Construction
Set your project up for success with a reliable construction cost estimate
Imagine you are building your dream house. The one you’ve been thinking about for as long as you can remember. The whole family is on board. You know how many bedrooms and bathrooms it needs to put an end to shared rooms and bunk beds. You’ve included a butler’s pantry, and a walk-in robe, and…
Read MoreHow Professionals Keep Up with Construction Cost
Maintaining a successful career as a recognised specialist requires constant improvement. You certainly wouldn’t want your brain surgeon to have finished their residency in 1980 and then thought, “That’ll do for study – pretty much got it nailed I reckon!” But it’s not just about keeping your licence, registration and training up to date. Being…
Read MoreMitigating Your Development Risk with a Comprehensive Construction Estimate
Have you ever noticed on TV house renovation shows that they rarely talk about the budget? Sure, they look at what price they want to get at auction and how much increase that is over the original purchase price (conveniently excluding oh so many costs along the way), and every now and then they rejig…
Read MoreRenovation Cash Grants – Please, Prime Minister, I want some more
I went out for dinner last night. This would not normally be a news story, but in the current landscape, I could write an article just about that!!!!! Fresh in the back of my mind was the article that I recently wrote for the Australian Financial Review, about the Federal Government’s announcement on Monday of…
Read MoreCoronavirus creates the most competitive building environment since the GFC
A study by MCG Quantity Surveyors has revealed property owners are now securing the most competitive building and renovation environment in almost a decade. MCG Quantity Surveyors were recently featured in the Australian Financial Review on the back of their recent analysis of construction contracts prompted a survey of builders which revealed most are dramatically…
Read MoreWithout COVID-19,we were going to be having a great year in Building!
If we compare the number of homes that commenced construction in 2018, compared to 2019, 2018 wins. In fact, the total number of homes that commenced construction in 2019 was 174,246. The total number of new homes that commenced construction in 2019 was 22.6 percent lower than in 2018. So, over the full year, 2019…
Read MoreEnsuring your home is adequately insured – What you need to know
Please raise your hands if you have received the “Dear Local resident” letter in the mailbox offering you the free property appraisal on your property? Yes, it appears we have all had one at some point in time. Today one of our staff brought in one such letter and showed it to me and asked:…
Read MoreYou Have Missed The Boat There Is An Embargo – Insurance update
The bushfires have steadied, the fires that were out of control are now under control, if not now largely all extinguished. It is now time for the long road to recovery. Many endless hours of insurance assessing, demolition of existing destroyed properties, delays due to contaminated waste (older house with asbestos), thousands of kilometres of…
Read MoreCase Studies – Estimating costs of our very own Australian Solar Farms
In May 2019, Giles Parkinson titled an article “It’s not easy to build a solar farm in Australia any more”. This was published on the Renew Economy website on the 16th of May 2019. Mr. Parkinson goes on to state that albeit in the past, the powers to be believed it was easier to build…
Read MoreBuilding approvals point to a potential future housing shortage
It doesn’t seem that long ago we were talking about an oversupply of apartments across Sydney, South Melbourne, and Brisbane. However, a lot has changed in the past few years. The ABS October figures on building approvals show a seasonally adjusted estimate for total dwelling units falling by 8.1% in October. The graph below from…
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