A building materials and labour shortage crisis may play havoc with repair times for flood-affected homes

Flood-affected homeowners may be waiting up to two years for their houses to be repaired because of huge price hikes and delivery delays in building materials, but it’s also likely to create havoc with local builders, aggravating the ongoing industry crisis.

Building crisis to play havoc with repair of flood-affected houses with repairs to take up to two years. Picture: Dan Peled

Thousand of flood-affected homeowners could be waiting up to two years for repairs or rebuilds because of pandemic-led supply and labour shortage, industry heavyweights have warned.

Workers and construction materials, already in short supply due to the huge numbers of new homes and renovations being undertaken across the state, are set to become highly sought after with more than 15,000 insurance claims already being lodged for flood-affected homes.

The pandemic-driven property boom, combined with a lack of tradies, delivery delays and price hikes, has already created angst within the building and new housing sector.

Master Builders Queensland Deputy CEO Paul Bidwell said delays were “going to be a lot worse” and declared the price of labour and materials could also increase.

“People are already waiting in the delay in getting materials and now you’ll have the delay in waiting for people,” he said.

“It could easily be a year.

“It’s not just any one trade either, it’ll be concreting tiling and plasterboard.”

Furthermore, a recent outlook report for 2022 predicted constructions costs could rise by as much as 20 per cent.

Now, with thousands of properties having been inundated following a three-day ‘rain bomb’ across South East Queensland, it is likely to create havoc with local builders, Mr Bidwell says.

Repairs of flood-affected homes could take two years, industry leaders say. Photo Steve Pohlner

It will aggravate the building industry crisis, force builders and tradies to prioritise their services and have an inflationary effect on costs, he said.

“It could easily be more than 12 months and take up to two years for flood-affected homes to be repaired, depending on the extent of the damage and the type of repairs that are needed,” Mr Bidwell said.

In 2011, an estimated 23,000 homes were impacted by the floods, with thousands needing to be either rebuilt or require extensive repairs.

The impact magnitude of the 2022 floods is considered up there with 2011 and it will place a big squeeze on “elective” renovations and create price surging for contract work, Mr Bidwell said.

Master Builders Qld deputy CEO Paul Bidwell said the floods will have an inflationary effect on building costs. Picture: Tertius Pickard

“The tradies are going to want more for contract work otherwise they will work for an insurance company because they pay more to have work completed within certain time frames,” Mr Bidwell said.

“It’s like Uber and surge pricing, so it is going to have an inflationary pressure on the cost of building and repairs generally.”

Master Builders Queensland predicts 38,000 new homes will be built this year – a boom driven largely by interstate migration, the Home Builder grant and low interest rates.

However, builders and materials are now expected to be diverted to flood repairs, likely exacerbating the construction delays.

With each Australian state and the resources sector suffering the same labour shortage Mr Bidwell said there were few solutions.

“We already had a problem, it’s a problem across the country, that’s going to be exacerbated because of the floods,” he said.

He said people who were midway through a build would likely be worse off.

Depending on the extent and urgency of the repairs, flood-affected homeowners may have to “join the queue” for renovations or rebuild, said HIA Qld executive director Michael Roberts.

Roof trusses, timber framing and roof sheeting have been causing the most stress for builders, he said.

“There’s a 12 to 16-week delay for timber frames and supply can’t meet the demand for roof sheeting,” Mr Roberts said.

The industry was already struggling to meet demand and the flood is going to stretch resources beyond their capabilities, he said.

HIA executive director Michael Roberts said flood-affected homeowners will have to join the queue for tradesman. Picture: Supplied

“This is absolutely the last thing we needed because we are not able to progress work at the pace we are normally used to because of the shortage of materials and labour,” he said.

“And to have a weather event on top of that is going to have very serious consequences.

“Anyone wanting repair work done following this event is going to have to join a long queue for those wanting tradespeople.

“This just going to add a whole new level of pain and it could easily be six to 12 months before anybody is available to do the work and Covid is still around and impacting the workforce.”

Authorities said it was an ‘unpredictable and extraordinary’ weather event with up to 1500mm falling in some locations in the past few days – equal to a year’s rain.