Brick prices through the roof

The cost of the humble household brick has exploded in Western Australia as a frenzy of building, stoked by generous federal and state subsidies, drives up prices.

Not chasing the short-term cash … loyal bricklayer Richie Kitchingman on a job site in the Perth suburb of Kensington. Picture: Colin Murty

The cost of the humble household brick has exploded in Western Australia as a frenzy of building, stoked by generous federal and state subsidies, drives up prices.

Bricklayers in Perth were receiving as little as 80c per laid brick a year ago, but some are now charging as much as $2.50 amid fierce competition for both labour and supplies.

The surge in brick prices, along with inflation in other trades and materials, has chewed through the $25,000 federal HomeBuilder grant and WA’s $20,000 building bonus and has forced builders and developers to pass on the ­increased costs to their clients.

Such is the level of inflation, there are growing fears that some builders could go under.

The brickie shortage is being felt nationwide but is particularly acute in WA, due to housing subsidies designed for a pandemic that never really arrived, a fresh mining boom that is stoking the economy and sucking in labour, and an affinity among WA consumers for double-brick homes.

Kane Hutchinson, a property developer at Result Developments, said the market for new homes had “gone vertical” after the building bonuses were announced. Indeed, such is the backlog that a standard single-storey house that would normally take 12 months to build will now take closer to two years.

“There are many more houses than usual, so the brickies are jacking up their rates because they know they can. There’s only so many brickies in Perth,” Mr Hutchinson said.

“Most project builders have contingencies in there to allow for price rises, but no one has allowed for anything like this.”

And it’s not just brickies who are in short supply. One colleague, Mr Hutchinson said, lost his concreters half way through a job after they were offered a $2000 cash bonus to prioritise work for a rival builder.

Statistics released by the Housing Industry of Australia earlier this month show new-home approvals in the three months to January were up across the country, and the gain was ­particularly acute in WA.

New WA home approvals are up 124.1 per cent from a year ago, compared to 60.6 per cent in Tasmania, 51.8 per cent in Queensland, 45.7 per cent in South Australia, 28.4 per cent in NSW, and 23.8 per cent in Victoria.

HIA executive director Cath Hart said the pressures in WA in part reflected the prolonged period in the doldrums leading up to the pandemic that had prompted many tradies to leave the construction industry.

The housing stimulus policies, she said, had acted as a green light for consumer confidence.

“Because you’ve gone from a historic low to a historic high almost overnight, it has had some challenges — particularly in WA with jobs and trades,” she said.

Bricklayers, meanwhile, are weighing up whether they should be chasing extra dollars in the short term or stick with their current employers in the expectation they will be looked after when the current bubble bursts.

Richie Kitchingham, a brickie for the past 15 years, has heard of colleagues being poached by builders driving past construction sites with offers of higher rates.

But he has resisted the temptation to jump ship. “I haven’t gone and chased the big bucks ­because I know it’s going to come to an end at some stage,” he said.

“I’m thinking of the future more than the present. I know that if I look after my builder, he will look after me.”