It would be a fair assumption that none of us will ever forget the year 2020 and Corona Virus. No matter who you are there would have been some impact on your life in one way or another. Some people had positive results from the pandemic, but many saw what can only be described as a horrendous year in 2020 with some flow on affects still carrying through to 2021.
How has Mayfair Building Group approached the Corona Virus
At the start of the pandemic many in the building industry feared the worse and started to scale back manufacturing. Take Laminex for example they started to scale back there manufacturing shifts in the fear of a huge downturn in the building industry across Australia, as did many other manufacturing companies such as timber suppliers. Consumer confidence was down, media hype was at its peak and a few of our projects in Crafers, Toorak Gardens and Glenelg all went on pause until a clear direction could be established of where this was all going to lead?
As a local Adelaide family owned and operated small to medium building company in South Australia, we are fortunate to have small projects to keep our tradies busy while some of the larger ones slowed. We managed to keep our plumbers, brickies, cabinet makers, electricians, tilers and carpenters all busy with bathroom renovations, kitchen make overs and huge renovation which was well under way in Tusmore. The interaction all changed a little with social distancing, check ins and other various hygiene practises implemented, but all in all the building processes still ticked along well.
Government Stimulus Package
As we have touched on previously in one of early blog posts the government introduced the $25,000 stimulus package back in June 2020 and anticipated 27,000 households would apply for the grant which would encourage an up take in the slowing building industry.
As we currently speak 88,264 applications have been made for the government grant and this accounts for $2.075bn in grants if they are all successful.
As you would expect consumer confidence was back up and there was a sigh of relief that just maybe we can all get through this in the building industry. Many new home builders saw a huge increase in the number of new homes which are going to be built in 2021 and many small to medium builders such as Mayfair Building Group saw an increase in small home renovations and additions. The key was meeting various deadlines such as approvals, commencement dates and completion dates in order to lock in the government grant, the race was on!
A Spanner In The Works!
So here we all are early 2020 thinking how is this possible a virus no one knows very much about is causing such an upheaval around the globe and we are all trying to forecast the future. Well fast forward to March 2021 and we now have another problem which the Adelaide building and renovation market is facing, no materials!
No materials, how has this happened? As you may remember me mentioning earlier in this article many manufacturers slowed down processing and manufacturing, a lot of materials like tiles, stone bench tops, kitchen range hoods, reinforcement steel for concrete slabs and bathroom renovation fixtures are still stuck offshore and delivery dates are still not confirmed.
Other items such as timber is currently seeing many Adelaide renovations gradually slowing down. Many large home builders are currently being preferred for supply of structural timber due to there huge buying power and massive orders that were placed at the start of the government stimulus announcement. Whereas other smaller builders are finding it hard to get structural timer for their projects. Items such as 90 x 35 and 90 x 45 timbers are still available for top and bottom plates, stud walls and noggings. Many timber manufacturers will not commit to delivery dates at this stage for their products, so watch this space.
The Future Of 2021 In The Adelaide Building Market
Unfortunately, we are already hearing stories of some smaller building firms starting to run behind schedule and a growing pressure being placed upon them from their clients to keep up with project milestones. Will this force the closure of these building companies? We hope not, but time will tell.
What will be next? A shortage in dry wall materials, steel and insulation? Perhaps as we have already seen the first stages of the building phase already struggling. Although many builders will see huge benefits from the government stimulus package some will not be as fortunate due material shortages which is a real shame.
Our projects which I mentioned at the start in Crafers, Glenelg and Toorak Gardens have just about been completed with final hand overs anticipated to be in April this year.
If you are looking at doing a kitchen renovation or a bathroom renovation this year in 2021 please get in contact as we still have spots available for mid to late this year across Adelaide and the Adelaide Hills of South Australia.