How you brief a labour hire company determines the crew you get back. “Send me three labourers” gives a provider nothing to work with beyond guesswork. A proper brief covers the role, the tickets it needs, the site, the timeline, and what you’re already supplying, so the workers who turn up can actually start, instead of costing you a week of back and forth to fix a mismatch.
Start with the role, not just the headcount
“Three labourers” isn’t a brief, it’s a headcount. Describe the actual job: what trade, what tasks, what plant or tools they’ll be working around, and whether they’ll be supervised or expected to run a task on their own. The more specific the role, the easier it is to hire skilled workers who fit it, rather than send whoever is available and hope.
Spell out the tickets and licences the job needs
Every construction site in Australia has a baseline: anyone carrying out construction work needs a general construction induction card, commonly known as the White Card. If the job needs anything beyond that, say so upfront rather than leaving the provider to guess, for example if it involves operating cranes, forklifts or hoists, or dogging, rigging and certain scaffolding work, which call for a High Risk Work licence. A provider worth using screens for the right tickets and licences before anyone is sent to site, not after, but they can only screen for what your brief tells them the job actually needs.
Give them the site, not just the suburb
An address is the start, not the end. Include how workers sign in, what PPE is required beyond the standard kit, where to park, and what start time means: at the gate, or on the tools. Note anything unusual about the site that a new worker should know before they turn up. A crew that arrives prepared for the actual site loses less time to induction on day one.
Set the timeline properly
Say when you need people, how long the job runs, and whether it’s a one-off peak or something closer to ongoing. That distinction matters. If the need is genuinely temporary or tied to a project, labour hire is the right tool for it. If you’re actually trying to fill a permanent position and using labour hire as a stopgap, say that too, because permanent placement might get you a stable outcome faster than repeated short-term bookings.
Say what’s already covered, and what isn’t
Tell the provider what’s supplied and what workers need to bring: PPE, tools, site inductions already booked, transport arrangements for a remote site. If the job needs specific plant, note whether workers need their own ticket to operate it or whether it’ll be provided and inducted on site. Ambiguity here is one of the most common reasons a placement starts slowly.
Be upfront about budget expectations
You don’t need to hand over a full costing to get a useful answer, but a rough sense of what you’re expecting to pay lets a provider tell you straight away whether it’s realistic for the role and the tickets it needs, rather than finding out after the crew is booked. If the budget and the brief don’t line up, a good provider will say so early, not leave you to discover it on site.
One brief, one point of contact
Nominate a single person on your end who can answer follow-up questions quickly. A provider chasing three different people for the same detail slows the whole process down, and the crew arrives later because of it.
A good labour hire company will ask the right questions if your brief leaves gaps, but starting with a clear one gets you a better-matched crew, faster. If you’re ready to put a request together, tell us what you need on site and we’ll take it from there.
This article is general information only and current at the time of publication. Requirements can vary by state, role, industry and individual circumstances. Before acting, confirm the current details with the relevant authority, for example SafeWork (tickets and workplace safety), the ATO (tax and superannuation) or the Fair Work Ombudsman (pay and entitlements).
