Safety, culture and project performance are not independent outcomes.
They are all expressions of behaviour.
Shiftcode helps construction and facilities management organisations achieve delivery excellence by addressing the one dimension most governance frameworks leave out.
Most project problems are not technical. They can be behavioural.
Construction and FM organisations invest heavily in contracts, systems, and governance frameworks. Yet projects still run over time, over budget, and over conflict. The gap is almost always the same: the behaviours that determine whether the framework actually works are invisible, unmeasured, and unmanaged until it is too late.
Projects fail in ways the contract did not predict.
AU$62 billion in annual productivity losses. 3,595 insolvencies in a single year. An average 21-month delay on WA Government projects. The contracts were in order. The programme was resourced. The governance framework was in place. The behaviours were not.
60% of disputes trace to behaviour, not contracts.
In Oceania, 60% of construction disputes are rooted in behavioural and relational factors: poor communication, trust breakdown, accountability failure. These are not contract problems. They are behavioural problems that were never identified, measured, or managed before they became claims.
Psychosocial safety is now a legal obligation, without a measurement instrument.
WA's psychosocial hazard regulations came into force in December 2022. The obligation to identify and manage psychosocial risk is law. The industry does not yet have a standardised instrument to demonstrate compliance at the project team level.
The leading cause of death in this industry is not a falling object.
A construction worker is five to six times more likely to die by suicide than from an onsite incident. In WA, suicidal thoughts among construction workers are three times higher than the general adult population. The behaviours that create psychologically unsafe environments are the same behaviours that drive project failure.
Three pillars. One integrated approach.
Delivery excellence is not achieved by fixing one dimension of a project. It requires all three pillars to be working together: the contractual foundation, the governance systems, and the people executing them. Shiftcode works across all three.
Contract Foundationals
The people who negotiate and sign the contract are rarely the people who have to deliver it. By the time the contract reaches the site team, the project manager, or the subcontractor, the requirements have been filtered, summarised, or simply not passed on. The result is a team executing work without a clear understanding of what they are obligated to do, what rights they hold, or what risks they are carrying.
We work with project teams to close that gap. Not from a legal perspective, but by translating the contract into the language of the people who have to live with it. What are the requirements? What are the rights? What are the risks? And what decisions does the team need to make differently now that they understand what the contract actually says?
Governance Systems
The systems, processes, and frameworks that govern how a project is run. How decisions are made, escalated, and recorded. How performance is monitored and reported. How risk is identified and managed through delivery. Governance systems are only as good as the behaviours that operate inside them.
We assess governance maturity, identify systemic gaps, and help organisations build the systems that actually get used, not the ones that sit in a folder.
Behavioural Execution
The human and behavioural dimension that determines whether the first two pillars actually work. The communication that happens, or does not. The accountability that holds, or collapses. The leadership that creates psychological safety, or destroys it. This is the execution layer that makes everything else work or not work.
We measure, assess, and address the behavioural patterns that drive delivery risk using the Shiftcode framework and a proprietary assessment methodology developed over three decades in the industry.
Four ways to work with Shiftcode.
Every engagement is tailored to the organisation, the project, and the stage of delivery. We work with construction and FM operators on government and commercial contracts across Western Australia and nationally.
Behavioural Risk Audit
A structured assessment of the behavioural patterns, environmental conditions, and governance execution gaps creating delivery risk on your project or organisation. Delivered as a written Behavioural Risk Report with domain scores, risk ratings, and a prioritised action plan. Produces the Behavioural Risk Index (BRI).
Project Behaviour Advisory
Embedded behavioural risk intelligence for organisations delivering projects. We work alongside project leadership to identify, monitor, and address the behavioural patterns driving delivery risk before they become claims, disputes, or reputational damage. Available as standalone retainers or combined with facilitated leadership workshops.
Capability Building and Workshops
Structured workshops that build the capability of project teams and leadership groups across all three pillars of delivery excellence. From contract literacy and governance fundamentals to behavioural execution and psychosocial safety leadership. Delivered in-person or online, tailored to your organisation's context and maturity level.
Keynotes and Speaking
Industry keynotes for construction conferences, infrastructure summits, risk forums, and executive leadership events. Topics include Delivery Excellence and the Three Pillars, The Commercial Cost of Behavioural Failure, and Behavioural Assurance: The Next Discipline in Project Governance. Available nationally and internationally.
The data behind the discipline.
The case for behavioural assurance in construction is not theoretical. It is documented, quantified, and growing. These are the numbers that frame every conversation we have with clients, government, and industry.
Annual productivity loss
Lost annually to poor project performance in Australian construction. Equivalent to 4% of GDP. The majority traces to human and behavioural factors, not technical failures.
Construction insolvencies in FY2024-25
The highest of any sector in Australia. 28% of all corporate insolvencies. A 21% year-on-year increase. Behavioural breakdown in project governance is a contributor to financial failure.
Of disputes trace to behavioural causation
In Oceania, 60% of construction disputes are rooted in behavioural and relational factors: poor communication, trust breakdown, accountability failure.
More likely to die by suicide than onsite
A construction worker is five to six times more likely to die by suicide than from an onsite incident. 190 workers die by suicide in Australia every year, the leading cause of death in the industry.
Average delay on WA Government projects
Delays ranged from five to 58 months, with an average of 21 months across 20 major projects reviewed. The patterns that create these outcomes are visible months before they crystallise.
WA infrastructure pipeline
The largest infrastructure pipeline in WA's history. 141,000 additional workers required. No standardised behavioural assurance framework exists for any of it.
A proprietary methodology for measuring what has never been measured.
Every construction and service delivery contract has six performance domains that determine whether it succeeds or fails. And behind every performance outcome, there are six behavioural drivers that determine how the work actually gets done.
The Shiftcode framework maps those two dimensions against each other. It is a proprietary assessment methodology developed over three decades of practice in construction law, contract governance, and project delivery. It identifies where behavioural risk is highest on any project and what intervention is required. The full methodology is shared with clients.
Behavioural Risk Index (BRI)
A scored, documented, defensible assessment of behavioural risk at the project or pre-contract stage.
Behavioural Performance Index (BPI)
An ongoing measure of behavioural performance through project delivery. Monitored continuously. Triggers structured intervention when it falls below threshold.
A note on IP: The full methodology, the assessment instruments, and the TRACE gate structure are proprietary to Shiftcode Pty Ltd. We are also working toward establishing Behavioural Assurance as a recognised discipline in Australian construction governance, a research initiative that underpins everything we do.
Building the evidence base for a national standard.
Every engagement Shiftcode delivers generates real-world data that contributes to a larger research programme: the development of a National Behavioural Assurance Standard for the Australian construction industry.
We are conducting structured Founder Discovery Conversations with senior construction industry leaders, government procurement officials, and academic researchers. They are research conversations about whether behavioural assurance represents a genuine gap in project governance and what evidence would be required for the industry to recognise it as a legitimate discipline.
If you have a view on why projects succeed or fail and you are willing to share it, we would like to hear from you.
Cultural issues cost the construction economy close to AU$8 billion annually: workplace injuries, mental illness, suicide, long hours, and lack of diversity. (CICT / ACA, 2025)
WA construction workers report suicidal thoughts at three times the rate of the general adult population. (UWA / MATES in Construction WA, December 2024, 1,743 workers surveyed)
Number of standardised behavioural assurance frameworks currently in use in the WA construction industry. The gap is real. The research is underway.
Thirty years at the intersection of construction, contracts and human behaviour.
Preetie Boler is the Founder of Shiftcode Pty Ltd. She has spent three decades working across construction law, dispute resolution, contract governance, and facilities management in construction and FM sectors.
Her work is shaped by a question the industry still struggles to answer:
Why do projects underperform when the contract is clear, the programme is resourced and the governance framework is in place?
Often, the answer is found in what happens between people. A concern is not raised early. A difficult conversation is delayed. Ownership becomes unclear. A decision takes too long. Pressure changes the way people communicate, collaborate and lead.
These are not simply people issues. In complex projects, they can become delivery risks.
Through Shiftcode, Preetie helps construction, infrastructure and facilities management organisations build Behavioural Risk and Delivery Excellence capability. Her work brings together three essential dimensions of successful delivery:
- Contract fundamentals: clear obligations, responsibilities and commercial expectations.
- Governance systems: effective controls, accountability and decision-making.
- Behavioural execution: the ability to communicate, lead, collaborate and take ownership when delivery becomes difficult.
The goal is simple: help organisations recognise behavioural risks earlier, strengthen the way people work together and protect delivery across safety, quality, scope, cost, time and project relationships.
- 30 years experience across construction law, dispute resolution, and contract governance
- For the past 8 years, I have led subcontractor management, contract governance and dispute resolution at a large ANZ Facilities Management delivering works and services across complex government, resource and commercial contracts.
- Founder, Shiftcode Pty Ltd, creator of the Shiftcode methodology for building behavioural intelligence in leadership and project delivery.
- Amazon No.1 Bestselling Author, Shiftcode Leadership
- Perth, Western Australia, working with leaders and organisations nationally and internationally
Shiftcode Leadership
The book for leaders who want their intentions to become the experience their teams have.
Pressure does not create leadership habits. It reveals them.
In Shiftcode Leadership, Preetie Boler explores the gap that matters in every team: the gap between the leader you intend to be and the leader people experience when the pressure is on.
This is a practical guide for leaders who want to build greater awareness, trust, accountability and intention in the moments that shape culture most. It is not about becoming a different person. It is about recognising what gets in the way of the leader you want to be, then building the practice to respond differently.
Let's start a conversation.
Whether you want to explore a service engagement, discuss a keynote, or participate in the research programme, fill in the form below and we will respond within one business day.
Project or organisational audit
You have a project that needs a Behavioural Risk Assessment, or an organisation that needs a governance and behavioural maturity review.
Workshops and capability building
You want to build capability across your project teams or leadership group across contract foundationals, governance systems, or behavioural execution.
Keynote or speaking engagement
You are looking for a keynote speaker for a construction conference, infrastructure summit, risk forum, or executive leadership event.
Send an Enquiry
Tell us a little about what you are looking for and we will come back to you within one business day.