[CONSUMER AWARENESS GUIDE] 2021 was a very interesting year and it had a significant impact on several key industries in Australia. Hospitality & Tourism, Beauty & Wellness, Sports, Childcare and even Construction all needed to make drastic changes to how they operate in order to survive. Many closed their doors completely, others got creative and thrived. If you want to better understand the problems and pitfalls currently facing the building industry and how to find a qualified, competent building company who won’t go broke halfway through your New Home Build, then, you start by reading this guide. In this guide you’ll learn what Every New Home Buyer in Australia Should Read! And we specifically wrote this, to help you make an informed, intelligent decision.
If you’re in touch with what’s been reported in the media about the Construction Industry in Australia since Covid-19 came on the scene, then you most likely will have seen numerous reports such as this:
“Builders are battling through what is being described as one of their toughest years on record as widespread labour shortages and a scarcity of building supplies bring the sector to its knees. It isn’t only taking longer to finish projects, the cost of building a home keeps going up. And industry insiders predict things are going to get worse before they get better. Tradies are charging more for their services, and the price of materials such as timber and steel has gone through the roof.”
Well we agree, it’s TRUE!
More builders that we know of have closed their doors or gone broke in the last couple years than in any other time we can remember. As a Construction Company who intend to not only stay afloat, but to THRIVE, Guardian Master Builders manage this reality in these logical and intelligent ways.
1. We’ve stopped advertising as being “affordable”. Not that we aren’t, it just isn’t a factor that we can reasonably base our marketing efforts upon anymore.
2. We’ve put our prices up in line with our costs. The cost of building materials goes up all the time, over the last couple years, it’s just gone up exponentially faster than ever before. Where we could once build a home for around $250,000, the same product is now being produced for around $500,000. We didn’t want to increase our charges to new home owners, but wisdom tells us, if we don’t, we too will fall by the wayside along with the myriad of other builders and building companies that have gone broke in recent times.
3. We’ve also increased the remuneration we pay for our site managers, trades and labour. Tradies call-the-shots right now. Because of the labour shortage in Australia, they can pretty much ask for whatever hourly rate they choose. We don’t begrudge them this. We NEED them in order to complete our projects on time (even if it might not be on budget for us). We placed a job ad for a Carpentry Gang just recently that included this important line, “We understand that priority in this market requires higher rates and immediate payment.” We got the initial gang hired in the first couple hours and remain on track to fulfilling time commitments with ALL our clients, and continually seek more skilled trades as we keep on growing – experienced carpenters especially, are highly regarded in our business.
4. We aren’t waiting for Government handouts to fix this thing! We’re just getting on with the job, the job WE do best.
If any one of the above criteria isn’t met, if a business owner is complaining about what it costs to hire trades right now, instead of being proactive and moving with the times, then of course their projects will stall. If they keep advertising as being affordable and don’t account for the rapid rise in building costs, then clients are going to be left with unfinished homes (when the builder declares bankruptcy), substituted inclusions (in an effort to keep costs down) and half-baked projects (where less than qualified or inexperienced trades are being engaged at old work rates in an effort to minimize costs), and maybe, just maybe, they’ll break even.
5. And finally, we’ve started importing some of our key supplies directly from overseas manufacturers, instead of relying on larger conglomerates to do the heavy lifting. By dealing direct we are also reducing the number of cogs in the supply chain, which in turn, reduces the cost of materials to our clients. These changes are welcomed. Sometimes it takes an upset to inspire the action to actually make a change. In hindsight, we’re glad the industry has had a shake-up. It made us step-up and make solid advancements and improvements, in several important areas of our business.
We’ve painted a pretty honest and transparent account of what we’re doing to effectively manage the current economic situation in the Building Industry in Australia that began in 2021, and is now moving into 2022. We have a long term focus and we are quietly and confidently building our reputation as being an industry leader, especially in South East Queensland. NOTHING is too big for us to handle. We’re treating this just like we treat any Clients’ New Home Build, with foresight, creativity, well-managed resources, strategic planning, a little light-heartedness and innovation.
AND, you should see what we’ve got in the pipeline. It will be a real Construction Industry Disruptor that encourages everyone else, to seriously take notice – and LIFT THEIR GAME!
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