$20,000 cash grants for home renos worth more than $100,000 in PM’s plan to save tradie jobs
Cash grants of around $20,000 for home improvements will be unveiled as part of a construction stimulus package to save tradie jobs – but it’ll have to be a big reno.
SA News
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Cash grants of about $20,000 for big home renovation projects will be unveiled as part of the Morrison Government's construction stimulus package as early as Thursday.
But the home improvements will have to be worth about $100,000 or more for mum-and-dad renovators to access the scheme, designed to help limit a major post-COVID building slump.
The Federal Government believes it can save tens of thousands of tradie jobs by turbocharging demand for new-home construction and renovations before the pipeline of construction jobs falls off a cliff in September, when the JobKeeper payment is also set to end.
The Advertiser understands the package is still being finalised but will be worth almost $1 billion. There will be a $100,000 minimum threshold for people to access the renovations grant, which will be run as a co-contribution.
For every dollar the eligible renovator spends, the Government will tip in a certain amount. The high threshold is intended to ensure only larger scale renovations are done, weeding out dodgy contractors setting up overnight and ensuring the work goes to properly trained tradies to avoid another “pink batts” scandal.
The package will also include cash grants for singles or couples who want to build new homes, and may be capped to a certain number over the next 12 months to prevent cost blowouts.
The eligibility criteria is likely to be means-tested but would broaden the scheme beyond just first home buyers.
The Master Builders Association has commissioned modelling showing new home grants worth $40,000 could generate up to 3736 SA construction sector jobs.
It also found grants for home renovations could create up to 1540 South Australian jobs. The industry had called for a stimulus package of at least $9 billion to save thousands of tradie jobs.
A State Government spokeswoman on Monday said SA would wait to see details of the package before commenting further on any state plans for more funding.