people what it cost, including the delay, the supervision and the re-testing around it. The ledger figure is the floor.
| Figure | What it counts | Sample | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.38%, 0.76% with post-completion fixes | Direct cost written down as rework | One contractor's quality records | Love, 2026 |
| 0.39%, a 23% cut in yearly profit | Recorded rework against a 6-9% margin | 98 projects, six years of one Australian contractor's ledgers | Love et al., 2019 |
| 5% of construction cost | Direct rework, the paper's framing rather than its measured result | 359 mostly US industrial and commercial projects | Hwang, Thomas, Haas & Caldas, 2009 |
| 10% | Total rework, direct and indirect | 115 Australian civil infrastructure projects, surveyed | Love, Edwards, Watson & Davis, 2010 |
| 12.3% | 6.4% direct plus 5.9% indirect | 161 Australian construction professionals, mixed sectors | Love & Edwards, 2005 |
Every published figure on rework, with its sample and confidence grade: rework statistics. Every figure, worked through one $5 million job: what the five diseases cost a $5 million job. The full evidence, with every caveat: why the diseases are in this order.
How Demiton catches rework
The failed result reaches the person who can stop the next stage the day it lands, with the close-out date attached.
Your systems stay where they are. Demiton reads them into registers, and these are the ones that watch for rework:
Common questions
What is rework in construction?
Work done again because the first attempt failed the specification, the drawings or a test. On a civil job that is usually a lot that fails its compaction test, a hold point that is not released, or an NCR that sends finished work back. Rework is not a variation: a variation changes the scope, rework repeats it.
How much does rework cost?
It depends on what is counted. A survey of 161 Australian construction professionals across mixed sectors put it at 6.4% of contract value in direct cost and 5.9% indirect. A survey of 115 Australian civil infrastructure projects put total rework at 10%. One contractor's own records showed 0.38%, and the same research found rework costs underreported by around 300%. On a $5 million job, 10% is $500,000.
What are the construction rework statistics?
The five published figures we hold run from 0.38% to 12.3% of contract value, from one US and four Australian studies. Each one, with its sample, its confidence grade and what it does not measure, is on research.demiton.io/rework/, where anyone can propose a correction or new evidence.
Who pays for rework on an Australian contract?
Usually the contractor. Under the standard forms (AS 4000, AS 2124, GC21) the contractor corrects defective work at its own cost, and if it does not, the principal can have it corrected by others and recover the cost. The exception is a defect caused by the principal's design or direction, which is a variation and has to be claimed inside the contract's notice window.
How do you measure rework on your own jobs?
Count it from the records that hold the fact, not from a cost code: failed test results in the ITP and lot records, NCRs and how long each stayed open, and items bought twice for the same job. A rework cost code shows what someone chose to code as rework, which is why recorded figures run far below surveyed ones.
How does Demiton catch rework?
The failed result reaches the person who can stop the next stage the day it lands, with the close-out date attached. It reads the systems you already run, so nothing is replaced.