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Howdy Readers 👋
In this newsletter, you'll find:
🎯 The metric we believe all builders should be measured by, giving consumers a way to assess their financial health before signing a contract—check out our latest blog post for the details. - READ IT NOW
🚀 The latest residential construction news from new sources around Australia.
If you're new to Constructor, a warm welcome to you! 👋 You've come to the right place to learn all about residential construction and quality management.
Let's get started, shall we?
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📰 Our latest blog post
- Builderpulse: A Financial Health Check to Ensure Capacity, Quality, and Sustainable Growth in Construction Published on 11-10-2024 at 8.00am
Overview: Imagine having a simple way to assess if a builder can deliver on their promises—financially and in quality.
That's exactly what Builderpulse aims to achieve. This week, we’re exploring how Builderpulse works—a financial health check designed to ensure builders are stable and trustworthy, giving both builders and home buyers peace of mind.
We believe this is something all state construction regulatory authorities should implement to help restore consumer trust in the residential building industry.
Read the full post here ➡️ [Blog Post Link]
🔥 News
What else is brewing in the construction sector?
We've highlighted a couple of our favourite news article by marking with a 👉️ and this formatting.
4th October 2024
Embattled builder Nicheliving unveils rebranded company amid media backlash - LINK
👉️ VIDEO: Metricon boss admits he's working hard to repair the reputation of Australia's biggest home builder - LINK
Our comment: They should never have ended up in this situation if they had a proper project management system (like a project charter and beyond) and a functional quality management system in place.
It’s not as if entire industries of professionals—and consultants—don’t exist specifically to perform these functions, and it’s not like the PMBOK doesn’t exist to outline how to do it effectively. It’s been analysed and refined countless times, yet here we are with 'we’re working on it' after 40 years in business. Good for you, Metricon—better late than never, I suppose. But it's pretty telling where your priorities lie when you compare your spending on marketing versus R&D, operational process and quality management that has a direct impact on the lifetime value of the dwelling constructed.
$50,000 cash boost for first-home buyers in ‘most generous’ Aussie scheme: ‘Nation-leading’ - LINK
Modular homes to solve housing crisis - LINK
👉️ Social housing delivers more than just a home for people with complex support needs: report - LINK
Labor moves to socialise housing bubble - LINK
NSW opens submissions for $3m regional housing fund - LINK
Australia faces deepening social housing crisis - LINK
LRBA housing market impact overstated - LINK
👉️ A dark and stormy housing crisis – what they said at Let’s Hack Housing - LINK
Our Comment: All in all, this conversation feels like a lot of people shouting from their own corners, waiting for someone else—be it the government, market, or community—to step up with solutions that they can then analyse or critique.
It’s definitely important to bring different voices and perspectives together, but what's missing is a clear, shared direction and practical steps forward.
Right now, it's reactive rather than proactive, lacking any real roadmap or commitment to action. If this discussion could shift toward specific, actionable plans, with people taking responsibility for getting things done, it would be much more effective. Otherwise, it risks being just another event where we talk a lot about the problems but don’t make real progress
Govt Unveils Support for Home Construction Market - LINK
👉️ Why it costs 57% more to build a new house today - LINK
Greens public property developer plan would hit headline cash balance by $308 billion over a decade - LINK
Construction begins on Stage Three of Sanctuary masterplan by Sekisui House - LINK
Paving Way For More Homes And Infrastructure - LINK
Victorian government aims for ‘right balance’ on quarry planning controls - LINK
BOQ sprung for irresponsible lending - LINK
Lendlease and Mitsubishi Estate Asia partner on $500m residential development in Sydney - LINK
Federal government faces pressure after $60m Quasar Construction collapse impacts major projects - LINK
5th October 2024
Metricon remains Australia’s number one home builder - LINK
Unlock the full value of your multigenerational home - LINK
David and Victoria Beckham set sights on $116m Miami Beach mega-mansion - LINK
👉️ Up 25pc: Aussie cities tipped to record double-digit home price growth - LINK
NSW builder owes hundreds of thousands to families left with half-finished houses - LINK
The Five-Point Plan to Support QLD’s $4B Timber Supply Chain - LINK
Labor’s housing bills do nothing to fix the crisis - LINK
Housing loans rose again in August - LINK
The government’s coal approvals could make the housing crisis worse - LINK
👉️ Couple plans to beat the housing market with potential interest rate cuts - LINK
Our Comment: I don’t see this as a viable long-term strategy. It’s just short-term price arbitrage until the opportunity disappears. While I’m glad they capitalised on it, once it becomes widely known, it’s no longer a real strategy. With more southerners selling their higher priced homes and migrating north, or into less costly locations, the less costly locations rise to parity, and then the market changes again.
👉️ Why Removing Negative Gearing Won’t Solve the Housing Crisis – and Could Make Things Worse - LINK
Our Comment: I’m honestly confused. Just a few months ago, we were hearing that negative gearing was a key reason why some people could build large property portfolios, making it harder for potential home owners to enter the market and driving up rental prices. Now, we’re being told that’s not the case? So, which is it? Is negative gearing a cause of this issue, or isn’t it?
Council acknowledges Queensland Government release of Redland Housing Strategy - LINK
6th October 2024
👉️ International governments, super funds and global business giants cashing in on Aussie home building boom revealed - LINK
Our Comment: Smaller builders to be squeezed by consolidation in top of market + economies of scale by larger international corporate owners who are providing liquidity to "top heavy" national construction companies to get them through short term woes.
👉️ Unfinished homes flood market amid construction strife and cost pressures - LINK
Our Comment: Perhaps the market opportunity for new investors lies in capitalising on constructions woes and converting them into constructions highs? The main issue that comes to mind with these projects are compliance certificates from installed works. You would have to ensure everyone related to the project has been paid and has issued a compliance certificate or it may be very difficult to get a certificate of occupancy and/or insurance in the future. So these projects come with risk that needs to be fully investigated.
Fast-Tracked State Facilitated Development for Brisbane in 2024 - LINK
Statewide secondary dwelling code could help build Queensland granny flats faster, cheaper - LINK
Government braces for housing showdown in Parliament - LINK
New plan to curb growing housing crisis - LINK
7th October 2024
Sherridon Homes opens new office - LINK
Apartment repair laws create extra burden for owners - LINK
More supply is housing affordability fools gold - LINK
2.2 million reasons to second-guess new housing plan - LINK
👉️ Australia's 13M Spare Bedrooms: Housing Crisis Fix - LINK
Suburban skyscrapers? How developers could be allowed to exceed apartment height limits - LINK
Older women 'speed dating' for the ideal flatmate due to soaring rental costs - LINK
8th October 2024
👉️ Qld government proposes new measures to support construction of secondary dwellings - LINK
Our Comment: Car parking! Older areas with larger block sizes thankfully have wider streets, unlike the high-density developments of the last 20 years where developers seem to care more about profit than the needs of consumers. More dwellings mean more cars, and parking is a key design factor when constructing multi-residential buildings. This should be a major consideration when increasing density. I’m just saying—it needs to be addressed.
Housing, Flat-Packed: New Timber Systems to Drive Grander Designs! - LINK
👉️ Less blocking, more building: Parliament urged to pass housing legislation without double dissolution - LINK
Our Comment: Build to rent is a great way to transfer wealth to private equity and institutional investors. If you've read what's going on in the aged care sector, this is much the same as the Build To Rent model being "pushed" through. We believe CLT's are a better option that is currently not being discussed as far as we can determine. You can read our thoughts on BTR and CLTs by clicking on the article links below.
Anthony Painter
Anthony Painter
Building costs drive demand for prestige homes in ‘red-hot’ Perth market - LINK
👉️ Architects Compose, Residents Play Tune - LINK
Our Comment: We completely agree with Sophie. The modern house design is outdated and, frankly, ridiculous. It hasn't evolved in over 100 years. These homes are energy inefficient, poorly constructed, and the layout of entire housing estates does little to foster a sense of community.
Victorian first-home buyers offered $60,000 discount on house and land packages: Stockland - LINK
Housing’s New Frontier: Developer 3D-Prints Entire Neighbourhood - LINK
‘Just isn’t enough’: Grim new stats prove there’s never been a worse time to be a young Aussie - LINK
Housing market cools - LINK
Controversy as council shrinks development project despite looming housing targets - LINK
👉️ New research calls for Boomers to end housing crisis by renting out some of the 13 million spare rooms across the country - LINK - LINK 2
Our Comment: So, according to the media, not only is it the Boomer's fault for using negative gearing, but now its their fault for not fixing the housing shortfall by welcoming boarders into their home!
Labor to reintroduce housing co-ownership Help to Buy Bill after Greens, Coalition roadblock - LINK
9th October 2024
👉️ Nicheliving boss speaks for first time, believes ‘divine intervention’ has helped his company - LINK
Our Comment: There is no requirement for a psych test to maintain a license. If there was the entire residential construction industry would cease to exist overnight 😄
👉️ $50,000 penalty for former directors of Flexible Homes – Pavreet Singh and MD Touhidul Islam Sunny - LINK
The Urban Forest in the Rivercity — Plans for World’s Greenest Skyscraper - LINK
'Foisted on the community': party says it will scrap state-facilitated project proposals - LINK
Key Australian industry indicators - October 2024 - LINK
Nearly 80% increase in women learning a trade - LINK
Falling apprentice numbers a worry for housing targets - LINK
👉️ Sydney and Melbourne suburbs dominate improved housing affordability - LINK
Housing Minister Clare O’Neil hints at double dissolution threat, calls on Greens, Coalition to pass key housing Bill - LINK
👉️ How the aged care reforms will make our housing crisis worse - LINK
10th October 2024
Five ways to get started in buying your first home - LINK
The builder bonuses bringing sweet relief to Victoria's first-home buyers - LINK
Bleak truth about Australia's housing shortage crisis as new build numbers hit 10-year low - LINK
Australia sees drop in new builds - LINK
Costs, labour shortages, and competition drive a decline in housing development - LINK
Have your say on the Home Building Compensation Scheme review - LINK
More cranes on city skylines, but fewer are building homes - LINK
👉️ Builders Face Quality vs. Profit Dilemma, Solutions Exist - LINK
Anthony Painter
Affordable housing demand gaining momentum - 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 to you.
