Geelong builder Metricon’s job cuts revealed

A troubled volume builder has explained how proposed job cuts will impact Geelong staff, just weeks after opening a lavish display centre in the region.

Embattled volume builder Metricon has revealed how many Geelong-based staff will be impacted by mass cutbacks across the company.

Metricon acting chief executive Peter Langfelder confirmed that the nation’s leading home builder is undergoing an internal restructure of its business.

The company has started a consultation process with its 2500 or so staff that will lead to redundancies and a 9 per cent reduction in the size of its workforce. That equates to around 225 jobs being cut.

The company opened a lavish new 1000m2 office and display centre in South Geelong in June to house its 100 employees.

On Wednesday a Metricon spokeswoman said it was expected that the company’s restructure would lead to two losses in Geelong.

“A consultation process with our people is underway,” the spokeswoman said.

“This process is proposed to lead to a reduction of personnel and redundancies across the national business, with an increased focus on delivering homes to more than 6000 Australians whose homes we will be constructed this year.”

In May the company said it had more than 4000 homes under construction across Australia’s eastern sea board.

Mr Langfelder said he expected that most of the roles impacted will be at the front-end of the business, predominantly in sales and marketing roles.

“With the current headwinds buffeting the industry, specifically labour costs due to competition for skills, combined with present global material cost hikes and with our very strong existing pipeline of work, we need to carefully balance the pipeline of new builds with the construction side of the business,” he said.

“We are working to restructure our front-end of the business given the current climate and the

need to move forward efficiently. We are committed to looking after any of our people who may be impacted by these proposed changes, and they will continue to have ongoing access to the company’s support and mental health services.”

Originally published as Geelong builder Metricon’s job cuts revealed