How One Australian Software Company Came to Dominate 90% of an Industry
The Benchmark Estimating Software team accepting the 2016 Consensus Software Award at Sheraton on the Park, Sydney.
Benchmark Global | Benchmark Estimating Software | Consensus Award Winner 2016
Before a road is resurfaced, a rail project begins or a major piece of infrastructure is built, somebody has to answer one deceptively difficult question: what is it actually going to cost?
For more than two decades, an Australian software company has been helping some of the world’s largest contractors, government agencies and infrastructure organisations answer it.
By the time Benchmark Global won a Consensus Award for Benchmark Estimating Software in 2016, its technology was already being used by more than 3,000 people across 20 countries, had been translated into eight languages and had captured more than 90 per cent of Australia’s asphalt industry.
What happened next saw the Australian-developed platform expand further internationally, win customers across major infrastructure markets and ultimately attract investment from Australian private equity to accelerate its next stage of growth.
From Australian Estimating Software to an International Platform
Benchmark Estimating Software was developed by Robert and Lynda MacDonald to solve a problem familiar to businesses operating in construction and infrastructure: estimating large and complicated projects accurately, consistently and efficiently.
Unlike many competing products developed specifically for individual domestic markets, Benchmark was deliberately designed for international use.
Its flexibility proved particularly valuable in the asphalt industry. By 2016, Benchmark serviced more than 90 per cent of the Australian asphalt market and had gained a significant international foothold through French construction giant Colas, helping take the software into multiple European countries.
But Benchmark was no longer confined to asphalt.
The software was finding applications across telecommunications, aviation, civil construction, utilities and government infrastructure, demonstrating that the estimating engine originally built for one group of industries could travel considerably further.
The Consensus judges recognised precisely that adaptability when Benchmark received its Award in 2016.
Quietly Embedded in Major Infrastructure
Benchmark's international growth put the Australian technology inside organisations responsible for some seriously significant infrastructure.
In the United Kingdom, Transport for London contracted Benchmark Estimating for estimating software and associated services — placing Australian-developed technology inside the organisation responsible for one of the world's largest and most recognisable urban transport networks.
Benchmark continued building its presence across construction, transport, utilities and government, while remaining a specialist technology business rather than becoming a household software brand.
That's part of what makes its story so interesting.
Most people will never see the software used to estimate the infrastructure around them. They see the finished motorway, airport, utility network or transport system.
Benchmark operates much earlier in that process, helping organisations determine the resources and costs required to build and maintain them.
By the early 2020s, what began as Australian estimating software had become an established international technology business with more than 220 government and private-sector clients globally.
And that success eventually attracted an investor.
Whiteoak Backs Benchmark for its Next Stage of Growth
In September 2022, Australian private equity and growth investment firm Whiteoak invested in Benchmark Estimating Software alongside its sister company, MIEngineers.
Founders Robert and Lynda MacDonald retained minority interests in the businesses, while Whiteoak's investment was intended to support their continued growth in Australia and internationally.
For Benchmark, it marked a significant new chapter after years spent developing a highly specialised Australian software product into an international business.
Whiteoak now describes Benchmark as a global pure-play estimating software provider operating across almost 30 countries, with customers spanning construction companies, road authorities, utilities, governments and professional estimators.
The numbers tell the story particularly well.
When Consensus recognised Benchmark in 2016, the software had reached more than 3,000 users in over 20 countries.
Six years later, the company had attracted institutional investment to help take an already international Australian technology business even further.
And today its software operates across almost 30 countries.
For a product built to answer the question of what something should cost before the first shovel hits the ground, Benchmark has quietly found itself involved in an extraordinary amount of infrastructure along the way.