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In this newsletter, you'll find:
Our latest blog post on developer covenants stifling innovation and our latest quality management checklist release - C10 Rough In Stage Inspection
Blog Post 1: How Developer Covenants Are Stifling Innovation in Australian Housing Estates
Have you ever strolled through a new housing estate and felt a sense of déjà vu, with each house mirroring the next?
This uniformity isn't coincidental; it's the result of developer covenants—binding agreements that dictate specific materials, designs, and even colour schemes for homes. While intended to maintain aesthetic standards and "increase estate values," these covenants often suppress creativity and limit homeowner choices.
In our latest blog post, we look into how these restrictive covenants are hindering innovation in Australian housing estates. We also examine the role of regulatory authorities, like Economic Development Queensland, in approving these covenants and discuss potential strategies to foster more diverse and imaginative residential designs.
👉️ Ready to read more? Check out the full post below:
Anthony Painter
Blog Post 2: C10 The Rough In Stage Inspection Checklist
Our latest post introduces the C10 Rough-In Stage Inspection Checklist. It helps you check the plumbing, electrical, air conditioning and other services before the walls and ceilings are lined, while problems are still cheap to fix.
Read the full article below and get the C10 Rough-In Stage Inspection Checklist.
Anthony Painter
💾 Software of the Week: LocalSend
This is not a sponsored post - just software we use and are sharing it with you
LocalSend is a free, open-source app for sending files between your own devices over your local Wi-Fi, with no internet connection or cloud server involved. Think of it as AirDrop that works across Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. No more emailing files to yourself or hunting for a USB stick.
Install it on each device, connect them to the same Wi-Fi network, and they find each other automatically. If two devices can't see each other, check your firewall is allowing LocalSend through.
Localsend: for Windows, mac, Linux android and ios
👾 Chrome Store Extension Of the Week - Bitwarden
This is not a sponsored post - just software we use and are sharing it with you
Bitwarden is a free, open-source password manager that runs as a Chrome extension, and also on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. It keeps your logins in an encrypted vault, fills them in when you visit a site, and generates strong, unique passwords so you're not reusing the same one everywhere. You only have to remember one master password.
PS: we use the family plan for our business (don't tell anyone) because it's cheaper that way 😄
🔗 Check it out below:
The main Bitwarden website is: https://bitwarden.com/
On with the news from this week 😄
🚀 The latest residential construction news from new sources around Australia for the news week ending 06-02-2025 🔥
A clear theme is emerging in Australia’s housing sector: innovative approaches and positive trends are paving the way to address long-standing housing challenges
Embracing Prefabricated and Modular Construction
Prefabricated and modular housing solutions are gaining momentum as a practical way to boost housing supply quickly and efficiently. The Commonwealth Bank’s support for the prefabricated construction industry highlights the potential of these methods to deliver homes faster.
While questions around building standards remain, the focus is on maintaining quality while capitalising on the speed and cost advantages of modular construction.
Stabilisation and Growth in the Housing Market
Recent data shows that national home values are stabilising, with regional areas seeing a 0.4% increase in January, reaching record highs. This trend reflects the growing appeal of regional living, driven by affordability and lifestyle changes.
Adding to the positive outlook, major banks are hinting at potential interest rate cuts, which could further stimulate the market and improve affordability for buyers.
Government Initiatives to Boost Housing Supply
The federal government is stepping up its efforts to tackle housing affordability with significant investments. The Housing Australia Future Fund aims to deliver 30,000 new social and affordable homes over the next five years.
This initiative demonstrates a proactive approach to increasing housing availability for those who need it most.
🤔 Our View on This Week’s Most Important News
Major banks are now funding prefabricated housing, marking a significant shift in the construction industry. This move paves the way for modular homes to become a mainstream option for new house construction.
It also comes ahead of the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB)’s review of the National Construction Code (NCC), with updates set to be published in 2026. The revised NCC is expected to formally recognise modular buildings as a standard method of home construction, rather than treating them as an exception.
This strategic shift signals a growing acceptance of off-site construction methods, which promise faster build times, improved quality control, and cost efficiencies—potentially transforming the future of housing in Australia.
We've highlighted our favourite news articles for the week by marking with a 🌯 or five
31-01-2025
🌯🌯 Big building in NSW: The suburbs set to see a surge in new homes - LINK
🌯🌯🌯Off the plan contract laws under review to provide greater certainty to buyers - LINK
🌯🌯 Housing Australia to fund over 800 homes under the Housing Australia Future Fund Facility and National Housing Accord Facility - LINK
🌯 Fruits of government's signature housing fund revealed - LINK
🌯🌯🌯🌯🌯‘Cheaper, easier, faster’ the clarion call for rolling back housing standards – as Queensland mulls following the trend - LINK
Our Comment:
It pains me to comment on this at all, but here we go. Most builders don't use a formal quality management system. If they did, they would be better educated and able to build higher-quality homes. Too many builders produce a product that often does not meet NCC or standards because it is built so fast, with little oversight, in an effort to "build more, faster."
Having worked for many years in a project-building company, I understand both sides of the equation.
On the client side, while building a new home, owners are paying rent and outgoings while drawing down on a mortgage. This means they are financially stretched. If the cost of new homes increases, their financial stress increases. As a result, clients demand houses to be built yesterday because they already feel the process takes too long.
On the builder’s side, there is a process that must be followed. So, how do you speed up a process? You add more of something—more labour, more efficiency, more money. But this cannot be done because more means higher costs, and each major builder is competing against the other on price and perceived "value."
So, we are at an impasse. The result? Houses are built faster and cheaper (cost) to push them through the process and get the client in their home. What suffers? Materials, methods, and quality—all sacrificed in the name of speed (time).
Nothing has changed. Read more about the "holy trinity" of construction in our post Time, Cost, Quality.
Anthony Painter
Hot Property: The biggest property headlines from the week 27–31 January - LINK
NSW peak calls for inclusion in housing reform talks - LINK
🌯🌯🌯 Report on Government Services 2025 - LINK
Australian Housing Market 2025: Is Slower Growth the New Normal? - LINK
🌯🌯🌯🌯🌯 Housing Affordability: The Millennial and Z Gens’ White-Hot Issue - LINK
🌯🌯 Long-term homelessness grows amid housing cost crunch - LINK
Where you can buy land on Queensland’s coast for $125k or less - LINK
01-02-2025
🌯🌯🌯🌯🌯 CBA backs prefabricated construction industry to boost housing supply - LINK
Simonds Group buys Dennis Family Homes for $10m in move that will affect thousands of Aussies building a new house - LINK
Hobart home prices higher than last year - LINK
🌯🌯 Australian housing rebound in sight as building costs fall for the first time in five years - LINK
Banks urged to ease lending rules for flat-pack homes - LINK
🌯🌯🌯🌯 The HAFF is a small start to tackle housing affordability, but investors still get all the breaks - LINK
Article Excerpt:
"But this is just the first announcement from the HAFF. The government has claimed that the HAFF will build 55,000 homes over 5 years. That sounds a lot better, right? Well, assuming everything goes to plan and all those homes get built in that time period, that would be an average of 917 per month—almost the same as the 800 that have just been announced."
🌯 The suburbs first in line for affordable housing — as dissatisfaction grows - LINK
'Grim' numbers as Australians experiencing long-term homelessness rises by 25 per cent - LINK
02-02-2025
Prefabricated housing: Nation’s biggest bank, CBA, to back factory-made houses - LINK
🌯🌯🌯🌯 CommBank's big construction loan change making it easier for buyers - LINK
$100 Million Cavill Avenue Mall Transformation – Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast - LINK
Major Social Housing Boost To Beaufort Street, Inglewood - LINK
🌯🌯 Aussie mum reveals 'shame' over housing issue faced by millions: 'Don't know how' - LINK
Squeezed for space: Cost rise per bedroom revealed - LINK
🌯🌯🌯🌯 Australia’s Housing Crisis Deepens as Federal Fund Faces Growing Public Discontent - LINK
Property prices fall for second month - LINK
Home Guarantee Scheme helps hundreds of Coasties - LINK
🌯🌯🌯🌯🌯 ‘Miserable’: Top architect skewers poorly designed and built new homes that have become commonplace in Australia - LINK
GST implications of $113m Development Services considered by the recently commenced Administrative Review Tribunal - LINK
🌯 Continued property price falls ‘likely to be short-lived’ - LINK
Major Australian builder that built iconic $485 million tower collapses - LINK
Retrofit, Don’t Demolish Melbourne’s Public Towers - LINK
03-02-2025
New housing on track for Croydon - LINK
Fresh data to shed light on retail, housing strength - LINK
House prices across Australia remain steady in January, and Melbourne becomes a 'buyers' market' - LINK
04-02-2025
Where you can buy land on South Australia’s coast for $100k or less - LINK
Australia sees modest rise in dwelling approvals despite ongoing challenges - LINK
Australian housing construction continues to lag despite December boost - LINK
🌯🌯🌯🌯 Dwelling approvals rise in December - LINK
$500,000 house build price record set in 2024 as housing approvals fall 70,000 short of government target: ABS - LINK
Home approvals up in 2024, but still plenty of work to do - LINK
Housing target continues to fall short - LINK
🌯 REIA calls on government, opposition to address housing affordability - LINK
Our Comment:
I call on the REIA to lower agents' fees on all home sales. Agents earn the same percentage commission on contract values that market forces have pushed up, so they earn more from each sale without doing any more work.
You can't convince me that with an average house price of $800,000 and a 2.5% commission (that's $20,000 before GST) on a 30-day turnover, with sellers also paying for marketing, an agent is delivering that much value for one sale (commission calculator). I don't buy it.
Instead of pointing at government policy, the REIA could look at what its own members can do for affordability. Lowering commissions to 1.7% would be a start.
Accelerated accreditation boosts homebuilder numbers - LINK
New Model: CBA eases lending rules to drive flat-pack housing - LINK
🌯🌯🌯 Homebuilder stocks fall on tariff concerns - LINK
Amended planning code permits towers of 40 storeys to be built at Adelaide’s Festival Plaza - LINK
05-02-2025
Approval boost not enough to meet housing target - LINK
🌯🌯 Homebuilding costs up 3.4% in 2024 – will 2025 bring relief? - LINK
Article Excerpt:
"The cost of construction is now 30.8 per cent higher since the onset of COVID.
Looking forward, labour will likely continue to be a driving factor pushing construction costs up, with the annual pace of construction costs expected to continue rising towards the pre-COVID decade average of 4.0 per cent in 2025.
There are not enough tradespeople to facilitate the required or desired workloads. Unfortunately, training or bringing in new workers to fill the gaps is not a quick fix. It takes time to upskill a tradesperson, and building industry labour numbers have been declining for some years."
🌯🌯🌯🌯 Aussie home builders need interest rate cuts - LINK
🌯🌯 NSW housing approvals lag behind targets - LINK
Housing approvals falling short of targets - LINK
NSW shakes up off-the-plan buying - LINK
Approval boost not enough to meet housing target - LINK
🌯 More than 800 tradies express interest in ‘Build a Life in WA’ $10,000 relocation incentive - LINK
🌯🌯🌯 Govt “distorting” career choices - LINK
Our Comment:
This is true. Stimulating one industry over all others feels like a band-aid solution—poorly thought out and little more than a vote grab.
Oly Homes delivers modular senior-focused housing to Thallon - LINK
Is prefab the answer to housing supply challenges? - LINK
Our Comment:
"Prefab" is an interesting choice of word over "modular". They aren't the same thing. The ABCB's handbook, Prefabricated, Modular and Offsite Construction, best explains where this part of construction is heading.
Read it below or click here to view and download:
🌯 Expenditure on housing and homelessness hits $6.9 billion - LINK
Internal migration a boon for regional housing markets - LINK
🌯🌯🌯 Which state or territory lags on housing targets the most? - LINK
Article Excerpt:
"Northern Territory is trailing the most, delivering 78.6 per cent fewer homes than needed for its target of 571 per quarter. Victoria is falling just 0.1 per cent below its quarterly target of 15,316."
🌯🌯 Federal government announces investment into crisis and transitional housing - LINK
🌯🌯 Car parking changes a win for housing affordability - LINK
Our Comment:
A win for affordability, but a loss for blood pressure when trying to park in an already congested city with limited parking. There is always a trade-off, and the benefits outweigh the downside here. Besides, people can always hop on an electric scooter at 50 km/h on the footpath to their destination. No harm there, right?
Demolition should be the last resort for Melbourne’s 44 public housing towers – retrofit and upgrade instead - LINK
06-02-2025
Cost-of-living pressures drive record demand for housing legal assistance - LINK
Real estate moves helping millennials beat out Boomers in the housing game - LINK
🌯🌯🌯 Mobile housing expert: Councils are deliberately hindering affordable housing solutions - LINK
Article Excerpt:
"Russo explained there is an urgent need for local councils in all states to facilitate the installation of these innovative homes that can be set up in a backyard in a matter of hours and be easily relocated when circumstances change."
Construction commences to bring vacant public homes back into use to house people in need - LINK
🌯🌯 It’s time for resilience ratings for housing – here’s why (in case you can’t guess) - LINK
WA government unveils major housing boost for state - LINK
The five areas in Australia hit hardest by the housing crisis - LINK
Slow growth continues for Perth's housing market in 2025 - LINK
🌯🌯🌯 What Australia needs to meet home building targets - LINK
🌯🌯🌯🌯 Think We’re Building Enough Homes? Think Again - LINK
🌯🌯 Which new homes are getting the green light? - LINK
Work begins to restore 148 vacant public homes - LINK
Tradie shortage “threatening housing goals” - LINK
Sydney summit: Luci Ellis on construction productivity, and tailwinds and Mary Delahunty on the power of superannuation - LINK
House prices expected to rise amid supply challenge - LINK
Requests: if there's anything you'd like me to explain, let me know and I'll do my best to answer.
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😶🌫️ That's all of today
For more construction insights check out our website. The best way to support us is to share this with three friends you think it will help. Feel free to reach out on X, Mastodon or Bluesky - @obiwonky - 👋 Anthony
PS: Quality Management Checklist Access
All our checklists are listed on the Checklists page, via the Checklists link in the navigation menu or directly at https://www.constructor.net.au/checklists/.
Anthony Painter
Only C1, CINS and The Trade Tool are free to download. Our other checklists are paid, and you can preview each one before you buy.
Each checklist is formatted on A4-sized paper for easy printing. Be aware that the files are larger than typical PDFs, around 25–35 MB each, as they are saved in CMYK (print-ready) format. This ensures the best quality for printing, even if it makes the files a bit “chunkier.”
Enjoy the checklists, we hope they help you identify quality improvements in your new home or next project - or at least, get you thinking.
PPS: If you haven’t tried out our new AI tools yet, here are the links to check them out!
Why use them? Got construction questions you need answers to? Our specialised AI-powered tools are built on our extensive knowledge base, including blog posts, checklists, and subject-specific content—tailored to help you navigate construction with confidence.
