As Victoria tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the launch of State Government’s ambitious Housing Statement target of building 80,000 new homes each year, Master Builders Victoria (MBV) is calling for a number of measures to stimulate the industry, as it continues to struggle to meet the benchmark.

According to the latest national data collated by Master Builders Australia (MBA), last year in Victoria construction started on just under 55,000 dwellings.

MBA’s forecasts for the next two years suggest that building starts in Victoria will stay within that same range before creeping up to around 61,000 new homes by 2028-29, still well below the annual target of 80,000

But MBV CEO Michaela Lihou says the deficit is not insurmountable, and if favorable industry changes were introduced, Victoria could edge much closer to the target.

“We have to look practically at what changes can be made now, to lessen the impacts of some of the current impediments to builders getting on with the job,” she says “We believe that there are a number of areas where changes could provide much greater certainty for builders and consumers and go some way to restoring the confidence industry needs to invest.”

According to Ms Lihou, an overhaul of the current Domestic Building Contracts Act and a review of the domestic building insurance system, would both be good places to start.

“The current problems we face with the Contracts Act is that the progress payment provisions are no longer fit for purpose, and there is lack of clarity around what ‘preliminary works’ are and if they form part of the Major Domestic Building Contract.”

“So, we are very much looking forward to hopefully seeing soon what the current review will recommend and getting on with implementing fair and reasonable changes as quickly as practicable.”

“And given some of the economic trepidation in the system at the moment we need to make sure that when it comes to insurance, the major investment of consumers in their new homes is better protected and builders have better clarity and transparency,” she says.

“But what we currently have is an insurance system, that is effectively hindering builders growing their businesses and taking on new jobs. And that can and must be changed.”

Ms Lihou says workforce shortages are also creating critical bottlenecks in delivering Victoria’s annual 80,000 homes target.

“Clearly you can’t build that many homes without an adequate experienced workforce to deliver them,” she says.

“So, we’re calling on the government to lock in Victoria’s future industry workforce by providing realistic incentives to entice experienced workers into the industry and also broader support of apprentices, to get them to join us and support them to stay in the industry.”

“We believe we could do that by providing increased financial support and mentoring programs for our apprentices who will be our next generation of builders.”

Ms Lihou says MBV is also calling for a compulsory Continuous Professional Development scheme for builders to be implemented to support continual upskilling to enable them to keep up with changing regulations and environmental impacts, which would help to future-proof the industry.

“This would also help build consumer confidence and, importantly, elevate the standards of the industry both internally and publicly.”

Ms Lihou says Master Builders Victoria is supportive of the housing target and commends the government on the ‘significant work’ it has already undertaken as it strives to achieve it.

“But we do strongly believe that collectively we can do more,” she says.

“And we welcome the opportunity to discuss these potential reforms with the government to significantly close the gap, when so many more Victorians deserve a place to call home.”