What’s with all the building delays?

There’s been a lot of talk about building delays, supply issues and labour shortages in the building industry. At Levonix Homes we wanted to give our customers a quick update on what is going on and how we are managing things.

As local builders on the Surf Coast, Bellarine and Geelong regions, we know there are people who are having to wait longer than they wanted to move into their new home. We also wanted to reassure our customers that the Levonix Homes team is committed to getting you in your new home as soon as possible.

To say the building industry is facing a few challenges at the moment would be a bit of an understatement. Anyone building or renovating a house will tell you that in the last 12 months its taking longer and costing more to build.

It’s an incredibly frustrating time for everyone, but in particular for those of you who can’t wait to finally be able to move into your new home.

The whole team at Levonix Homes is working hard to keep delays to a minimum but we thought it would be useful to give you a brief overview over why the building industry is going through such a challenging time.

Although Levonix Homes are still facing delays and some supply issues, we’re lucky that the way we work (capped build numbers, local builders and so on) has protected us from many of the challenges faced by other builders.

Building delays due to demand, supply, COVID and natural disasters

So what’s going on? What isn’t to be honest. It’s been quite a year already (and it’s only May).

Housing demand was already at super high levels. Surging house prices and the effect of state and federal government incentives, lockdowns and rising rents encouraged many people to build their own homes or renovate existing ones. This was true across Australia, but particularly in Victoria. On the Bellarine and Surf Coast we’ve seen enormous increases in the number of people wanting to make this part of the world their own (and who can blame them).

Demand for new home builds was already high. Add to that the delays caused by the pandemic with labour shortages, delays in supplies and land releases, things started to take a bit longer. Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine caused a huge global supply issue with building materials. And then we had the catastrophic floods in NSW and Queensland. The floods not only caused massive amounts of damage to homes and factories but also added to supply issues due to repair and replacement needs.

Never has the building industry faced so many challenges all at once.

The Levonix Homes approach

Luckily for Levonix Homes and our customers, the way we work means that our homes are still being built. If you are currently building with us, your site supervisor and customer service team member will be keeping you up to date on what’s happening with your home.

We have always capped the number of homes we build each year. This means quality over quantity. We also are a local builder. Our team work and live locally in the Surf Coast, Bellarine and Geelong regions. We don’t need our staff to travel interstate or even very far to work – they are already here. Because we cap our builds and because we work and live locally, Levonix Homes haven’t had the same issues with managing the workload. Our biggest delays comes in the form of materials and if one of our labourers needs to isolate. There’s also the shortage of labourers across the industry with not enough workers to keep up with demand. Sometimes there are delays that we can’t do anything about. Your site supervisor and customer service team member will work with you closely to keep you informed and updated. We want to see you in your fabulous new home as soon as possible.

If you are considering building but are worried about delays, please come and talk to us. We can answer all of your questions and if you visit us at our showroom in Torquay we can also show you how cosy a Levonix Home is.

To read HIA’s official response to build delays you can download their Consumer Infosheet on Building Delays here.