Clients of infrastructure and construction projects need to pay more up front to reform a “broken” business model that means building companies make up 26 per cent of company failures even though they only account for 17 per cent of businesses, the Australian Constructors Association says.

To end the unsustainable system in which government and private-sector clients effectively treat service providers as a bank, they should make advance payments to prevent contractors in the low-margin industry carrying huge upfront costs and risk, the lobby group for big contractors says in a new report, Credit Where Credit’s Due.