“Everything costs more than it did three years ago and the margin is thinner, but I can't put on another admin person to chase it. If AI is the productivity story, I want to know where it actually lands in a business like mine.”
— WA drilling contractor, $24M revenue, 90 workers
Research · Methodology
How We Model $555K–$1.1M+ a Year: The Recovered Admin Labour Method
DrilLedger · Published November 2026
Every dollar figure DrilLedger quotes is modelled for a typical WA mining supplier. It is not a price, a forecast or a result from paying customers. This page shows what goes into the numbers so you can check them against your own office.
The short version. Each of the 17 agents has a modelled annual receipt. Add up the 17 low ends and you get $555K; add up the 17 high ends and you get $1,134K, which we round to $1.1M+. Recovered admin labour, not a subscription cost — the software price is not deducted.
What a receipt counts
Each agent's receipt combines two kinds of value:
- Hours given back. The time a task takes today, minus the time it takes with the agent, times how often it happens, priced at a fixed hourly rate.
- Costs avoided. Losses that manual admin causes today: a worker turned back at a Tier 1 gate for an expired ticket, a Fair Work underpayment claim, a variation written off because the notice was late, a breakdown on the Newman road. Each one is counted at an assumed frequency, such as one gate rejection a quarter.
Some agents are almost all hours given back (Document Control). Others are mostly costs avoided (Fatigue Management, Variation & Claims). The worked examples below show both.
The hourly rates
| $40/hr | Admin and clerical time: data entry, filing, chasing, spreadsheet work. |
| $55–$75/hr | Project coordinator time on FIFO mobilisation (the one blended rate). |
| $80/hr | HSE coordinator, supervisor or client-reporting time. |
| $180/hr | Project manager or engineer time, used only for tender and quote work. |
The reference supplier
Volumes assume a supplier like this:
- 30–200 staff, $10M–$50M revenue, selling into Tier 1 miners.
- About 150 FIFO mobilisations a year (a 75–150 worker FIFO workforce).
- About 50 workers on fortnightly timesheets.
- An 8-vehicle light and heavy fleet.
- A $1M–$2M annual contract base exposed to variations.
A smaller office or a non-FIFO workforce will land nearer the low end, and some agents will not apply at all.
Three worked examples
AI Document Control
$18K–$21K a year- Client report: 1.5 hours down to 30 seconds, 5 reports a week, 52 weeks = 390 hours = $15,600 at $40/hr.
- Formatting fixes: 30 minutes per report, same volume = 130 hours = $5,200.
- Only admin time. No avoided cost is counted.
FIFO Mobilisation & Onboarding
$97K–$109K a year- Coordinator time: 2 hours down to 10 minutes per mobilisation × ~150 a year = 270 hours = $15K–$20K at $55–$75/hr.
- Gate rejection avoided: one a quarter × $18,500 ($3,500 flight + $15,000 lost day rate) = $74K.
- Flights booked 2+ weeks ahead: 20–30% cheaper = $8K–$15K.
Incident Report & ICAM
$26K–$80K+ a year- High-potential ICAM: 8 hours down to 2.5, 15 a year = 82 hours.
- Near-miss write-ups 36 hours, SRS notifications 30 hours, weekly action tracking 182 hours.
- Total 330 hours at $80/hr = $26,400, the low end.
- The high end adds one WorkSafe penalty under the WHS Act 2020 avoided ($50K or more).
How the 17 receipts add up
Every agent sits in exactly one desk, so the four desk totals add up to the full-suite figure with no double counting.
People & Workforce
$169K–$291K- Talent Engage (AI recruitment)$60K–$120K
- FIFO Mobilisation & Onboarding$97K–$109K
- Integrated Timesheet Portal$12K–$62K
Safety & Compliance
$104K–$251K- AI Document Control$18K–$21K
- Incident Report & ICAM$26K–$80K+
- Training & Competency Matrix$25K–$60K+
- Fatigue Management$15K–$30K
- Procedures & Checklists$20K–$60K
Operations & Maintenance
$112K–$207K- Predictive Fleet Monitoring$37K–$87K
- Tool Register$20K–$30K
- Spare Parts Inventory$40K–$60K
- Site Diary$15K–$30K+
Commercial & Finance
$170K–$385K- Quote & Tender Response$50K–$150K
- Procurement$25K–$35K
- Client Progress KPI$25K–$50K+
- Variation & Claims$50K–$100K+
- Cash Flow & Invoice Tracking$20K–$50K+
Low: $169K + $104K + $112K + $170K = $555K. High: $291K + $251K + $207K + $385K = $1,134K.
Limits you should know about
- These are modelled figures, not results from paying customers, and they have not been independently audited.
- Costs avoided depend on events that may not happen in a given year. A supplier with no gate rejections last year will not recover $74K from preventing them.
- The full-suite figure assumes all 17 agents are in use. Most suppliers start with one desk.
- The subscription price is not deducted. See pricing for what the software costs.
Frequently asked questions
Where does the $555K–$1.1M+ a year figure come from?
It is the sum of 17 modelled agent receipts across the People, Safety, Operations and Commercial desks. Adding the 17 low ends gives $555K; adding the 17 high ends gives $1,134K, rounded to $1.1M+. Each agent sits in one desk only, so nothing is counted twice.
Is it a guarantee or a customer result?
No. It is modelled for a typical WA mining supplier with 30–200 staff and $10M–$50M revenue. It is not a quote, not independently audited and not a result from paying customers, and the subscription price is not deducted.
What hourly rates does the model use?
$40/hr for admin and clerical time, $55–$75/hr blended for FIFO mobilisation coordinators, $80/hr for HSE coordinator, supervisor and client-reporting time, and $180/hr for project manager or engineer time on tenders and quotes.
Will my business recover the full amount?
Probably not all at once. The full-suite figure assumes all 17 agents are in use, and most suppliers start with one desk. A smaller office or a non-FIFO workforce lands nearer the low end, and avoided costs only count if the event would have happened.
Run it on your own numbers
The 2-minute Scorecard asks 11 questions about how your office handles timesheets, mobilisation, training, gate rejections and client reports, then shows where your admin load sits and which agents map to it. A 30-minute consult walks through this model line by line on your own volumes.
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