“The commercial skills are the constraint.”
Estimating discipline, claims and variations recovered, and useful reporting you can trust.
You can do the work. Pricing it, tendering it, tracking the variations and getting paid on time is a separate job, and it is a full-time one. Most Kimberley businesses cannot justify hiring someone full time to do it. So don't — share one instead.
Ready for bigger, multi-trade packages? We handle the subcontractor agreements, payment claims and principal reporting so you can safely head contract, without carrying a full-time commercial team. How multi-trade coordination works →
Sound familiar?
Most businesses up here run into the same wall. It isn't about whether you can do the job.
- You know the work is worth more than you charged, but the price was already in
- You did extra work on site and never got paid for it, because nobody wrote it down at the time
- You've been waiting 60 or 90 days for money you're owed
- You didn't make the shortlist, and nobody told you why
- The tender was 80 pages and due Friday, and you had a crew to run
- Someone sent you a payment claim and you weren't sure what you had to do, or by when
None of that is a sign you're bad at your trade. It's a sign you're missing a commercial manager. Bigger companies have one. They're expensive — a full-time salary plus a vehicle and everything else — and a business the size of most Kimberley operators can't carry that.
Three ways we help.
Fractional Commercial Manager
An experienced commercial manager working in your business part time. Pricing your jobs properly, writing your tenders, tracking your variations, and making sure the money comes in when it should.
See how it works →Multi-Trade Commercial Coordination
Step up to larger, multi-trade packages without the administrative risk. We manage the subcontractor agreements, payment claim rolling and principal reporting so you can safely act as head contractor.
See how it works →Broome Business Support: Capability & Tendering
Getting your business documented so buyers can see what you can actually do. Capability statements, supplier registrations, and help responding to specific tenders.
See how it works →Multi-Trade Commercial Coordination.
Step up to larger packages without the administrative risk.
Why this work gets left on the table
Local single-trade businesses often pass on lucrative multi-trade packages because managing subcontractors, back-to-back payment claims and principal reporting is too risky or administratively heavy. You have the operational capability, but you cannot justify a full-time, in-house commercial team to handle the resulting paperwork.
What we bring
Nausicaa steps in as your project-specific commercial manager. We provide the commercial scaffolding that lets you safely act as a head contractor, coordinate complex works and protect your margin without expanding your permanent overhead.
What we manage
Subcontractor administration
Drafting and managing back-to-back agreements with your lower-tier trades, so your risks are passed down appropriately rather than stopping with you.
Payment claim rolling
Assessing subcontractor claims and cleanly rolling them up into your primary, compliant claim to the principal.
Risk & reporting
Variations, extensions of time and strict principal reporting requirements managed on your behalf, to the contract's timeframes.
Commercial protection
Rigorous compliance with WA security of payment law across all tiers, so you are not left holding the bill.
Take on the larger build. Hand the trade administration and commercial management to an experienced local professional, and keep your crew on the work you are good at.
What it costs
Priced around the project, not a standard rate card — the right fee depends on the number of subcontract tiers, the value of the works and how long the project runs. Ask and you will get a figure before you commit to anything.
Good fit if
You are a single-trade specialist ready to take on multi-trade packages; you are being asked to head contract and manage lower-tier trades; you want to protect your margin without hiring a commercial team; or you need help with back-to-back agreements and payment claims.
Not a fit if
You already run an in-house commercial team; you only ever work as a subcontractor to someone else; or you need legal advice — we will tell you to get a lawyer.
If you don't reply to a payment claim in time, you can end up owing the full amount.
If someone sends you a payment claim and you don't reply properly in time, you can end up owing the whole lot — even if you disagree with it.
The rules under WA's security of payment laws are strict, and the clock doesn't stop for site work, holidays or a busy week. Most businesses that get caught out weren't disputing the claim. They just missed the reply.
It works the other way too. If you're owed money, those same laws are the fastest way to get it — but only if your claim is put in properly.
Getting this right is part of what a commercial manager does.
Most of this gets paid for by the job, not by you.
This is the part people don't expect. Once you win the work, the cost of a commercial manager sits in the job's price — the same way your site supervisor or your insurance does. The head contractor funds it through the rates.
Tender support
We help you put the tender together. Fixed fee, capped hours, agreed before we start — so you know the number up front.
Ongoing commercial management
You win the job, and we stay on to run the commercial side of it. Monthly fee, minimum term.
Buy-out
If you win the job and would rather run the commercial side yourself, you can. A one-off buy-out fee applies.
To be clear about Stage 1: that fee is at your risk. If the tender isn't successful there's no job to cost it into, so it stays out of pocket. It's kept deliberately small for that reason — it's there to make sure we're both serious, not to make money.
We don't publish our fees, because the right number depends on the size and length of the job. Ask and we'll give you a figure before you commit to anything. Travel outside Broome is charged at what it costs us, nothing on top. GST applies.
See what work is out there right now.
We keep a list of tenders and quotes open in the Kimberley — who's asking, what for, and when it closes. Free to look at, whether you work with us or not.
View upcoming worksSomething you should know up front
Nausicaa also works for contractors from outside the region — the same companies you might be tendering to. We tell you that openly, because you'd find out anyway and you should hear it from us.
There are firm rules about it. We will not work for two businesses on opposite sides of the same job. We will not use anything you tell us to help someone else. We check before we take on any new work, and we write the check down. Sometimes that means we say no to work.
Contact Us.
No cost for the first conversation. Tell us what you're working on and what's getting in the way. We'll tell you straight whether we can help.
Get in touchOr just ring — 0450 137 044