Housing Qld: 50k tradies spared paperwork to unlock construction

Queensland homes could be built faster and with less paperwork under a game-changing new building regulation overhaul.

Thousands of self-employed tradies would no longer have to complete annual financial paperwork.

Queensland homes could be built faster and with less paperwork under a game-changing new building regulation overhaul aimed at unlocking construction in the state.

Thousands of self-employed tradies would no longer have to complete annual financial paperwork or set up trust accounts for privately funded projects worth less than $10m under the changes.

Housing Minister Sam O’Connor on Monday paused plans to extend the trust account system to projects worth more than $3m in March and then $1m in October.

It means smaller builders who mainly work in residential construction, will not need to throw resources into squaring away money in trust accounts before starting works.

“Pausing the trust accounts is the big driver in getting things built faster,” he said.

“It would create cash flow issues for those smaller builders.

“The risk is far lower for projects worth less than $10m, so it would have had huge implications.”

The pause on trust accounts will not change payment processes when building companies become solvent, Mr O’Connor assured.

Those processes under the Queensland Building and Construction Commission will remain the same, providing no additional risk to homeowners.

Master Builders Queensland chief executive Paul Bidwell said the changes would help small businesses, arguing that there was no evidence that trust accounts provided a financial safeguard to subcontractors.

“By scrapping the need for the smaller contractors to do the annual financial reporting, it will save them money, save them heartache, and it achieves nothing, absolutely nothing,” he said.

“In the last couple of years, we’ve had insolvencies and the projects that were covered by project trust accounts, and the money was not there, the subbies didn’t get paid.

“So it’s been proven they don’t work and we’re not suggesting the security payments not a big issue, it is, and we need to fix it. The project trust accounts were not the answer.”

Mr O’Connor announced a number of upcoming regulatory reforms to the building sector.

From March, tradies carrying self certifying one and two individual licensees will no longer need to submit annual financial reports to the QBCC, reducing administrative burden for more than 50,000 builders and subcontractors who make up 97 per cent of the state’s licensed labourers.

Tradies will also be given a five-year extension to 2030 to meet the latest fire protection licensing rules, with plumbers conducting fire protection works to have their occupational licence fees abolished.

“The Queensland building and construction industry is worth around $59bn annually and puts money in the pockets of around 270,000 workers,” Mr O’Connor said.

“We won’t be stopping with just these reforms – there are more in the pipeline.”

Changes slated for beyond March include amending legislation governing the QBCC to remove duplicate reporting requirements for builds, meaning they would have to report safety issues to just workplace health and safety or just the QBCC.

Mr O’Connor also plans to digitise the outdated QBCC licensing system and revamp its dispute resolution processes improved, making it more customer friendly.

The overhauls comes as industry claws itself back in the face of soaring prices of building materials and the collapse of a number of construction companies and subcontractors.

The effectiveness of project trusts accounts for works valued at $10m or more will be evaluated by the state’s Productivity Commission.

Originally published as Housing Qld: 50k tradies spared paperwork to unlock construction