HomeBuilder Qld: Industry battered by ‘perfect storm’

The Queensland construction industry has warned of a “perfect storm” of HomeBuilder and other factors causing worker shortages.

One in five homes built or renovated using cash from the Federal Government’s HomeBuilder scheme is in Queensland, new figures have revealed, but the construction sector has warned of a “dark underbelly” of worker shortages caused by the program’s success.

Data obtained by The Courier-Mail revealed a total of 21,871 new homes are being built and 4422 renovations were being done through the HomeBuilder scheme.

The number of homes being built in Queensland through the scheme eclipses that of NSW (16,266) and was more than those of South Australia, Tasmania, ACT and the NT combined.

But the success of the Commonwealth’s HomeBuilder scheme, low interest rates and the damaging hailstorm that hit southeast Queensland last October have created a domino effect according to Master Builders Queensland deputy chief executive Paul Bidwell.

“You can’t get a roofing contractor for love or money,” he said.

“It’s a dark underbelly of HomeBuilder, the property market going ballistic and the storms.

“Pardon the pun, but it’s a perfect storm of conditions which are impacting the industry.

“It is coming – at some point there will be some builders in the residential will go to the wall and we just hope it isn’t too many.

Sunshine Coast builder Mitch Butler, who has been in the industry since 1971, said it had been the toughest year he had ever faced.

“It’s absolutely killing us,” Mr Butler said.

“We thought it was going to be the best year ever, we signed all these contracts, then everyone put their prices up.

“And we are fixed, locked in. So we are all losing money.

“I tell you, it’s a s--- feeling working hard for free.”

Sunshine Coast builder Mitch Butler in happier times

Master Builders Sunshine Coast regional manager Nicola Scott said the scheme had created a flurry of activity which led to the demand outstripping the supply to create a “massive” trade and supply shortages.

“They’re in this profitless bubble, there’s no winners here,” Ms Scott said.

“The builders are having to absorb the cost of these massive price rises.”

Grant McDonald of Grant McDonald Homes said on Friday he had a roofing job go up by $5000 overnight.

Mr McDonald, 40, said there was nothing he could do about it.

“I pre-warned the owners but that was a big one I didn’t expect,” he said.

“I’m trying to be ultra-organised and think 10 weeks in advance to give everyone as much notice as possible.

“But if the owners aren’t accommodating and the percentages go up massively, we’re in the hands of the gods.”

Murphy Builders Sunshine Coast managing director Mark Berry said construction start dates were being pushed back weeks, frustrating homeowners and builders.

“There’s an eight to nine-week delay for timber which we have to relay to our clients,” he said.

“It can delay a house by five-six weeks, depending on whether you can get a roofer or the materials or not.”

Mr Bidwell tipped the industry’s builder and material shortfall would continue.

“It’s bad, getting worse,” he said.

“This time last year we were gravely concerned about the lack of work.

Now, a shortage of materials and tradies which is causing delays and increasing prices is a big problem.”

One large Brisbane builder, which Mr Bidwell declined to name, recorded a 40 per cent increase in work along with a 40 per cent fall in profit.

“Our concern is what happens to those smaller builders who don’t have deep pockets,” he said.

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