Novato - 2026 Pricing, Features, Reviews & Alternatives

Novato is a cloud-based subcontractor compliance management platform designed for general contractors, construction firms, and project managers in Australia’s building and construction industry. The system centralizes compliance control by automating the verification, tracking, and monitoring of subcontractor credentials, including licences, insurance certificates, and induction cards. It alleviates administrative burdens by replacing manual spreadsheet tracking and document chasing with continuous compliance monitoring. The platform accommodates organisations of varying scale, from single-project operations to enterprises overseeing concurrent sites across multiple Australian states and territories.

The core compliance modules include a licence verification engine that connects directly to government registries in all eight Australian states and territories. Credentials are checked in real time against twenty-four mapped regulatory registers covering general construction induction, high risk work licences, asbestos removal and assessor licences, and licensed electrical inspector credentials. The Smart Approve feature automatically validates straightforward submissions and flags mismatches, expired credentials, or missing documents for manual review. Continuous monitoring issues notifications well in advance of credential expiration. Project management tools generate safe work method statements with hierarchy-of-controls frameworks, facilitate costed variation orders with electronic signatures, and manage requests for information via timestamped email links. Safety management extends to quiz-based site inductions, smart toolbox talks, incident and near-miss reporting, psychosocial hazard reporting, and work health and safety management plan assembly from existing documentation. Additional functionality includes an asbestos register, plant and equipment tracking, a defect register, a site diary with automated weather and headcount data, QR code-based site sign-in with SMS verification at initial use, and a document vault that enables subcontractors to grant one-tap access to previously verified materials.

Novato operates as a standalone environment with jurisdiction-specific compliance intelligence sourced directly from official regulator databases. Compliance profiles load dynamically based on project location. Data transmissions employ end-to-end encryption and documents remain encrypted at rest within Australian hosting infrastructure. The platform exports complete audit trails as branded PDF or CSV files, recording every verification decision with timestamps, reviewer identification, register match evidence, and rationale to support regulatory inquiries, insurance claims, or legal proceedings. Subcontractor engagement requires no user account creation, since single-use upload links are delivered by email or SMS. Custom branding applies company logos and business details automatically to all generated documents.

Subscription plans provide flexibility through scalable limits on projects, users, verification volumes, and SMS credits, with additional slots available as add-ons. Cross-project compliance dashboards and subcontractor scorecards deliver aggregated visibility for enterprise-level oversight.