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Bookkeeping for earthmoving businesses

Earthmoving and excavation businesses bill by the machine hour or by the job, while plant finance, fuel and repairs keep running whether or not the machines are working. We look after day-to-day bookkeeping for earthmoving businesses across Australia.

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Businesses in Site Preparation Services (ANZSIC class 3212)

Actively trading businesses across Australia
22,619 businessesAustralian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2025, checked 15 October 2026
Of those, classified as non-employing
11,851 businessesAustralian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2025, checked 15 October 2026
Of those, with 1 to 4 employees
8,201 businessesAustralian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2025, checked 15 October 2026

Businesses by main state or territory

These counts are for the ANZSIC class Site Preparation Services, which also covers demolition, land clearing, ground de-watering and explosives laying, so they describe a wider group than earthmoving and excavation businesses alone. Businesses that hire out earthmoving machinery without an operator are counted in the class Heavy Machinery and Scaffolding Rental and Hiring, so they are not in these counts.

  1. New South Wales7,349 businesses
  2. Queensland5,558 businesses
  3. Victoria5,344 businesses
  4. Western Australia2,375 businesses
  5. South Australia1,185 businesses
  6. Tasmania483 businesses
  7. Northern Territory178 businesses
  8. Australian Capital Territory144 businesses
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, June 2025. Counts of Australian Businesses, data cube 2: Businesses by main state by industry class by employment size ranges (8165DC02.xlsx). Checked 15 Oct 2026.

Businesses by number of employees

  1. Non-employing11,851 businesses
  2. 1 to 4 employees8,201 businesses
  3. 5 to 19 employees1,894 businesses
  4. 20 to 199 employees652 businesses
  5. 200 or more employees21 businesses
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, June 2025. Counts of Australian Businesses, data cube 2: Businesses by main state by industry class by employment size ranges (8165DC02.xlsx). Checked 15 Oct 2026.

What we look after

What the books involve

  • Machine hours and dockets: excavator, loader and tipper hours billed by the hour or the day, with each invoice traced back to its signed docket and any docket not yet invoiced listed.
  • Plant finance: excavators, trucks and attachments recorded with their purchase, loan or hire agreements. Loan repayments are split between interest and the balance owed, while lease and hire payments follow your accountant's instructions, with statements checked against the records.
  • Fuel and repairs: diesel deliveries, tyres, tracks and parts bills coded to each machine where the business tracks it that way, so a machine's running cost can be set against what it earns.
  • Tip fees, haulage and fill: disposal charges, truck hire and imported fill entered against the job they belong to, with costs to be passed on listed so they reach the customer's invoice.
  • Civil and builder work: bulk earthworks, trenching and house site cuts claimed against purchase orders or contracts, with remittances matched and retained amounts recorded until released.
  • Float charges: moving machines between jobs on a float either charged to the job or billed as a mobilisation fee, so transport costs are not lost between jobs.

Sources

  1. Counts of Australian Businesses, data cube 2: Businesses by main state by industry class by employment size ranges (8165DC02.xlsx)

    Australian Bureau of Statistics. Actively trading businesses at 30 June 2025, released 16 December 2025. Checked 15 October 2026.

    Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, June 2021 to June 2025, licensed under CC BY 4.0 Licence: CC BY 4.0.

  2. Correspondence, GCCSA 2021 to GCCSA 2026 (CG_GCCSA_2021_GCCSA_2026.csv)

    Australian Bureau of Statistics. ASGS Edition 4, July 2026 to June 2031, released 22 July 2026. Checked 15 October 2026.

    Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 4, licensed under CC BY 4.0 Licence: CC BY 4.0.

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Tell us how your business runs and what you need from your books, and we will suggest a bookkeeping plan that fits.

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