Construction is a long-term game - each client's work is a month-long process.
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As one of Tasmania's largest employers, the construction industry was experiencing a boom prior to the coronavirus pandemic, with many companies looking to expand.
But the pandemic put a halt to that growth, and while so far the industry has been able to weather the virus storm, many businesses are concerned about the long-term future.
Coronavirus: All the latest updates on COVID-19 for Tasmania
Northern Tasmanian building company Beardwood, which services commercial and residential construction in the North and North-West of the state has seen a decline in the new homes market, but has so far been able to keep afloat due to existing work.
Owner Luke Beardwood said construction was an integral part of Tasmania's economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, but builders and associated industries needed assurance work would still flow past the existing work on the books.
"Given the public perception that the economy has slowed, I expect smaller builders would be feeling the effects much more keenly," Mr Beardwood said.
"The future is a little worrying, if we are talking about what it will be like post-Christmas."
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Master Builders Tasmania executive director Matthew Pollock said the construction industry would make or break Tasmania's economic recovery from the crisis, but at the moment the industry was "on the edge of a cliff".
"While builders and tradies are getting by on work that commenced prior to the onset of COVID-19, that work is fast running out. New orders have deteriorated at an alarming rate and builders are reporting that inquiries are at a standstill," Mr Pollock said.
A recent survey conducted by MBT recorded a marked decline in the number of work on the books of those surveyed, which was more than 250 companies. In January, work on the books showed most builders had about six to 12 months work, but the recent survey showed a "significant contraction" to about two to three months. About 10 per cent of respondents recorded work on the books beyond 12 months.
"This adds up to hundreds of postponed new home builds and means the true impacts of this this crisis are expected to be felt in six to 12 weeks' time if nothing changes."
Mr Beardwood said his company employs 35 staff and while they had not had to stand anyone down, they had been particularly hit by the virus outbreak in the North-West.
He said some of his staff members were part of Burnie's healthcare workforce, all of whom had to go into mandatory quarantine at the height of the outbreak at the North West Regional and North West Private hospitals.
Construction is an industry that has huge flow on effects, with contractors from the painting, electrical and plumbing industries all hinging from construction's robustness, it also affects down the line to engineers, architects all the way to materials like timber.
Social distancing measures also meant there could only be so many people on site at one time, which meant while jobs took longer, it also ate into the profits.
"The overheads remain the same, so the longer it takes the smaller the return," Mr Beardwood said.
While some builders are feeling the pinch, Launceston residential builder Chris Reissig said there was "still plenty of light left at the end of the tunnel".
A builder in the industry for 22 years, Mr Reissig said he had not yet experienced a slowing of his work.
"We do a large proportion of investor work and they are not slowing down at all," he said. A few weeks ago, Mr Reissig said the inquiries to his business did start to slow, which caused some concern. But with a few new inquiries in the past week, he was confident he'd turned the corner.
"We were in a position previously that we could put on another apprentice, but we've shelved that for now to maintain our current workforce with the work we have," Mr Reissig said.
However, he said he felt for younger builders or those who had just started out in the past couple of years.
Mr Reissig said he had insulated his business due to the cultivation of a network of investors, with 60 per cent of his work coming through them.
"That hasn't slowed down at all, which is great but what I'd like to see is more support for investors to keep developing land, because without them we can't build."
Mr Reissig said while the state government had done some wonderful things, such as the extension of the first home builders grant that would support the industry, he'd like to see government enterprise like TasNetworks and TasWater do more to support investors looking to develop land for subdivisions.
The state government has announced a range of stimulus measures aimed at the construction sector such as $50 million allocated to fund maintenance on public buildings and other publicly owned assets. It has also allocated $10 million to the Education Department for maintenance of Tasmanian public schools to improve facilities during the shut down.
However, Mr Pollock said MBT was working closely with the government on how these measures would flow to businesses. He said there was some concern over the timing and release of these measures, and hoped they would be staggered over the long-term, without causing competition.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data for dwelling approvals painted a reasonably positive picture for March, with approvals up on trend terms 1.3 per cent nationally.
"This result indicates that in March, there was no evident impact on building approvals from COVID-19, however the ABS is monitoring for potential impacts in coming months," ABS director of construction statistics Daniel Rossi said.
However, in seasonally adjusted terms, there was a 4 per cent decline in dwellings approved in March, driven by a 8.2 per cent decrease in private dwellings excluding houses.
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