Refreshed ‘Building and Renovating in the NT’ guide released as construction times surge

A surge of people looking to build their dream home in the Territory has seen a longer wait for construction, but now a new guide could help speed the process up.

AN UPDATED consumer guide to help Territorians navigate building their dream home has been released.

It comes as the Northern Territory grapples with a housing crisis, with some construction jobs taking up to a month longer than usual due to a shortage of labour and a boom in demand.

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Planning Minister Eva Lawler said the new Building and Renovating in the NT guide would hopefully allow both homeowners and builders better navigate the system.

Planning Minister Eva Lawler.

“This guide is like your bible, it is absolutely imperative you have a very good read of this guide,” Ms Lawler said.

But Ms Lawler was unable to say how the Territory could solve a double whammy of surging home demand and a worker shortage, saying demand for tradies was up nationally.

The guide is part of the first tranch of building reform work introduced by the NT government.

Multibuild builder Phil Hoare said the new guide would make the process smoother for builders.

Mr Hoare however said builders were stretched due to unprecedented demand.

“Generally a project would take 14 to 16 weeks, at the moment it’s probably pushing things out to 18 to 20 weeks,” he said.

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