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Howdy Readers 👋
In this newsletter, you'll find:
📰 Our latest blog post: "Choosing Your Builder: Questions and Answers Discussed - C4"
You may not have seen our checklist on 'How to Qualify Your Builder,' so we decided to dive into the details in this post.
Wondering how to choose a builder you can trust?
If you're building a new home, you don't want to risk working with just anyone. Our C4 'Qualify Your Builder' checklist guides you through the questions that really matter.
It isn't about finding the cheapest builder (that often leads to costly mistakes). It's about finding one with the right experience, reliability and quality standards.
The post breaks down the key areas: company background, team expertise, quality management, time management and cost control, so you can spot red flags before you sign.
👉️ Get the C4 checklist.
💣️ Our Quality Management Checklists for Residential Construction
Our Quality Management Checklists guide you through every step of building your new home, from before you buy land right through to the 6-month maintenance inspection. They're the same detailed tools we use on our own projects, built on our site experience and referenced to Australian Standards and manufacturers' installation guides.
Why are we sharing these checklists with you?
They took over three years to develop. Only C1, CINS and The Trade Tool are free; the others are paid, and you can preview each one before you buy. We don't want to sell them with fear or FOMO. We'd rather you understood what quality should look like at each stage, and why it matters.
People know quality in construction often falls short—there are countless videos and exposés highlighting this. But I believe the real gap is that new homeowners don’t know where to start. They don’t have the foundation to understand what to check, how to spot quality issues, or when to perform these checks.
See all our checklists on the checklists page.
On with the news from this week 😄
🚀 The latest residential construction news from around Australia for the week ending 7-11-2024
If you're new to Constructor, welcome! 👋 You've come to the right place to learn about residential construction and quality management.
If someone forwarded you this newsletter, subscribe here so you never miss one.
🔥 News
What else is happening in the construction sector?
We've highlighted our favourite news articles for the week by marking with a 👉️ and this formatting.
1st November 2024
Call for government to do more to protect apartment buyers as Nicheliving complex remains unfinished after four years - LINK
Rise in building approvals welcome, challenges still plague construction industry - LINK
Dwelling approvals rise in September - LINK
'Past its trough': Building approvals hit 15-month high, signal return of new home buyers - LINK
New homes built up to 45% faster than traditional construction methods - LINK
Off-the-plan duty concession temporarily expanded - LINK
Perth home builders buckle under demand - LINK
Rising costs, shortages, and the path forward for Australia’s construction sector - LINK
Knauf Insulation's glasswool helps deliver thermal and acoustic envelope for Elizabeth Quay towers - LINK
Our comment: I get itchy just thinking about insulation, but I'm pretty sure the Earthwool variety isn't as itchy as old-school glasswool.
The voters Allan needs to win over on housing are volatile – and their numbers are growing - LINK
ACOSS statement on tax breaks for housing investment - LINK
👉️ Concerns Melbourne's mega builds will starve regional Victoria's housing growth - LINK
*Our comment: When commercial construction is busy, as it will be in Queensland from now until the Olympics, it pulls trades out of residential with higher wages. Residential demand stays, the trades don't, and prices go up. It's always happened and always will. The article also points out the gap between city and regional prices, and how hard it is to stimulate all regions at once. That's quite the challenge!*
👉️ Five fixes to the housing crisis – from smaller homes to more builders - LINK
*Our comment: Some interesting ideas here. We're biased, so we won't mention our preferences 😀*
Inner-City Homes Rise Near Jobs, Trams, Schools - LINK
2nd November 2024
👉️ Approving new fossil fuel mines makes both the climate and housing affordability worse - LINK
*Our comment: Mining draws building labour away with high wages. Governments approve mines, mines soak up labour, homeowners wait and costs go up. This article explains the link.*
Australia’s home building industry in ‘dire straits’ - LINK
*Our comment: The way forward is to tackle the bottlenecks: reduce how much skilled labour it takes to build a home, and change the processes, methods and materials to ease supply chain pressure. The common call is for "more skilled labour". I'd ask a different question: how can we reduce the reliance on skill in the building process?*
There are ways to do it, but the big incumbents are like the Titanic heading for an iceberg. They're built to operate in the current model, and the cost of changing could push some into insolvency.
The construction industry is a beast that must be constantly fed. Any slowdown means staff turnover, talent drain and reduced cash flow, as we saw with Metricon. Big companies with big overheads can't pivot quickly, so change has to be gradual to keep the beast fed.
The graphs that show housing is broken - LINK
House prices are still rising, but CoreLogic data shows the property market is cooling off - LINK
Housing loans hit record high - LINK
Fast-tracked housing solutions - LINK
3rd November 2024
👉️ Calls for $10,000 incentives to lure interstate workers to WA’s residential construction industry - LINK
*Our opinion: Grab your popcorn and watch this one unfold!*
Supermarket, Cafe, Gym, Rooftop Bar & Restaurant – Waterworks Road, Ashgrove - LINK
Synthetic chemicals detected in Bungendore's water supply - LINK
Household spending 'surprisingly soft' despite tax cuts - LINK
Finding the balance in housing developments - LINK
462,000 Aussies could be forced to sell their home by February - LINK
Falling auction market drags house prices lower - LINK
👉️ Court of Appeal decision examines late notifications under Home Warranty Insurance - LINK
*Our comment: Read your warranty information carefully. Don't wait for your builder to contact you about the 6-month maintenance inspection, and don't delay reporting defects under your home warranty insurance. Once a warranty period expires, the window closes. The service you got during the sale won't be the same at the back end, so notify defects in writing, by email or registered post (yes, it still works).*
4th November 2024
Perth builder Nicheliving loses legal authority to complete home construction works - LINK
Independents pressure Greens to break housing stalemate after Queensland election losses - LINK
👉️High performance glass a crucial aspect of energy-efficient buildings - LINK
*Our comment: This expands on topics in our recent glazing post (below). A short, interesting read on glazing and energy efficiency.*
Anthony Painter
👉️ Housing groups shore up support for build-to-rent bill - LINK
*Our comment: This is short-sighted. Once everyone is locked in, the screws can be tightened. Residents are bound by the contract and the build-to-rent provider's service arrangements. Build-to-rent serves the provider and will be a long-term headache for residents.*
Sydney council plans to turn car parks into affordable homes for essential workers - LINK
More units proposed for over-50s village to boost affordable housing - LINK
Rents for these two-bedroom units reach $900 a week. Here’s why they shouldn’t - LINK
👉️ ‘Major worry’: High house prices culprit for city exit, dragging down productivity - LINK
*Our comment: I'd never thought about this. A very interesting point!*
👉️ Easing lending rules would make it easier for first home buyers, but would it create financial instability? - LINK
*Our comment: Low-doc, high-LVR (loan-to-value ratio) loans have been done before. A company I worked for tried it briefly, and all I can say is it wasn't fun. Here's a good explainer on LVR - [LINK*](https://www.nab.com.au/personal/life-moments/home-property/buy-first-home/lvr)
5th November 2024
👉️ Another housing construction indicator collapses - LINK
*Quote from article: "Finally, much of Australia's construction capacity has shifted to government big build infrastructure projects, offering workers higher pay for less risk."*
Building approvals bumped up during September - LINK
Peter Dutton wrong to say homebuilding has halved under Labor - LINK
Australian housing is a pressure cooker - LINK
👉️ Two massive projects with 350 apartments to ease rental crisis - LINK
*Our comment: Overseas build-to-rent investors are moving into the Australian market. - [LINK*](https://www.realestate.com.au/news/two-massive-projects-with-350-apartments-to-ease-rental-crisis/)
The Second Coming: New Timber Model to Fix Melbourne’s Squeeze - LINK
Half of renters reveal they have no choice or hope when it comes to housing - LINK
Queensland faces new normal in low vacancy rates - LINK
Coalition stretches facts in yoga workers housing row - LINK
6th November 2024
Builder goes bust owing $880k - LINK
Construction insiders fear speaking out against CFMEU without whistleblower protections - LINK
How to finance the granny flat option - LINK
‘No rain days here’: Incredible shrink-wrapped mansion towers over beachfront, crane and all - LINK
Kingscliff pod site – go back to green space or become permanent housing? - LINK
Sydney builder cops $45,000 fine after trying to appeal fine set by City of Canterbury Bankstown for destroying oak tree - LINK
The shocking collapse in Australian housing affordability - LINK
Build-to-rent bill could ease crisis - LINK
Housing market levers being pulled is good news for lenders - LINK
👉️ There's no place like home - LINK
Half of renters have no choice but to rent, survey LINK
👉️ Shock as Aussie city named in global top 2 for best cost of living - LINK
*Our comment: Except the traffic is terrible thanks to poor planning and road layouts.*
7th November 2024
👉️ Fixing the construction industry house of cards - LINK
👉️ Construction demand grows, but trust issues persist in Australian building sector - LINK
*Our comment: Yep, trust in builders has been lost, stomped on, set on fire, put in a crab pot and lost at sea!*
We wrote about what builders must do to win it back in December 2023 and October 2022.
Anthony Painter
Anthony Painter
Why are building times at a 15-year high? - LINK
*Our comment: A risk and issue register with proper mitigation strategies would help a lot with build times. The catch is the sales model. Builders sell off display homes, so any change behind the scenes has to match what was shown out front, or customers push back. That makes it hard to change processes or materials, so the same system keeps producing the same results.*
As the saying goes, "insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result."
👉️ The challenges faced retrofitting vacant offices - LINK
*Article excerpt: "The report found that there are roughly 90 buildings that were ripe for adaptive re-use in Melbourne's CBD, and should half of these be converted to residential purposes, up to 12,000 new homes could be supplied."*
Housing Minister says housing market "not fair" on young Aussies - LINK
👉️ Apartments are not the housing affordability answer - LINK
*Our comment: Another informative article from Leith. Well worth reading.*
Allan’s new housing policy is good, but pausing the SRL would make it even better - LINK
Requests from you
If you have any requests on areas you would like me to explain, feel free to let me know and ill do my best to respond in kind.
