Award interpretation: what Structivo does and doesn't do
This is the question every comparison article in this category treats as the dealbreaker, so here's the direct answer before you spend a trial finding out.
The short version
Structivo calculates pay from approved hours multiplied by the pay rates you configure. If you switch overtime on in company settings, it flags hours past a weekly threshold and applies a multiplier — 38 hours and 1.5× by default, both adjustable. It does not interpret the Building and Construction General On-site Award, or any other Modern Award or EBA.
What 'award interpretation' means
Award interpretation is a system reading a set of clocked hours and working out, on its own, what those hours are worth under a specific award — first two hours at time and a half, the rest at double, Saturday rates, the site allowance, the travel allowance, the RDO accrual, the shift loading. The construction award is one of the more complicated ones, which is why software that claims to do this charges accordingly and why getting it wrong is expensive in both directions.
What Structivo actually gives you
- Verified clock-on and clock-off times with the location they were recorded at.
- A weekly grid per worker with hours per day, flagged exceptions, and a single approval that locks the week.
- Overtime flagged once a worker crosses your weekly threshold, so it's visible rather than buried.
- Pay summaries from the rates you set against each worker.
- Summary and detailed CSV exports and a per-worker PDF, for whoever runs your payroll.
Who that suits, and who it doesn't
It suits you if you pay flat hourly rates you've set yourself, you already have a bookkeeper or an accountant who handles the award layer, and your actual problem is that the hours reaching them are unreliable. That's a large share of small Australian builders, and for them award interpretation is a feature they'd pay for and never use.
It doesn't suit you if you need penalty rates, allowances and loadings calculated automatically from a clock — if you're on an EBA with bespoke terms, or you're large enough that a payroll officer's time is the binding constraint. Buy something that does award interpretation. It'll cost more and it should.
Getting the hours right is the part you can't outsource
Award interpretation applied to hours nobody verified is a precise calculation on a wrong number. Whichever system does your award layer, it's reading a set of hours that came from somewhere — and if that somewhere is a paper docket reconstructed on Friday, the precision downstream is decorative. Verified hours are the input that makes everything after them worth doing.
Common questions
Will you add award interpretation later?
It isn't on the roadmap today, and we won't put a date on something that would need to be right the first time. If that changes, this page changes with it.
Can I set different rates for overtime?
Yes. Overtime is configurable per company: you switch it on, set the weekly hour threshold (38 by default) and set the multiplier applied beyond it (1.5 by default). Anything beyond that single multiplier — tiered rates, weekend penalties, allowances — isn't supported.
Does it handle RDOs?
No. There is no RDO accrual, balance or scheduling in Structivo. That stays with your payroll process.
Can I still use it alongside payroll software that does award interpretation?
Yes — that's the intended shape. Structivo produces the verified hours; your payroll system applies the award. The handoff is a CSV export today rather than a direct sync.
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