UpFront Pay builder payment app launches to guarantee security of payment for tradies and customers

A Sunshine Coast concreter who got down to his last few hundred dollars with two children to feed has hatched a new app to guarantee payment for tradies. Read how it works.

Down to a couple of hundred dollars in his account and two children at home to provide for, Cameron Hodges had a lightbulb moment.

The tradie was tired of being stung with unpaid invoices as the building industry continues to battle with guarantee of payment issues for subcontractors.

Mr Hodges was running his own concreting company at the time when the idea struck to launch an online payment intermediary to hold funds between customers and contractors before a project starts.

The app – UpFront Pay – was designed to give tradies peace of mind knowing they’ll be paid immediately after a job.

“It’s extremely frustrating,” the 35-year-old said.

The husband and father to two children said payment fallouts created “a lot of stress” given he had to pay workers and put dinner on the table at home.

“I have been down to a couple of hundred bucks,” he said.

“It affects your family.”

Cameron and Ashley Hodges are launching a new app that will help tradies manage their payments. Picture: Patrick Woods.

What’s more, Mr Hodges said he had watched his friends, who were also tradies, get “screwed over” by customers.

“It’s the same as stealing,” he added.

“You’ve done the job, but someone’s not paying.”

After his frustration reached a tipping point, Mr Hodges hit the drawing board before sending out a survey nationwide in late-2020, asking if anyone would be interested in the idea.

This led to a few users adopting the product early.

Today, UpFront Pay has a team of four and about 50 users, including a builder, concreter and even a solo house cleaner.

His clients have given him “great responses” after using the service.

Mr Hodges said the service was valuable for customers too.

Customers, like homeowners, can pay upfront, knowing their payment won’t be released to their contractor until the job is completed.

Workers remove equipment from a Propbuild construction site adjacent to Caulfield Racecourse in Melbourne's south-east. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

“It gives the customer peace of mind knowing that the tradie isn’t going to run off with the profit,” he said.

Mr Hodges said getting contractors to adopt a new payment method remained a challenge but given the current struggles in the industry he believed builders would have an appetite for it.

“A lot of builders are going into liquidation,” he said.

Going beyond the construction industry, Mr Hodges said he wanted to break into other sectors, like freelancing and cleaning and eventually take it global.

“We do want to open it up,” he said.

It comes after a string of high-profile construction companies collapsed across the country this year, several citing inflated construction costs as one of the main causes.

Late last month homebuilder Pivotal Homes went into liquidation and construction firm Solido Builders revealed it had appointed liquidators.

Earlier this year, construction companies Probuild and Condev Construction also collapsed with liquidations under way.

Originally published as UpFront Pay builder payment app launches to guarantee security of payment for tradies and customers