‘It’s horrible’: Rain costs Queenslanders, councils billions as builders feel the pressure

Construction delays are making it difficult for Queenslanders to rebuild following the devastating floods as it is revealed the record-breaking deluge racked up more than $2 billion in damages.

Record breaking rain has racked up more than $2 billion in damages for Queenslanders stung by construction delays, tens of thousands of potholes and more than 100,000 insurance claims.

About 1.5m of rain has fallen on Brisbane in 2022 and it’s already made for the highest annual total in 12 years.

Residents around the sunshine state have been devastated by the subsequent flooding, mould issues, a housing squeeze and disruptions to daily life.

And it’s come at a huge cost.

The February flooding event alone made for $3.35 billion in insurance loss across northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, $1.82 billion of which came from the latter.

The Insurance Council of Australia reported the loss comprised of 107,562 claims from Queensland.

Master Builders Queensland has reported that 50,000 of those include buildings which require repair.

The rubbish pick up at West End in March. Photo: Steve Pohlner

The requests come on top of 38,000 new homes expected to be built this year, an almost 20 per cent rise on pre-pandemic numbers.

“The recent rain events in Queensland have further increased demand for trades and materials on top of the already high demand and blown out existing construction schedules, meaning each project is taking longer to complete,” a statement from Master Builders Queensland said.

“It’s hard to put a number on the extent of the impact, but anecdotally, the industry is already reporting further delays.”

“Material and trade price hikes and delays seen in 2021 were expected to run right through 2022 – and that was before the impact of the recent floods, as well as the conflict in Ukraine, which has seen prices of some products surge further.”

The clean-up in Brisbane. Photos: Josh Woning

Master Builders Queensland has received feedback from industry members that a day of rain can result in two to three days in delays.

Murphy Builders general manager Mark Berry said builders still had overheads during wet weather and every day of delays cost them thousands.

The Sunshine-Coast based company has about 100 projects between Newcastle to Bundaberg, and Mr Berry said the rain meant they were dealing with unhappy clients and low cash flow.

“There’s not much you can do other than try to get roofs on quickly and get all the outside stuff done when the sun's out and juggle around. But it’s just inefficient building practise so it’s tough,” he said.

“It’s the most stressful time it’s been in my 24 years in the industry.

“It’s horrible.”

Claytons Towing’s photos of damage to the Bruce Highway.

Builders aren’t the only ones working around the clock to tackle their tasks with council workers across the southeast filling tens of thousands of potholes in 2022.

Brisbane City Council has filled 30, 821 potholes since February 26 including a record-breaking month in which 7,077 potholes were fixed.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said this year’s major flood event was different to what was experienced in 2011 as river, creek and overland flow flooding impacted 177 suburbs.

“Almost every single council asset has been flood impacted, including our roads, community facilities, sports fields, footpaths, bikeways, playgrounds and pools,” Mr Schrinner said.

“In 2011 the repair bill was $440 million, with Council funding $106 million of this.

“We now expect the 2022 repair bill to be double or even triple this, potentially costing council $200 to $300 million.

“With widespread damage, significant increases in inflation and construction costs the council damage bill is significant.”

Flooding in Brisbane in March. Picture: Richard Walker

The wet weather had a lesser impact on Gold Coast roads with their council reporting just 4179 pothole repairs since October.

In the Redlands, the council has completed 425 pothole repairs in the past six months, 322 of which were completed through proactive maintenance.

But the bill from the wet weather has been significant.

A Redland City Council spokeswoman said $883,000 had so far been spent repairing roads and other council property damaged due to heavy rain and flooding this year.

Sunshine Coast Council reported their roads generally held up well during severe weather in February, March and may.

Detailed inspections are still under way and the council has so far has repaired more than $120,000 of works directly related to pothole repairs on sealed and unsealed roads.

As of May 19, Ipswich City Council had spent $4.24 million on repairs.

Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said the council had received more than 600 requests for pothole repairs and fixed more than 1,800.

“At one point, crews patched more than 700 potholes using 300 tonnes of asphalt in a week – on average, outside of emergency responses, council will typically fill 500 potholes per month,” she said.

Moreton Bay is yet to crunch the numbers but Mayor Peter Flannery said some sunshine had given crews the opportunity to identify thousands of additional potholes to be fixed as a result of last week’s rain.

They’ve ramped up their maintenance fleet by 50 per cent last week with the hopes of fixing all roads within a fortnight.

Flooding at Morayfield in May. Photo: Josh Woning

Mr Flannery said it was a region wide issue with no worst-hit area.

“Which is a particularly big challenge for us here in Moreton Bay, because we have nearly 4000km of sealed roads to maintain and we’re geographically about the biggest in southeast Queensland,” he said.

“This is an environmental issue, it’s not a maintenance issue. It’s the compounding effect of the back-to-back rain events we’ve seen recently.

“But I definitely want locals to know we’ve heard your concerns and we’re taking immediate action.”

The total damage bill for Queensland could continue to swell with La Nina expected to continue into winter and more rain on the way.

BOM meteorologist Livio Regano said a Australia's east could expect cloudy and showery weather until the end of the week, with fine and dry conditions in the west.

“Although on Wednesday and Thursday, the weather will extend further inland than usual, out to about Charleville and gradually retreat back again,” Mr Regano said.

The whole state should be mostly sunny and drier at the weekend.

The cost of the rain:

• 107,562 insurance claims for February/March floods in Queensland
  
• $1.82 billion in insurance loss
  
• More than 35,000 potholes
• Up to $300 million Brisbane City Council bill
  
• Road maintenance fleets doubled
• 50,000 buildings needing repairs.