How much does a project management consultant cost in Australia?

A project management consultant in Australia costs about $950 to $1,520 a day on 2026 recruiter rate guides: Morgan McKinley puts Sydney contract project managers at $950–$1,200 a day, and Talent International’s national average for tech program managers is $1,520. A 12-week, five-day-a-week engagement therefore runs about $57,000 to $91,200 before GST, super and expenses.

• Contract project manager, Sydney (projects $2m–$5m): $950–$1,100 a day, median $1,050 (Morgan McKinley 2026 Salary Guide).
• Senior project manager, Sydney (projects $5m–$10m): $1,000–$1,200 a day, median $1,100 (Morgan McKinley).
• Program manager: $1,200–$1,500 a day in Sydney (Morgan McKinley); $1,520 a day as an Australian average for tech contractors (Talent International, March 2026).
• The formula: day rate x days a week x weeks, plus 10% GST, plus expenses, plus 12% super if you engage a sole trader directly and pay mainly for their labour.
• PMO-as-a-service: we found no Australian provider publishing a price on 1 November 2026, so the comparison below models it from published role rates.

Rules of thumb from LeadsNow: if you do this, expect this

• If you cut a $1,100-a-day engagement from five days a week to three for 12 weeks, expect to save 24 days, or $26,400 before GST.
• If you hire a program manager instead of a senior project manager, expect about $300 more a day on Morgan McKinley’s Sydney medians ($1,400 vs $1,100), or $18,000 over 60 days.
• If your consultant bills $1,100 a day, expect GST on the invoice: they pass the ATO’s $75,000 registration threshold in 69 billed days.
• If you contract a sole trader directly and pay for their time rather than a result, expect to owe super at 12%, which is $7,920 on a $66,000 engagement.

How much does a project management consultant cost per day in Australia?

A contract project management consultant in Australia costs $950 to $1,500 a day on Morgan McKinley’s 2026 Sydney guide, with the rate rising by project size and from project to program level. Morgan McKinley is a recruiter, and its salary guide pages state contract rates per day with a low, median and high figure based on its placements. The pages we read were for Sydney. They do not say whether the day rate includes superannuation or the agency’s margin, so ask before you compare a recruiter quote with a direct quote.

Source: Morgan McKinley 2026 Salary Guide, Sydney role pages, read 1 November 2026. Talent International’s March 2026 list of top tech contractor day rates, based on Australian averages, puts program managers first at $1,520 a day and master schedulers at $1,504, just above the top of the Morgan McKinley program manager band.

Project management consultant cost: FAQ

How much does a project management consultant cost per hour in Australia?

Divide the day rate by the hours in the day. At Morgan McKinley’s $1,100 Sydney median for a senior project manager and a 7.6-hour day (a 38-hour week), that is about $145 an hour before GST. The rate guides above quote contract rates by the day, not the hour.

Do I have to pay super for a contract project manager?

Often, if you engage them directly and pay for their time. The ATO says super generally applies to a contractor paid mainly for their labour, even with an ABN, at the 12% super guarantee rate. Through a recruiter, ask whether its quoted rate already includes super.

Is a consultancy more expensive than a contract project manager?

We could not find an Australian consultancy that publishes a project management rate card. On the assumption that a firm charges 1.5 to 2 times a contractor rate for its overhead and method, the standard 12-week job costs $99,000 to $132,000 instead of $66,000.

How long does a project recovery engagement take?

There is no published Australian benchmark for recovery length. This page models 12 weeks because it covers a diagnosis, a re-baselined plan and enough steering cycles to prove the new plan holds; change the weeks in the budget build to match your project.

Does a project management consultant charge GST?

Yes, once they are registered. The ATO requires GST registration at $75,000 of GST turnover, and a consultant at $1,100 a day passes that in 69 billed days, so a full-time 12-week engagement almost always carries 10% GST.

PM Engagement Budget Build: what a 12-week project-recovery engagement costs

A 12-week project-recovery engagement with a full-time contract project management consultant costs about $62,700 to $106,320 including GST and expenses, before any super you owe. The PM Engagement Budget Build below prices one realistic job: a project that has slipped, needs a re-baselined plan, a cleaned-up risk register and weekly steering reporting, and a consultant on site five days a week for 12 weeks. Each column uses a published day rate; the expenses line is an assumption you should replace with your own.

To use the build on your own job, change one input at a time. Three days a week instead of five turns the standard column into 36 days and $39,600 in fees. An eight-week engagement instead of 12 turns it into 40 days and $44,000. If you front-load effort, with five days a week for the first four weeks and three days a week after that, the job is 20 + 24 = 44 days, or $48,400 at $1,100.

Contractor vs consultancy vs PMO-as-a-service: the same 12 weeks compared

A contract project manager is the cheapest published way to buy 12 weeks of project management in Australia, at about $66,000 before GST on the standard case, while a consultancy or a PMO service changes what you get, not only the price. We could not find an Australian consultancy or PMO-as-a-service provider that publishes a project management rate card, so those rows are labelled assumptions built from the published role rates above.

The fractional PMO row is cheaper but is not a recovery lead: it runs reporting, schedules and governance across several projects, while a contract PM owns one troubled project. The permanent row ignores the weeks spent recruiting, which a slipping project rarely has. For independent consultants priced by seniority, see what management consultants charge in Australia and what a business consultant costs.

What moves a project management consultant’s price in Australia?

The size of the project and the step from project to program management move a project management consultant’s day rate most, by $350 a day at the median, from $1,050 for a $2m–$5m project manager to $1,400 for a program manager in Sydney.

• Project value. Morgan McKinley bands project managers by the value of the projects they run: the median rises from $1,050 for $2m–$5m projects to $1,100 for $5m–$10m projects.
• Project vs program. A program manager coordinates several related projects, and the Sydney median jumps to $1,400, then $1,600 for a program director.
• Days a week and weeks. These are the inputs you control. In the budget build, days change the total by more than the rate does.
• Who engages the consultant. A recruiter or consultancy carries super, insurance and payment risk and prices them in; a direct sole trader may leave super with you.

The costs a project management consultant’s quote leaves out

A project management consultant’s day-rate quote often leaves out super, GST, expenses and your own team’s time, which together add $17,520, or about 27%, to the $66,000 standard 12-week case when super applies. Super is the one buyers miss most. The ATO says you will generally need to pay super for a contractor who is paid mainly for their labour, even if they have an ABN and invoice you, and from 1 July 2026 that super must reach the fund within 7 business days of paying the invoice. The super guarantee rate is 12%.

The other hidden line is internal time. A recovery consultant needs your sponsor, your vendors and your project team in workshops, re-planning sessions and steering meetings. If three of your people spend four hours a week each with the consultant for 12 weeks, that is 144 hours of your staff time that the quote never shows. General information only: confirm super and GST treatment with your accountant.

How to get comparable quotes from project management consultants

Comparable project management consultant quotes come from one written brief that fixes the days, the deliverables and the commercial basis, so every bidder prices the same 60 days of work.

1. Write the outcome in one sentence, for example “re-baseline the CRM migration and report weekly to the steering committee for 12 weeks”.
2. State the days: weeks, days a week and any front-loaded phase.
3. Ask every bidder for the rate ex GST, and whether it includes super, insurance and any agency margin.
4. Ask for expenses as a separate capped line.
5. Run each quote through the PM Engagement Budget Build table above before you compare totals.

What these rates mean if you sell project management consulting

Project management consultants who sell their own services in Australia compete against a $1,050 to $1,400 recruiter median, so a higher rate needs a reason the buyer can see, such as a recovery track record or a fixed outcome. Most of that pricing decision is about how you package the work: see whether a consulting retainer or a project sells better and consultant utilisation benchmarks, because 60 billed days a quarter is a full book for one person. For how consulting firms fill that book, the LeadsNow page for consultants covers lead generation and appointment setting for consulting firms.

Sources

1. Morgan McKinley, Project Manager (Projects 2m – 5m) Salaries Sydney, 2026 Salary Guide, read 1 November 2026.
2. Morgan McKinley, Senior Project Manager (Projects 5m – 10m), Sydney; also the program manager, program director, PMO manager and PMO analyst pages, read 1 November 2026.
3. Talent International, Top 10 contractor day rates in Australia in 2026, posted 6 March 2026.
4. ATO, Registering for GST ($75,000 threshold).
5. ATO, Super guarantee rates (12%).
6. ATO, Contractors: when to pay super under Payday Super, published 7 May 2026.