From finance approval to construction start: scheduling the gap
Finance approval is not a start date. It is the point at which a client’s money becomes conditionally available, and the work of turning it into a site start falls largely on you.
11 min read
Blog
Housing and Market
The numbers behind the pipeline: approvals, commencements, costs, rates and the housing targets governments have set, and what they mean for builders.
From finance approval to construction start: scheduling the gap
Finance approval is not a start date. It is the point at which a client’s money becomes conditionally available, and the work of turning it into a site start falls largely on you.
11 min read
Managing materials price volatility in your building contracts
Materials prices can move between tender and lock-up. The contract wording and the procurement sequence decide who carries that movement — and whether it lands as a variation or as your margin.
12 min read
Reading housing supply and demand indicators on the ground
Supply and demand indicators only matter when they change what you do next. Here is how to read the signals that reach a residential builder, and how to turn them into decisions about pipeline, pricing and labour.
10 min read
Protecting your business when a subcontractor goes under
A subcontractor failure is rarely sudden, and the builder usually carries the cost. Here is how to structure contracts, records and site controls so a subbie’s collapse does not become yours.
10 min read
How to read housing market cycles when planning your workload
Housing cycles do not announce themselves. What moves your workload is a chain of signals you can watch directly, from approvals and policy settings through to your own enquiry book.
10 min read
Early warning signs of insolvency risk in your building business
Insolvency rarely arrives without warning. The trick is knowing which signals matter, and reading them in your own books as well as in the businesses you deal with.
10 min read
How many jobs a builder can run at once is set by supervision time, not turnover
Most builders work out how many jobs they can run by looking at turnover, head count or the size of the pipeline. The binding constraint is usually none of those. It is the number of hours of supervision you can actually put on site in a week.
12 min read
Housing policy structures in NSW: who actually influences your market
Housing policy is delivered through a web of federal, state and intergovernmental bodies. Knowing which one controls what lets you read your market instead of reacting to it.
14 min read
Land supply and development approvals: what NSW builders need to know
Land supply decides where residential work exists, but the approval pathway decides whether it becomes a job you can price. Understanding both lets you pick projects you can actually build and get paid for.
11 min read
Labour shortages in residential construction: what builders can actually do
The labour market is not something you can wait out. Here is how to keep a residential job moving when the trades you need are booked elsewhere.
13 min read
How interest rate changes flow through to a builder’s forward work
A rate change does not move your work in a straight line. It moves it through buyers’ borrowing capacity, their confidence, and the timing of their decisions — and you feel each step at a different point in the programme.
12 min read
What actually drives construction costs in Australian residential building
Material prices, labour supply, fuel, regulation and finance all push residential construction costs around, and most of them sit outside your control. The builders who survive the cycle are the ones who price the mechanism, not the moment.
11 min read