Master Builders Australia Year in Review 2021

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YEAR IN REVIEW BUILDING RESILIENCE, ACCELERATING RECOVERY

MBA 2021 YEAR IN REVIEW

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Building resilience As the country endured a second-year dominated by the adverse repercussions of COVID-19, the effectiveness of Master Builders Australia and state and territory Master Builders Associations in achieving advocacy outcomes was more important than ever.

Ensuring the viability of Master Builders member businesses and the livelihoods of the people that they employ was our top priority. Our advocacy meant that they had a powerful voice throughout the pandemic.

We were on the frontline of the battle to keep our industry operating through the COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions, securing financial stimulus and policy outcomes that prevented thousands of building and construction businesses from succumbing to pandemic related pressures.

With every $1 spent on building and construction resulting in $3 of activity in the wider economy, our efforts have supported the acceleration of economic recovery and the wellbeing of our community.

“Despite the profound impact of COVID-19 on the industry, the economy and the community, Master Builders Australia maintained its position as the pre-eminent national advocate for the building and construction industry.”

Simon Butt, National President, Master Builders Australia

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2021 YEAR IN REVIEW MBA

Accelerating recovery “So for us, 2021 is about making sure that we can be part and parcel of economic recovery.”

Denita Wawn, CEO, Master Builders Australia

In the second year of the pandemic, our advocacy wins supported the viability and resilience of the industry and created conditions for it to build back stronger.

The extraordinary effectiveness of HomeBuilder saved thousands of builders and tradies from going under. Our advocacy ensured that the scheme’s historic success in driving new home building activity was maintained through extensions and expansions that also helped smooth out the pressure on the supply chain resulting from the surge in demand.

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Master Builders Australia and Master Builders Associations ensured that our industry stayed open and Master Builders members could continue to work. When the advent of the Delta strain resulted in governments shutting us down, our The Australian, Wednesday, 12, 2021, pages from 2 to 2 advocacy helped fastMay track reopening.

MBA 2021 YEAR IN REVIEW

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5/20/2021

5/20/2021 5/20/2021

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The Australi

The Australian, Friday, 16, 2021,from pages The Australian, Friday, April 16,April 2021, pages 4 tofrom 5 4 to 5

2021 YEAR IN REVIEW MBA

https://metros.smedia.com.au/thedailytelegraph/PrintPages.aspx?doc=NCTELE/2021/04/17&from=3&to=3

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Housing economic recovery

5/20/2021 5/20/2021

5/20/2021

The Federal Government announced the HomeBuilder grants scheme, launched by the Prime Minister, Treasurer and Federal Minister for Housing. The success of HomeBuilder was immediately apparent, with Master Builders revising our forecast for new home commencements from 115,882 in April 2020 to 145,823 in October 2020. However, even this revision did not capture the extraordinary success of the scheme, which drove the approval of construction of more than 211,000 new homes.

The Australian, Monday, May 10, 2021, pages from 4 to 5 The Australian, Monday, May 10, 2021, pages from 4 to 5

Herald Sun, Saturday, April 17, 2021, pages from 8 to 8

https://theaustralian.smedia.com.au/HTML5/PrintPages.aspx?doc=NCAUS/2021/01/20&from=1&to=1

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Supply chain pressures Residential building was a magnet for spending by Australians locked down in their local communities and shut off from international and interstate travel. This combined with other factors such as government stimulus and strong global demand for building products to form a perfect storm that resulted in massive pressure on the building and construction supply chain.

Australia has a $2 billion trade deficit in wood products

Severe shortages, particularly in timber frames and other timber products, resulted in cost increases, construction delays and cash flow pressure.

Master Builders Australia lobbied for a Federal Government freight subsidy to transport timber salvaged from bushfire ravaged Kangaroo Island to timber mills which brought enough new timber to build 10,000 new homes onto the market.

Our industry is the engine room of the economy, and we worked with timber industry stakeholders, including the Australian Forest Products Association and other members of the Timber Framing Collective, to call for measures to secure local timber supply by increasing plantation stock to avoid a 250,000 deficit in housing frames in the future.

Of those who participated in the Master Builders survey:

91%

Experienced delays in accessing timber

23 length of delay

Days was the average

The vast majority of survey respondents have also experienced timber price increases

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2021 YEAR IN REVIEW MBA

The supply shortages for structual timber has increased its cost by 22.1%

An open letter from the timber framing industry.

Building and construction is currently experiencing a perfect storm.

The COVID-19 pandemic has unexpectedly generated a substantial increase in residential building activity. This unprecedented demand for materials, together with COVID-19-related supply challenges, is creating limited availability of key resources and resulting in longer lead times in many sectors, including the timber framing industry.

And, at the same time, Australians are choosing to use more timber than ever before.

There are two main reasons for this: •

•

Government stimulus packages and low interest rates have seen new house approvals reach their highest ever numbers, and at the same time we’re witnessing record demand for house renos.

More people working and studying from home has driven an increase in the home alterations and improvements market, and also encouraged a move to rebuild in regional and coastal areas.

Let’s get the job done.

The industry knows that timber is in high demand and is geared to providing a strong and stable supply. However, the current building boom has defied most predictions and we’re now having to double down on our efforts to give Australians the timber they need.

Local sawmills are working harder than ever to optimise production and the vast majority of Australian-produced timber still stays here in Australia – with just 3% of domestic softwood sales earmarked for export (mainly low-grade product unsuitable for structural use).

At the same time, importers of framing timber are pro-actively seeking out additional sustainable sources and working with Government to streamline the import process to further speed up and improve supply.

We don’t want to let anyone down, that’s why we’re doing all we can to increase efficiency, streamline production and reduce timber waste.

We’re also investing considerable time and effort to advise and promote Government policy that supports more tree planting, to further reduce the potential risk of not being more self-sufficient in timber products.

The future is looking positive.

We understand the frustrations of not having the tools to do the job. It not only affects productivity and profits – but also staff morale, customer confidence and company reputation.

To all those affected by the increased demand for timber, we want you to know that we recognise your concerns and are here to offer our full support.

In addition, we continue to encourage significant new investment in timber growing, sourcing and production technology, helping to create a sure and stable supply for the future. And that means we’ll be growing more trees, removing more carbon from the atmosphere and creating a cleaner, better world for everyone.

It’s a challenge right now but we’re strong enough to weather the storm. If we work collectively together, we can grow together.

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“With the scale of the government-funded infrastructure pipeline growing and being imperative to economic recoveryfrom the pandemic, now is the time to refine procurement practices to maximise the economic impact in local economies and communities around the country.”

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Amplified impact of infrastructure Our advocacy for the construction of public infrastructure, including defence facilities to be fast-tracked to accelerate economic recovery was rewarded in successive Federal Budgets. Government procurement practices that provide greater opportunities for business, including local contractors and subcontractors, ensure that the benefits of spending taxpayer dollars are felt in local communities and nationally.

Appearing before the House of Representatives Inquiry into procurement practices for government-funded infrastructure, we called for the procurement framework implemented by the Department of Defence in terms of unbundling contracts, earlier payment times, flexibility in contract completion and implementing local capability and participation policies to be applied across the Federal Government’s transport infrastructure pipeline.

“The most significant limitation in government procurement is its failure to adequately tap into local business capability and grow more Australian business and sovereign capacity.

We want measures to ensure that local contractors and subcontractors have real access to opportunities to tender for government-funded infrastructure projects.”

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We got the jab, We got it done Since the onset of the pandemic our priority has been advocacy to keep the industry and Master Builders members working, and the people they employ in jobs.

Reopening the country as vaccines became available was always the national plan and Delta made it increasingly difficult for our industry to work through lockdowns.

Our vaccine campaign was launched to promote voluntary vaccinations and get lockdowns lifted.

We launched a new partnership with the Pharmacy Guild of Australia to boost vaccinations in the building and construction industry.

Video stills from: Let’s End Lockdowns.

Let’s Get The Jab, Let’s Get It Done.

“The involvement of community pharmacies is going to be a major boost to Master Builders Australia’s national ‘Let’s Get The Jab, Let’s Get It Done’ campaign to boost the vaccination rate among builders and tradies around the country.

“Our partnership with the Pharmacy Guild is an outstanding and leading example of the business community working together to boost vaccinations so that we can all return safely to our normal working and private lives, providing that our state and territory leaders keep their promise to open up at 70% and 80%”.

Denita Wawn, Chief Executive Officer, Master Builders Australia

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968,789 Impressions delivered via TV and social media

97% Vaccine campaign video view completion rate

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The future’s we shaped A workforce that meets the needs of the industry is even more important now as we move to build back stronger from the effects of the pandemic.

Our Women Building Australia (WBA) program continues to play an important part in attracting more women into the industry and supporting their long-term retention.

The Federal Minister for Women launched the expanded WBA program at Master Builders Australia’s National Leaders Summit.

WBA commenced delivery of services to support women in building and construction businesses and other measures to support their resilience and success in the industry in addition to the National Mentoring Program.

Senator the Hon. Marise Payne officially launching the extended Woman Building Australia program.

With women making up only 13% of the total building and construction workforce and the industry facing a current and future skills shortage, it’s imperative to get more women to consider careers in the industry.

“The construction industry is going to need more skills in future. The industry needs women as much as men to be entering our industry. Women on the work site bring a whole new dynamic. It brings teams together in a positive way and creates opportunities for everyone to fulfil their potential.”

Craig Edmunds, Chair, Fairbrother National Board Member, Master Builders Australia

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2021 YEAR IN REVIEW MBA

13.0% Women as a % of construction employment

1.4% Women as a % of construction trades workers

International Women’s Day Our message about the large and diverse range of rewarding careers waiting for women in our industry was elevated and amplified on International Women’s Day. We brought together leaders and role models from the building and construction industry to communicate the opportunities for meaningful work, diverse opportunities for career development and success, and our commitment to support women to fulfil their potential.

“I’d like all the young girls to know not to give up on what ever they want to do, to fight hard, and not let anyone tell them that they can’t.”

Melanie Ransley, Sub Foreman, Fairbother Master Builders Australia 2020 National Apprentice of the Year

Stills from our International Women’s Day video that was share via our social media platforms.

“At Simonds, 35% of our workforce are female, with many women in senior leadership roles such as construction supervision and building operations managers. We’re proud to say that across all of our trades, women are represented.

With the help of women’s initiative programs, such as Women in Construction, we aim to see many more females as industry leaders.”

Rhett Simonds, Group CEO & Managing Director, Simonds Group

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Industry Snapshot 2021 Total business

Small business

Total number of building and construction businesses as at 30 June 2021

Of the 410,839, 98.6% are small businesses of the total (less than 20 employees)

410,839

98.6%

Building material prices Over the year to September 2021, homebuilding materials that saw the largest price increases

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33.7%

24.6%

22.1%

18.1%

Reinforcing steel

Plastic pipes/ fittings

Structural timber

Copper pipes/ fittings

18.7%

12.4%

12.0%

Timber Steel beams 2021 YEAR IN REVIEW MBA windows & sections

Aluminium windows/doors

$212.45b Total value of construction work done over the year to June 2021

10.3% Total value % equivalent of GDP during 2020–21

Home renovations

New home approvals

Over the year to September 2021

Over the year to September 2021

122,751

66.8%

Total home of renovation jobs received building approvals

Detached homes

14.4% Medium density housing

18.8% High density housing

17.7%

Of these were in the HomeBuilder cost bracket $150,000 - $750,000

Apprentices Over the year to 31 March 2021

25,005

10,025

People commenced construction trade apprenticeships

People completed construction trade apprenticeships

MBA 2021trade YEAR IN REVIEW 15 As at 31 March 2021, there were 65,065 construction apprentices still in training.

Builders BBQ A popular unofficial fixture on the Federal Parliamentary calendar, this annual event has become a marker for the commencement of the ‘political year’.

In 2021 the event was a focal point for leaders of the building and construction industry and those of the Government and Opposition, Minister’s and Shadow Ministers, MPs and Senators from all sides, decision-makers, powerbrokers, influencers, and advisers.

Top right: Graciete Ferriera, National Board Member of Master Builders Australia, Mr Julian Leeser MP and Susan Butt.

Bottom left: Steve Margetic, National Board Member of Master Builders Australia, Denis Reid, Master Builders Tasmania Board Member and Dick Guit, past National Board Member.

Bottom right: Scott Davies, Chief of Staff of The Hon. Jason Clare MP, Denita Wawn, CEO, Master Builders Australia and The Hon. Jason Clare MP, Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness, Shadow Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local Government.

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2020 YEAR IN REVIEW MBA

Top: David Gates, President, Master Builders Tasmania, Senator the Hon. Eric Abetz, Denita Wawn, CEO, Master Builders Australia, Senator the Hon. Richard Colbeck, Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services, and Ross Mitchel, National Board Member of Master Builders Australia.

Bottom left: Michael Hopkins, CEO of Master Builders ACT, Ralf Dutton, National Board Member of Master Builders Australia, Matthew Pollock, CEO of Master Builders Tasmania.

Bottom right: The Hon. Joel Fitzgibbon MP and Peter Di Prinzio, National Board Member of Master Builders Australia.

MBA 2020 YEAR IN REVIEW

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National Leaders Summit Staged at the Federal Parliament, the National Leaders Summit provided a forum for engagement by the nation’s leaders with those of the building and construction industry.

The Summit hosted speakers including the Treasurer of Australia, Hon Josh Frydenberg MP, Federal Minister for Housing, Hon Michael Sukkar MP, the Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness, Hon Jason Clare MP and the Minister for Women, Senator the Hon Marise Payne, who launched the expanded Women Building Australia which is funded by the Federal Government.

Top right: The Hon. Michael Sukkar MP, Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Housing.

Bottom left: Keynote Address by The Hon. Josh Frydenberg MP, Treasurer of Australia.

Bottom centre: The Hon. Jason Clare MP, Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness and Shadow Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local Government.

Bottom right: Political Commentators’ Panel: Phil Coorey, Political Editor, Australian Financial Review and Geoff Chambers, Chief Political Correspondent, The Australian.

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2021 YEAR IN REVIEW MBA

Top left: Grant Galvin, CEO, Master Builders Queensland.

Top centre: David Gates, President, Master Builders Tasmania.

Top right: Simon Butt, National President, Master Builders Australia.

Bottom left: The Hon. Josh Frydenberg MP, Treasurer of Australia.

Bottom right: Brian Seidler, CEO of Master Builders Association of NSW, Simon Pilcher, President of Master Builders Association of NSW, Ross Mitchel and Peter Di Prinzio, National Board Members of Master Builders Australia.

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2021 YEAR IN REVIEW MBA