Melbourne-based builder Kapitol has claimed the top position in Hubexo’s 2026 Construction League rankings, recording more than $3.5 billion in project commencements during 2025 and emerging as one of the country’s fastest-growing contractors.
The fifth edition of the Construction League ranks Australia’s top 50 builders by the value of projects that commenced construction during 2025 across the commercial, community, industrial, legal and military, and multi-residential sectors.
The rankings, compiled from project intelligence tracked through Hubexo’s LeadManager platform, suggest Australia’s construction market is increasingly concentrating around larger, more sophisticated developments. Few builders illustrate that shift more clearly than Kapitol, whose pipeline is heavily weighted toward hyperscale data centres, Build-to-Rent projects and advanced industrial facilities.
Yet inside Kapitol, the Construction League milestone is being viewed less as an endpoint and more as evidence that a long-term operating model is beginning to scale.
Founded in 2018 by former Multiplex executives Andrew Deveson and David Caputo, Kapitol has rapidly expanded from a startup contractor into a major player across data centres, Build-to-Rent, defence, education and institutional construction.
Kaptiol’s 2025 project commencements reflect both the scale and complexity of that evolution. Major commencements included NEXTDC M3 Stage 2/4 hyperscale data centre project at West Footscray, NEXTDC M2 Stage 9 development in Tullamarine, as well as District Living’s Build-to-Rent project in Docklands and the Hanwha Defence production facility at Avalon.
Collectively, the projects highlight the builder’s increasing concentration on technically demanding sectors where delivery capability, systems integration and operational precision are becoming critical differentiators.
Kapitol’s rise also mirrors broader structural changes occurring across the Australian construction market.
The report found the nation’s top 50 builders commenced projects worth a combined $43.9 billion during 2025, a 32% increase year-on-year despite relatively stable project volumes. The figures suggest the industry is increasingly shifting toward larger, more sophisticated and capital-intensive developments.
For Kapitol, that shift has been underpinned by a deliberate investment in technology, process engineering and internal capability.
“We always knew that if we wanted to do exceptional work, we had to build a business capable of investing heavily in systems, technology and people”, Deveson told Hubexo.
“Growth was never about becoming the most active builder, it was about creating the capability to deliver at a higher standard.”
Unlike many tier-one builders that evolved through traditional delivery models, Kapitol’s leadership has consistently framed the business more like a technology platform than a conventional construction company.
“We looked more to tech companies than construction companies when shaping the Kapitol brand, because we knew copying the traditional model would only ever make us an inferior version of someone else. Innovation for us has always been about finding a fundamentally different way to solve problems”, Deveson said.
That philosophy has become increasingly important as the company deepens its exposure to hyperscale data centre work—one of the country’s fastest-growing and most technically demanding asset classes.
Data centre projects require extreme coordination across services integration, commissioning, program management and operational reliability. The margin for delivery failure is narrow, particularly when dealing with global hyperscale operators and mission-critical infrastructure.
Kapitol’s operational philosophy has been influenced heavily by aviation and medicine, industries where complex systems are designed to reduce errors and improve reliability. The company is now extending that approach through the integration of artificial intelligence.
“What we’re trying to do is give project teams access to thousands of years of collective experience through process, technology and continuous learning. AI is now accelerating that journey, but it’s also exposing just how much deeper we still need to go with our systems and data”, Deveson said.
Despite Kapitol’s rapid ascent, Deveson maintains the business remains deeply conscious of the complexity and risk inherent within construction delivery.
“You can have great systems, great people and great intent, and still miss something critical on a project. That reality is what continues to drive our obsession with continuous improvement”.
That focus on operational discipline has become central to Kapitol’s broader culture as the business has scaled to more than 500 staff in under a decade.
“The defining feature of our culture is continuous improvement. Everyone in the business understands that we’re always evolving. The challenge now is maintaining the stamina and ambition to keep improving while still delivering at scale every day.”
Deveson noted the company’s next phase is expected to include further expansion across digital infrastructure, advanced manufacturing and modular construction, particularly as Australia grapples with housing supply constraints and growing demand for industrial-scale delivery capability.
But for Kapitol’s founders, the broader ambition remains centred less on size than on repeatability.
“The real challenge isn’t just delivering projects. It’s creating a system where great outcomes can be repeated consistently at scale. That’s the journey we’re still very much on”, Deveson said.
For a business that only secured its first contract eight years ago, topping Australia’s builder rankings represents a remarkable rise.
“What excites us is not where we are today, but how much better we think we can become over the next few years”, Deveson said.
“We still see enormous opportunities to improve the way projects are delivered.”
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The 2026 edition of the Construction League is proudly presented in partnership with Cupix, our Major Partner, and our Event Partner, Futurebuild Australia.