Howdy Readers 👋

In this newsletter, you'll find:

🎯 Our thoughts on how to improve construction quality across Australia - our latest blog post

🚀 The latest residential construction news from new sources around Australia.

❓️A question for you


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?

Before we forget, if someone forward you this newsletter, don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter so you never miss out!


📰 Our latest blog post

Opinion: Everyone is talking about how bad things are in residential construction, and I completely agree. What I don't see are solutions being discussed—just blame. Acknowledging the problem is the first step, but the next steps are taking responsibility, learning, and then taking action! So in this latest post we put forward some strategies on how to improve residential construction quality.

Construction Consequences: When Is Enough, Enough?
Summary:"Is Your Home Built to Last?"
Home Owners across Australia are fed up with poor construction quality and endless defects. Even with regulations in place, many builders seem to face little accountability. In our latest post, we take a closer look at what's going wrong and share some practical ideas—like making Inspection and Test Plans mandatory and introducing a demerit point system—that could help turn things around. It’s time to raise the bar and make sure every home is built to the quality you deserve. Curious to know more? Read the full story.

🔥 News

What else is brewing in the construction sector? Well, quite a lot actually. Here are the best articles from this week. We've highlighter a couple of our favourites, marked with a 👍️

To us, the biggest news of the week was that Metricon had finally sold out its majority share (51%) to an international company.

1st October 2024

Homes for Queenslanders: Builder for 200 social, affordable Southport homes - LINK

Metricon Homes in $115m takeover bid from Japanese firm Sumitomo Forestry - LINK

👍️ Australia's Largest Home Builder, Quietly Sold - LINK

Everything you need to know about the NT government's new housing incentive grant scheme - LINK

WA Premier weighs in on Nicheliving saga - LINK

Wondering whether to go with I-joists or Posi-Struts in your next project? A side-by-side comparative build finally reveals the fastest, most economical flooring construction method - LINK

👍️ NSW Security of Payment Act Amendments – Loophole closed for unlicensed residential builders - LINK 1 | LINK 2
👍️ Architects respond to NSW draft Building Bill - LINK

Time to adapt - the ban on engineered stone - LINK

Five minutes with CSIRO's Melissa James: This month we spend five minutes with Melissa James, Senior experimental scientist at the CSIRO to find out about RapidRate, a new artificial intelligence system that estimates energy efficiency for homes across Australia. - LINK

Homes for Queenslanders: Wynnum social housing fast-tracked - LINK

Have your say: The Northern Beaches (NSW) Housing Crisis - LINK

Queensland’s 33,000 lost homes - LINK

👍️ Housing specialist calls for negative gearing to be ‘optional’ - LINK

Net zero housing deal - LINK

Townsville house prices growing faster than all Australian capital cities - LINK

2nd October 2024

New homes to lift the bar for key workers in regional South Australia - LINK

First regional homes ready for key workers - LINK

Apartment collapse demolishes Labor’s housing target - LINK

Dwelling approvals drop amidst volatility - LINK

👍️ New calls to drop housing targets and standards - LINK

High-density issues hurting Australia's housing goal - LINK

In Australia's housing policy debate, wouldn't the real scandal be if negative gearing WASN'T being examined? - LINK

Fresh tumble in apartments threatens lofty housing goal - LINK

Call for Planning Overhaul to Support Housing Supply - LINK

Double dissolution election threat to be revived in parliament over housing fight, as $100m crisis fund opens - LINK

3rd October 2024

Foreign workers not the answer to construction crisis: Hutchies - LINK

👍️ Australia’s biggest home builder, Metricon, schooled on its handling of customer complaints - LINK | The beginner-friendly course, which costs $2,250 per person, teaches students how to implement a quality management system to boost customer experiences. (Opinion: I can't believe this. It reads like a joke!)
👍️ Fund councils to tackle housing crisis, says ALGA chief - LINK

Worst Housing Approvals result in 10 years – but today there was also good news in NSW - LINK

👍️ Ugly truth about the housing crisis - LINK

SMSF are not distorting the housing Market - LINK

August building approvals stray further from housing target - LINK

Albanese government under fire for housing failure with ABS data showing Australian dream ‘slipping further away’ - LINK

👍️ ‘Scary’ figures: We're only building half of the housing we need - LINK
👍️ 'Business as usual': What the Metricon sale means for Aussies building homes - LINK Personal note: BAU means "Cool and Normal - as in, don't look, look over there!"

“Staggeringly different”: council advises against proposal for Docklands “utopia” - LINK

Redfern’s ‘Murder Mall’ Gets New Lease of Life with $500m Village - LINK


A QUESTION FOR YOU
Do you prefer news links as a list as they are shown or would you like a short summary of the post in addition to the title and link?
Let me know. Thank you

Requests?
If you have any questions about residential construction or aspects of the construction process that you'd like me to explain, feel free to let me know, and I'll do my best to respond.

That's all of today

For more construction insights check out our website. The best way to support us is to share this this with three friends who you think this content will help in some way. I'm firing up my Twitter (X), properly this time, so feel free to reach out on X @obiwan57bby🙏 Anthony