Engineering Construction Activity, Australia

Latest release

Contains value of engineering construction work done, commenced and yet to be done

Reference period
September 2025
Released
21/01/2026
  • Next Release 25/03/2026
    Engineering Construction Activity, Australia, December 2025
  • Next Release 24/06/2026
    Engineering Construction Activity, Australia, March 2026
  • Next Release 30/09/2026
    Engineering Construction Activity, Australia, June 2026
  • View all releases
Release date and time
21/01/2026 11:30am AEDT

Key statistics

In the September quarter:

  • Seasonally adjusted work done fell 6.6%.
  • Seasonally adjusted work done for the private sector fell 14.2%.
  • Value of work commenced decreased 24.3% in original terms.
  • Trend work done decreased 0.8%.

Value of work done

 

Value of work done, chain volume measures, seasonally adjusted estimate (a)
 Sep qtr 25 ($m)Jun qtr 25 to
Sep qtr 25 (%)
Sep qtr 24 to
Sep qtr 25 (%)
For the private sector19,065.4-14.2-0.3
For the public sector (b)16,786.23.8-3.3
Total engineering construction35,851.6-6.6-1.8
  1. Reference year for chain volume measures is 2023-24.
  2. Includes work done by the private sector for the public sector and work done by the public sector.

 

Value of work done, chain volume measures, trend estimate (a)
 Sep qtr 25 ($m)Jun qtr 25 to
Sep qtr 25 (%)
Sep qtr 24 to
Sep qtr 25 (%)
For the private sector18,941.5-0.9-1.3
For the public sector (b)16,418.1-0.7-4.4
Total engineering construction35,359.6-0.8-2.8
  1. Reference year for chain volume measures is 2023-24.
  2. Includes work done by the private sector for the public sector and work done by the public sector.

a. Reference year for chain volume measures is 2023-24.

a. Reference year for chain volume measures is 2023-24.

Value of work done, chain volume measures

Total

The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of total engineering construction work done fell 6.6% in the September quarter to $35,851.6m. The trend estimate fell 0.8%. 

Private Sector

The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of work done for the private sector fell 14.2% in the September quarter to $19,065.4m. The trend estimate fell 0.9%.

Public Sector

The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of work done for the public sector rose 3.8% in the September quarter to $16,786.2m. The trend estimate fell 0.7%.

Mining projects tend to be complex in structure and comprise a number of different investment activities including exploration, engineering construction, plant and equipment and buildings. A feature article released in the March 2012 issue of Private New Capital Expenditure and Expected Expenditure, Australia provides a summary of the conceptual basis of the relevant ABS publications that measure investment in Australia, using a hypothetical mining project to illustrate how this investment is reflected in ABS data.

Value of work commenced

Total 

The value of work commenced fell 24.3% in the September quarter to $28,138.2m in original terms.

Private Sector

The value of work commenced for the private sector in the September quarter was $16,082.9m in original terms.

Public Sector

The value of work commenced for the public sector in the September quarter was $12,055.3m in original terms.

Data downloads

Time series spreadsheets

Data files
Data files

Changes this issue

Chain volume reference year updated

Annual seasonal review

About this release

This publication updates the preliminary estimates released in Construction Work Done, Australia on 26 Nov 2025. This release includes revisions to Engineering Construction data back to June 2025.

Enquiries

For enquiries about these and related statistics, contact the Customer Assistance Service via the ABS website Contact Us page. The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS will handle any personal information that you provide to us.

Article archive

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 8762.0

Methodology

Scope

All engineering construction work undertaken in Australia.

Excludes construction of buildings such as houses and offices.

Geography

Data available for:

  • Australia
  • States and territories.

Source

Engineering Construction Survey

Collection method

Data is collected from primary contractors (not subcontractors) of projects.

A sample of 2500-3000 businesses that are likely to conduct engineering construction activities are selected from the ABS business register each quarter.

History of changes

The trend series for Engineering Construction was reinstated in the September quarter 2022.

View full methodology
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