Cairns builder fielding inquiries as buyers panic over HomeBuilder deadline

Building grant recipients are reportedly jumping ship in a bid to desperately fulfil the eligibility requirements amid a materials and services shortage.

DESPERATE HomeBuilder grant recipients are reportedly fleeing their contracted builder in a bid to meet the government’s eligibility deadlines.

Cairns-based Koru Building Contractors’ director Tony Newman has been fielding numerous requests from aspiring homeowners to take on their project as the clock ticks on their stagnated properties.

The Federal Government’s HomeBuilder initiative has triggered a significant building boom with the demand far outweighing the supply on both the services and materials front.

However, with the HomeBuilder grant stipulating construction must begin within 18 months of signing the contract, Mr Newman said nervous buyers were jumping ship after their initial builder had not commenced work.

Reid Newman from Koru Building Contractors; onsite in Edge Hill. Picture: Emily Barker.

“Unfortunately we have to turn them away as well,” Mr Newman said.

“It’s quite stressful and we can’t quote all the jobs. It’s a strange feeling to be turning work away.

“We’ve had to make sure we don’t over commit, we’re working on about five projects at the moment.

“So we know our schedule, we know when we need tradesman, when we need materials and we can plan well in advance.

“But we’ve heard a lot about some builders perhaps overcomitting. And with all the shortages, there’s contracts signed last year where work hasn’t begun yet.”

Mr Newman said prior to the boom a new home on average would be handed over in about three to four months, but now that was up to eight months.

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“That’s just from getting access to timber and structural steel. But we encourage our clients to pay upfront on the pre-order, then they lock in today’s price.

“Otherwise as it goes up, someone is going to wear it and we’ve heard of disputes around that too.”

Housing Industry Association Cairns branch manager Shane Moon said with the well-documented housing shortage in the region, he would like to see the HomeBuilder grant extended again.

“And if not the whole thing, at least the deadline for the people already signed up,” he said.

“Because we can’t even imagine what the flow-on effects will be if those contracts fall through.”

The Federal Government’s Treasury department has been asked if there was any scope to extend the deadline.

Although Cairns is experiencing a building boom, there is still a housing shortage. New homes under construction at a housing estate at Mt Sheridan in 2020. Picture: Brendan Radke

Cairns Hardware merchandise manager Peter Geard reaffirmed the materials shortage problem, which he said was a global issue.

“For the last eight months we’ve been seeing increased demand,” Mr Geard said.

“Anything that has wood fibre in it – timber, door frames, door skins, anything made of wood fibre is in short supply locally, nationally and around the world.”

He said adding to that was the inability to “bring in the product consistently and at a rate that’s economically viable from overseas.”

“The reason for that has been the huge increase in shipping costs. So we’re talking a shipping container into a major port from Europe used to be around $4000, is (now) up around $15,000-$16,000,” he said.

“That’s without the increase in costs (for the materials) themselves.”

Have you recently had any building work done? Let us know how your time frame fared in the comments below.

Originally published as Cairns builder fielding inquiries as buyers panic over HomeBuilder deadline