The Small Business Friendly Projects initiative aims to minimise the impact of construction on businesses by targeting both those responsible for construction projects as well as the business owners that could be impacted by these projects.

Construction work and infrastructure projects can have a significant impact on small businesses. This can include both financial and non-financial disruptions, such as a loss in turnover, reduction in customers and disruption to deliveries caused by road works.

As small business stakeholders have different needs to the broader community, we recommend government agencies have a specific small business engagement strategy in place to help minimise disruptions and the likelihood of complaints while the construction work is carried out.

To assist state government agencies and local government organisations, we have created practical guides which outline the steps you can take to minimise the disruption caused by construction work.

Guideline to help government agencies support small businesses

The Small Business Friendly Projects initiative provides an engagement framework for government agencies undertaking construction work that could have an impact on local businesses.

These tools will help agencies develop their own small business engagement strategies. The guide contains handy information such as:

  • tips on when and how to engage with small businesses
  • checklists for use by project staff during their discussions with small business
  • what to consider when developing a construction mitigation program
  • small business impact assessment report templates
  • educational material on how to prepare small businesses for any disruption that may take place during construction.

Guide for State Government agencies

The guide to supporting small business during works projects is available to download as a PDF (28-pages, 785KB).

Guide for Local Governments

The guide to supporting small business during works projects is available to download as a PDF (28-pages, 2.5MB).

Guide for small business owners

We have also created a guide for small business owners impacted by construction work in their area. We encourage government bodies, and private organisations, to take a proactive approach by engaging with local businesses likely to be affected by upcoming projects. We have developed some video resources to assist small business owners through construction projects in their area. 

More information

State and Local Government stakeholders are encouraged to contact us for more information about the Small Business Friendly Projects initiative.

To provide additional support to small businesses impacted by construction works, you can refer them to:

Other helpful resources
What we do
Advocating for small business
What we do
Small Business Friendly Approvals Program
What we do
Small Business Friendly Local Governments
About the SBDC
Small business landscape