16 June 2023
Master Builders is urging the Queensland Government to follow Victoria’s lead and delay the introduction for some National Construction Code (NCC) requirements that are due to start on 1 October 2023.
With the state government forging ahead with the decision to introduce liveable housing and energy efficiency requirements as part of the NCC changes, builders and homeowners will face rising costs to build a home.
Master Builders have been working with the Queensland Government to obtain practical solutions to ease the transition.
On Thursday 15 June, the Victoria Government acknowledged that ‘the building industry is experiencing significant global economic challenges’ and announced an extended transition for the requirements – moving the mandatory commencement date out to 1 May 2024.
Queensland is now the lone state moving ahead with a 2023 introduction of all Code changes.
Master Builders CEO, Paul Bidwell says Queensland should follow Victoria’s lead to give builders more time to prepare for the changes.
The changes will add around $20,000 to the cost of building and nothing has been done to educate homeowners on what the changes will mean in practical terms.
“More time will allow builders to plan better and work to provide cost-effective and practical solutions for what are complex changes. It will also allow time for the energy assessment software to be updated and released,” Mr Bidwell said.
The software used by most Queensland energy assessors is still not available with the NCC changes – this means some builders haven’t been able to work out if their designs need further changes or the likely increased costs for homeowners.
“The latest dwelling approvals continued to fall, dropping a further 23 per cent in April. Now is not the time to add more cost and complexity to new housing, particularly in the face of the current housing crisis. We need to build more homes and they must be affordable.”
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