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Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin: Broome airport hit with massive flight delay record

Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin: Broome airport hit with massive flight delay record

Flights leaving one Australian airport have had the largest delays in the entire country, with almost 70 per cent of planes delayed.

Figures, released by the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics report, found less than 30 per cent of flights headed from Broome to Perth left on time, the worst route in the entire country.

The report looked at delays and cancellations across all major Australian airport in the month of June.

Airlines included in the report were Virgin Australia, Qantas, Jetstar, QantasLink and Rex Airlines.

The figures for on time arrivals in June reached all time lows for all 58 travel routes looked at.

Qantas recorded the highest percentage of cancellations at 8.1 per cent during the month, followed by QantasLink, Virgin Australia, Jetstar, Virgin Australia Regional Airlines and Rex Airlines.

Australia’s signature airline company Qantas recorded just over half of their airlines arrived on time in June, at 59 per cent, while Virgin achieved the highest level of on time departures among the major domestic airlines at 60 per cent.

A Qantas spokesperson told NCA NewsWire these flight delays and cancellations are not the kind of performance that they were delivering pre-Covid.

“A rise in COVID and other illnesses among airline crew as well as the tight labor market led to flight disruptions for all domestic airlines in June.” they said.

“We had rostered additional crew on standby which helped lessen the impact of COVID-related crew absences and meant 85 per cent of our domestic flights for the month departed within an hour of schedule.”

“Flight cancellations in July were lower than they were in June, call center wait times are now better than they were pre-COVID and our mishandled bag rates are close to what they were before the pandemic.”

Mildura Airport, which is located in northwest Victoria, recorded the lowest percentage of on time arrivals sitting at more than 47 per cent, while Alice Springs Airport recorded the highest rate of on time arrivals at 87 per cent.

Cancellations were highest on the Sydney-Melbourne route at 15.3 per cent, followed by the Melbourne-Sydney route at 14.9 per cent, and the Sydney-Canberra route at 11.1 per cent.

The report follows after more than 21 flights were canceled in Sydney across the Qantas, Virgin Australia, Jetstar and Rex networks on Tuesday.

Virgin dumped 10 flights, Qantas nixed eight, with two pulled from Jetstar and one from Rex, combined with an additional 20 flights scrapped at Melbourne Airport as of 8.30am on Tuesday.

Both domestic and international flights with major aussie airlines alongside Emirates, British Airways and American Airlines were also dumped on Monday between 6.30am-7am.

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Canadian honeymooners’ fury over $850 ‘snack’ receipt in Mykonos

Canadian honeymooners' fury over $850 'snack' receipt in Mykonos

A newlywed couple was outraged to learn they were stuck with an AU$850 bill after being pressured to enjoy “a quick snack” while on their honeymoon.

Lindsay Breen and her husband Alex, both 30, were left in shock after being surprised by the outrageous bill at DK Oyster in Mykonos.

The couple, who hail from Toronto, Canada, was exploring the picturesque town when they decided to pop into one of the local restaurants.

“We went to the oyster bar for a bite to eat and a drink,” Lindsay explained.

“They immediately said ‘do you want oysters?’ They were very presumptuous. We said yes and he said ‘a dozen?’ so we said yes because a dozen is a typical order.

“My husband ordered a beer and I asked for a cocktail menu and he came back with the beer but I had to ask again for a cocktail menu and he started rhyming off different kinds of alcohol he had, vodka, gin but I asked for a menu.”

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The restaurant worker continued to give Lindsay a hard time about bringing out a menu.

“I didn’t know how it was so difficult to see what they had,” she said.

The server eventually brought the couple “what they consider their cocktail menu” which was simply “a laminated piece of paper with the types of alcohol listed but it didn’t have the brand or the drinks” listed.

Lindsay finally gave in and ordered an Aperol spritz “because they clearly didn’t have a menu that they wanted to give me”.

“He finally came back with comically large drinks so we were thinking it’s their funny thing that the bar does because we didn’t ask for an extra-large cocktail,” she remembered.

“He was very much lurking around the table the whole time. He was always around,” she said of the aggressive restaurant worker.

“When we’d finished the oysters, he was trying to get us to have crab legs and thank goodness we didn’t. He said ‘You know what would go really nice with these oysters? Crab legs. Shall I get some over for you guys?’ and we said no, we just wanted a quick snack and a drink.”

The new bride remembered that Alex claimed to see a menu on his way back from the bathroom listing oysters for US$29 but Lindsay couldn’t believe it.

“We had already eaten the oysters so we thought, ‘Oh God, what are we getting ourselves into with this bill?’” she said.

But worse was yet to come.

“The guy came back with a huge trolley of desserts and he says, ‘So, of course, we’re having cake today’ and starts putting different desserts on our table and we said we didn’t want them and he started getting offended that we didn’t want to take them so I can see how people would be pressured to take more.

“As we kept refusing what he was trying to give us he was getting more frustrated.”

After finishing their snack and “comically large drinks,” the couple was ready to pay and continue with their day.

“When we were ready to leave, I went to the washroom and they had my husband go into a back room to pay which is sketchy,” Lindsay remembered.

“They gave him the bill which was over 400 euros. He was shocked and asked for a breakdown. They had a computer screen that they turned to him and it was all in Greek but we don’t speak Greek.”

Although he was completely shocked by the large bill, Alex paid without any issues after he got a “sketchy vibe” and “didn’t want to get himself in a bad situation.”

“He definitely felt intimidated and he’s the friendliest guy so even if the bill was double he probably would have paid it to avoid any problems,” Lindsay admitted.

“It was pretty crazy. I’m glad in hindsight that we didn’t cause an argument or refuse to pay because it could have ended up worse for us. They know when you’re tourists they take advantage.”

The couple was in disbelief as they walked away from the overpriced beach club.

“It’s so crazy to pay that for a snack,” Lindsay insisted. “We were really shocked, especially because we’d had some really nice meals in Italy and we’re willing to spend when it’s justified but we didn’t get much.”

Despite the shock, the couple is just glad they were able to foot the bill and charge the rest of their large expenses on their credit card.

“I can imagine how someone would end up with no money. It’s not an ideal way to spend our money but we’re fortunate we could pay,” she said.

“On holidays, we like to stumble in wherever looks good. we don’t really research but we’ll probably start. They have a similar atmosphere to the other restaurants to blend in and make people think it’ll be at a similar price.

Lindsay did concede that it was “less busy than the other restaurants”.

“They all had their menus posted outside which is typical for that type of area. They were all similar price points, obviously a little bit expensive but fair for what you were getting.”

She and Alex quickly glanced at the menu outside DK Oyster in Mykonos and believe the oysters were listed at nine euros but later learned that the restaurant priced their menu based on items per 100g.

“So it says calamari is 29 dollars but in fine print, it will say that’s for 100g of calamari so your bill comes up to 300 euros,” she said. “I’m so happy we didn’t go there hungry and order a proper lunch.”

The Breens aren’t the first couple to be scammed by this oceanfront restaurant in Greece.

“Next door, a store owner said he was so sorry to hear that we went,” Lindsay said.

“He said he warns everyone that goes into the store to stay away from there and it doesn’t represent who the Greek people are.”

DK Oyster’s TripAdvisor rating is a measly 2.5 stars accumulated from their 1455 ratings. The page is flooded with 1-star accounts of experiences similar to the Breens’.

“DO NOT GO HERE! Absolutely disgusting behavior from manager and staff. Cocktails are awful and charged €125 plus service for 2! Waiters made us feel very uncomfortable,” one review reads.

“Wish we looked at the reviews before! This place is a joke! 350 euros for 4 drinks! I would definitely NOT recommend going here. Please save your euros!” another reads.

But the staff at the tourist trap do not seem to be very apologetic and often mock their guests who leave bad reviews.

“Thank you for taking the time to post your review, but could you please clarify the exact reason for your disappointment? The prices you mention sound correct, so I would like to understand what the problem was,” a reply reads.

“The drinks were not what you expected, the setting or the service? Your opinion is important to us. So, we would appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to clarify.”

They also mocked customers who claimed to be intimidated into paying the exorbitant prices: “Let me see if I got it right: You were abducted from the beach and shoved by force into a luxury restaurant.”

After all the commotion the restaurant has cooked up, they were recently fined more than $30,000 for scamming two American tourists, the Greek City Times reported.

This serves as a lesson to those who look at the menu and think ‘It’s all Greek to me’ – double check the prices before you sit down!

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and has been republished with permission

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Warning Australians could miss out on Christmas holiday flights, accommodation

Warning Australians could miss out on Christmas holiday flights, accommodation

If you thought the chaos at airports over the July school holidays was enough to send you mad, experts say a whole lot more pain is coming – and not just when it comes to flying.

With Christmas holidays creeping up and the busiest holiday period just around the corner, Aussies hoping for a breezy summer escape are being warned to book now – or face being left out in the cold.

Accommodation platform Stayz revealed one-in-five Aussies have already booked their end of year holiday, with newly released data predicting a possible sold out summer in top holiday home destinations over the Christmas break.

“Booking for year-end Christmas holidays in July is now the norm” says Simone Scoppa, travel expert at Stayz.

“Prior to the pandemic, we knew that travelers mostly booked Christmas holidays in the month of September. But, the last two years have seen this peak period move to July as travelers get in early to secure their holiday home.”

According to the research, families heading into the silly season are increasingly searching for whole holiday homes with pools, in a waterfront or beachside location, and for the accommodation offering to be pet friendly.

Ms Scoppa said heading into July and August, the most popular destinations that have seen a spike in summer bookings include the Fraser Coast in QLD, the South West region of WA, the Barossa wine region in South Australia and smaller coastal towns along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria.

Airbnb, who recently launched the ‘Categories’ section for unique-style homes, predict this summer will have an increased interest from the international market now that border restrictions are over.

“While traditional holiday destinations continue to be popular, last year we saw guests seeking stays in those lesser-known locations that might be slightly further afield,” Susan Wheeldon, Airbnb’s Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand, told news.com.au.

“This summer, Aussies won’t be the only ones snapping up fun and unique homes on Airbnb, with international travelers also looking to experience Down Under – from our world-famous coastal cities and towns, to breathtaking rural landscapes.”

Ms Wheeldon tips locations like Rye, Apollo Bay and Bright to be popular once again this summer, along with South West Rocks and Nelson Bay in NSW.

With airports and airlines across the country – but particularly along the east coast – battling staff shortages, flight cancellations and delays coupled with the post-Covid travel boom, experts warn travelers could be in for long wait times over the summer holidays for both domestic and international travel.

On Monday alone, 21 flights were canceled in Sydney across the Qantas, Virgin Australia, Jetstar and Rex networks. Virgin dumped 10 flights, Qantas nixed eight, with two pulled from Jetstar and one from Rex.

Melbourne Airport faced similar struggles, with 20 flights scrapped as of 8.30am.

This included seven flights from Qantas, five from Emirates and Virgin Australia, two from American Airlines and one from British Airways.

The flights canceled at both airports were between 6.30am and 7pm on Monday.

With airlines struggling to keep up with demand amid staff shortages, Qantas announced they would be reducing flights in July and August.

Domestic and International CEO Andrew David apologized to customers as a result of the ongoing chaos being faced at airports across the country.

“We are the national carrier, people have high expectations of us, we have high expectations of ourselves and clearly over the last few months we have not been delivering what we did pre-Covid,” he said.

“We have reduced some of our flying this month and we’re planning to do the same next month, recognizing the operation pressures we have.”

It is understood the airline will be rostering on extra staff for the Christmas period, and any large widebody aircraft will be deployed to assist with domestic flights if need be.

In 2022 alone, Aussies have faced a string of rising cost of living pressures and accommodation reservations have been no exemption.

It hasn’t exactly been cheap to holiday domestically for many years, but staggering figures show that it has gone from bad to worse in the past 13 months.

Data from trivago released in June – recorded hotel price shifts from more than 400 booking sites for over 2 million hotels around the world in its Hotel Price Index. The survey uncovered an astronomical increase in the price of an Aussie getaway.

It shows the average price of a hotel in Sydney has arisen almost 25 per cent over the past year while hotel rooms in Melbourne have seen a 24 per cent spike in the same period.

This means the average cost of a hotel room in Sydney is now above $240 per night, up from $206 a night a year ago. For Melbourne, the average cost is now $239, up from $200 in August last year.

The CEO of Tourism Accommodation Australia, Michael Johnson said the hike in prices came down to staff shortages still plaguing the industry, with many hotels forced to operate at 70 to 80 per cent capacity which was impacting revenue.

“I know hotels that are still looking for 30 to 40 staff, instead of running two restaurants they are only running one,” he said.

“They’re not taking conference bookings, because they just don’t have the staff to manage those bookings.”

But despite the angst and frustration following travelers to airports both domestically and internationally, Australians have not been deterred from traveling and there’s no sign of it waning off in the future, according to Finder’s Consumer Sentiment Tracker.

More than one-in-two (57 per cent) of Aussies are planning a getaway in the next 12 months, including 32 per cent who plan to travel within Australia, 12 per cent who plan to travel internationally, and 13 per cent who plan to travel both domestically and overseas.

This is up from 49 per cent last December.

According to Finder’s Covid Comfort Indicator, Aussies rank their level of comfort with overseas travel at 4.3 out of 10, up from 2.7 in January. They feel slightly more at ease with domestic travel, ranking it 6.1 out of 10.

“The travel industry is finally seeing some normalcy for the first time in over two years. People aren’t as concerned about prices, they just want to travel again,” said Angus Kidman, travel expert at Finder.

“The key to making the most of any travel sale is to be flexible with dates and open-minded about destinations. Don’t forget to book your travel insurance as soon as you’ve locked in your trip.”

Ms Scoppa agreed, saying with many Australians missing out on travel plans due to Covid-19 interrupting plans in 2021 – the advice was to be organized and book now.

“The advice is simple, we recommend that you book now for your Christmas holidays, rather than leaving it to the last minute, where there may be limited choice,” Ms Scoppa said.

“The Mackay and Central Coast NSW regions are typically favorite summer destinations, that in years past have been close to a sell out, so it is good news for travelers looking ahead to book for Christmas that availability is still looking good for these destinations.”

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Australia

Sky News hosts Andrew Bolt and Chris Kenny clash over Anthony Albanese’s Indigenous Voice to Parliament

Sky News hosts Andrew Bolt and Chris Kenny clash over Anthony Albanese's Indigenous Voice to Parliament

Sky News Australia hosts Andrew Bolt and Chris Kenny have clashed in a heated debate over the government’s Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Kenny – a member of the senior advisory group that guided the Indigenous Voice co-design process – appeared on The Bolt Report on Monday night and told his fellow primetime host that allowing First Nations people to have their say on how to combat Indigenous disadvantage would give them “a fair go”.

“We want to overcome indigenous disadvantage because we have no mechanism for those indigenous Australians to actually have their say,” Kenny said.

“To tell us what they think will help redress health outcomes or employment outcomes or domestic violence in remote communities”

“We ought to allow those people to have a say. It’s a fair go.”

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But Bolt fired back and said it was “more than a fair go” pointing to the proportion of indigenous MPs in Parliament.

Of the 11 parliamentarians who identify as Indigenous there are three lower house MPs – Jana Stewart, Marion Scrymgour and Dr Gordon Reid – and seven Senators – Pat Dodson, Malarndirri McCarthy, Linda Burney, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Jacqui Lambie, Kerrynne Liddle, Dorinda Cox and Lydia Thorpe.

While Kenny said it was not “relevant”, Bolt replied by suggesting Voice would serve as a “separate parliament”.

“Nope. It’s not a separate parliament it’s an advisory body,” Kenny responded.

The Labor Government pushed the issue to the center of its agenda when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared on election night that there would be a referendum in his first term.

The Voice to Parliament was a key element of the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart and called for an elected Indigenous advisory body to the Federal Parliament.

The proposed body would advise the government on issues affecting First Nations people.

Bolt said the Voice would set up a “false dichotomy” and establish race as the defining difference between Australians.

“It stresses its race as the primary difference between us which I think is false, wrong and dangerous,” he said.

Kenny responded by saying that Indigenous Australians are the most disadvantaged people in the country.

“Now there is all sorts of complex reason for that but it is a national shame that their life expectancy is shorter,” he said.

“They are much less likely to finish school, to get an education, to get a job and we all want that.

“And I believe that requires some special attention from government.”

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Willoughby Homes building company collapses, goes into voluntary administration

Willoughby Homes building company collapses, goes into voluntary administration

A NSW building company has gone into voluntary administration, leaving at least 30 homes in limbo.

On Friday night, Sydney-based Willoughby Homes appointed external administrators.

The company collapsed just over 24 hours after NSW Fair Trading suspended its building license for failing to pay back debts ordered by a court.

Homeowners were informed via email late on Friday that David Mansfield and Jason Tracy of Deloitte’s turnaround and restructuring department had been appointed as joint administrators.

A sister company of Willoughby Homes, Project 360 Degrees, which was run by the same leadership team, is also part of the administration proceedings.

It comes after an extensive news.com.au investigation found the company has been non-functional for some time, with build sites stalling for as long as a year, the company’s home building insurance not being reinstated and finally, all its offices being cleared out and phone lines going straight to voicemail.

News.com.au understands around 30 homes were in the pipeline to be built and that at least 10 creditors are owed money. There are also around eight staff members who will be impacted, although it’s understood they had all ceased working at the company in the last several weeks. Staff had not been paid their superannuation in the months leading up to the collapse and one staff member is owed $53,000 in wages.

One creditor, Regno Trades, is owed $184,000 and has a court date hearing this Wednesday calling for Willoughby Homes to “be wound up in insolvency”.

At least 10 contractors are chasing Willoughby Homes over unpaid debts and more than a dozen customers have taken them to NCAT demanding their deposits or progress payments be returned as works have stalled.

Although Regno Trades has applied for Willoughby Homes to be placed into liquidation over a $184,310 payment, several other creditors have also taken legal action.

Five companies have applied for a default judgment over payments they claim is owed to them: H & R Interiors ($73,925), Prospa Advance Millers ($60,913), Scaffolding Australia ($22,794), ATF Services ($5,658) and Green Resources Material Australia ($6,503). ).

Elba Kitchens claimed to news.com.au that they were owed around $80,000 from Willoughby Homes.

Trueform Frames and Trusses claim they are waiting on an outstanding payment from Willoughby Homes of $24,684 from an invoice issued more than seven months ago while Finese Electrical and Air Conditioning claims it is owed $4531 from jobs done in February.

News.com.au knows of two other suppliers owed money.

It’s understood these creditors have not yet been contacted about the company’s voluntary administration.

News.com.au has contacted the administrators for comment.

Do you know more or have a similar story? Continue the conversation | [email protected]

The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) ordered Willoughby Homes to pay back $76,837 to a customer on June 8 and then last week, on July 21, another homeowner was also awarded $38,456, payable immediately.

Both debts were never paid, prompting the building license of Willoughby Homes to be suspended on Thursday.

Two employees who quit several months are also owed thousands in unpaid superannuation in what they said was a sign that the company was on the brink of collapse.

Xavier* worked in the sales department of Willoughby Homes for more than a year before he was made redundant in February 2021. The father-of-three claims he is still yet to be paid $53,000 from his commission fees. To recover the money, he’s spent around $5,000 on lawyers although his latest legal letter from him has gone ignored for months.

He also learned he was owed about $7000 in unpaid superannuation from Willoughby Homes.

Another staff member, Eric*, was owed about $5000 in super and had to get tax authorities to intercede on his behalf to recover his cash.

In June, news.com.au flagged that Willoughby Homes was on its last legs as some customers watched their dream home languish for months in the final stages of the project.

Several other aspiring homeowners forked out tens of thousands in a deposit as long ago as 2020 and to date, nothing has been done on their empty site.

News.com.au also knows of at least two customers who signed a contract with Willoughby Homes when the company was not able to enter into any new contracts.

NSW insurer iCare had not reinstated Willoughby Homes’ Home Builders Compensation Fund (HBCF) since April 2021, with the state body rejecting multiple applications, it confirmed to news.com.au.

That means the construction firm could not begin any new projects that required HBCF — so any project costing more than $20,000.

A NSW Fair Trading spokesperson told news.com.au that “It is a breach of the Home Building Act for a builder to enter into a contract to complete residential building work above $20,000 without HBCF insurance”.

Mum-of-three Marice Hartono and her husband, from North Ryde, gave out $38,000 to the builder as a deposit while Greg Denton and his wife paid $22,000 for a Central Coast home.

Both customers are not insured as they signed after Willoughby Homes’ HBCF had not been renewed and are not entitled to any compensation from the fund.

Ms Hartono told news.com.au she was “devastated” to hear the news that the company had gone bust as it’s left so many “unanswered questions” about what this means for her deposit and her plans of a dream home.

Since June, NSW Fair Trading has been actively investigating Willoughby Homes, with the government department telling news.com.au “The investigation into Willoughby Homes Pty Ltd is ongoing and no comment can be made at this time.

“NSW Fair Trading encourages anyone who has contracted with this trader to call 13 32 20.”

On Thursday, the entity used its powers against Willoughby Homes to suspend its license, effectively stopping the company’s ability to trade at all.

NSW Fair Trading took the drastic action of using Section 42A of the Home Building Act 1989, which allowed them to “automatically suspend a contractor license where the holder fails to comply with an order by a court or the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) to pay money for a building claim by the due date”.

Not long after, administrators were appointed to the struggling company.

Customers have been left reeling over the long months of waiting as the company floundered.

Cherry Cobrador-Wong, 33, and her husband Logan Wong, 35, from Sydney’s west, who recently had a baby, are behind in mortgage and rent because they claim their house has been left untouched since November when it was nearing its final stages.

“I’m crying all the time. I’m emotionally saddened and destroyed,” she previously told news.com.au.

Saif Nabi and his wife Hanniya as well as their two-year-old son have also been left in the lurch.

“One and a half years into it and we’re not closer, it’s just an empty lot of land,” Mr Nabi lamented.

At first the Nabi family were ecstatic about building their dream home in Box Hill, forking out $18,000 in an initial deposit.

But as the months passed by, Mr Nabi said the situation turned “into a nightmare” and he called to mutually end the contract.

“Since then it’s just been complete radio silence,” he said.

Sarah Little and Nikki Young are two more impacted homeowners who forked out $29,000 as a deposit but have yet to see a single worker set foot on their vacant lot.

The pair of paramedics signed with Willoughby Homes in March last year for a $291,000 four-bedroom, two-bathroom home in Menangle Park, in Sydney’s south west.

“It’s taken a pretty big toll on our mental health and we’ve gone from being pretty financially stable to now having to really consider if we can even afford the home we dreamed of.”

*Names withheld over privacy concerns

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RLB forecasts emerging construction cost inflation will ease in 2023

RLB forecasts emerging construction cost inflation will ease in 2023

The rate at which construction costs are soaring – contributing to a spate of high-profile building company collapses – will ease next year, according to new forecasts from global consultancy firm RLB.

Construction cost inflation in Melbourne is forecast to halve, dropping from 8 per cent this year to 4 per cent in 2023, and in Sydney it is predicted to slow from 6.9 per cent to 3.9 per cent.

An even bigger decline is forecast for the Gold Coast with cost growth dropping from 11.5 per cent to 5.5 per cent. Similarly, in Brisbane it should drop from 10.5 per cent this year to 5.1 per cent in 2023, according to forecasts published this week in RLB’s second quarter 2022 International Report.

RLB research and development director Domenic Schiafone said the expectation that costing will ease through next year was due to curtailing demand, likely to be caused by inflationary pressures.

“This easing of demand should allow manufacturing and logistics to get back to ‘normality’ or pre-Covid levels,” he said.

“The easing of demand should also see a softening of material prices with the high level of ‘demand-led price premiums’ reducing.”

Association of Professional Builders co-founder Russ Stephens, whose clients are residential home builders, agreed to escalate costs could halve next year, but off a much higher base.

He said the cost to build a residential home had increased a lot more than non-residential or commercial builds due to the larger percentage of timber used, and that temporary price hikes created by supply and demand were not reflected in the reports we were seeing.

Australia’s typical house build cost has soared more than $94,000 in 15 months, according to figures revealed in analysis by the Housing Industry Association and News Corp Australia earlier this month.

The national inflation rate hit 6.1 per cent in the year to June with new dwellings and automotive fuel the most significant contributors, new figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics this week showed. New dwellings were up 20.3 per cent.

Warning to Australians wanting to build

While construction cost inflation is expected to ease sometime next year, in the meantime the pain will continue.

Mr Stephens said because costs were increasing so quickly, consumers needed to be aware prices quoted for builds would not last long.

“If they’ve had a price quoted that is older than 30 days they should expect to have that price renegotiated,” he said.

He also said consumers would see more builders including rise and fall clauses, also known as cost escalation clauses, in contracts.

“It gives the ability for a builder to pass an increase in cost of materials on to the consumer,” Mr Stephens explained, adding it was common in other countries but Australia didn’t typically use them.

“What I would say to consumers is that’s not necessarily a negative thing because if the builders don’t put those clauses in they’ll have to put more contingency in to the price to protect themselves against potential increases.

“So rise and fall clauses are probably a good thing for consumers because it means they will only pay the cost of the increase rather than an inflated prediction of what increases might be, especially as we’re seeing evidence now that the increases will start to slow down next year.”

Factors contributing to the construction industry crisis

The construction industry is facing challenges so great that high-profile building companies are dropping like flies.

Mr Schiafone said fragmented supply chain issues were not resolved and labor shortages across the nation have continued as a result of the pandemic.

The consultancy’s report noted lead times for some products from overseas were currently

16 to 20 weeks, when traditionally they were half that at eight to 10 weeks.

Additionally, the need for construction labor and materials after recent flood damage will enhance existing shortages across the country, he said.

Mr Schiafone said higher fuel prices, increasing power costs and timber shortages were all symptoms of the war in Ukraine and were likely to linger for some time yet.

RLB global chairman Andrew Reynolds said significant cost escalation, global delivery uncertainty, aberrant weather events causing significant construction delays, and labor shortages were common challenges in the industry across the world.

Failed building companies

The latest company to collapse was prominent Melbourne apartment developer Caydon earlier this week, blaming “one difficult market situation after another”.

The next day, on Wednesday, ASX-listed developer Cedar Woods shelved a major inner-city Brisbane townhouse and apartment project due to rising costs and delays.

It came less than a week after Perth developer Sirona Urban killed off a $165 million luxury tower, where more than 50 per cent of apartments had been bought off the plan, blaming skyrocketing construction costs and labor shortages.

It was the second major apartment project to fall over in Australia last week.

A Melbourne developer, Central Equity, abandoned plans to build a $500 million apartment tower on the Gold Coast, blaming the crisis in the building industry and surging construction costs for making the project unprofitable.

Earlier this year, two major Australian construction companies, Gold Coast-based Condev and industry giant Probuild, went into liquidation.

The grim list has continued to grow from there as a number of other high-profile companies also collapsed, including Inside Out Construction, Dyldam Developments, Home Innovation Builders, ABG Group, New Sensation Homes, Next, Pindan, ABD Group and Pivotal Homes.

Others joined the list too including Solido Builders, Waterford Homes, Affordable Modular Homes and Statement Builders.

Then two Victorian building companies were further casualties of the crisis, having gone into liquidation at the end of June, with one homeowner having forked out $300,000 for a now half-built house.

Hotondo Homes Horsham, which was a franchisee of a national construction firm, collapsed a fortnight ago affecting 11 homeowners with $1.2 million in outstanding debt.

It is the second Hotondo Homes franchisee to go under this year, with its Hobart branch collapsing in January owing $1.3 million to creditors, according to a report from liquidator Revive Financial.

Meanwhile, a Sydney family face never being able to build their dream home after their builder Jada Group collapsed in March owing $2.4 million and the cost of their home’s construction jumped to $1.9 million, a whopping $800,000 more than the original quote.

Snowdon Developments was ordered into liquidation by the Supreme Court with 52 staff members, 550 homes and more than 250 creditors owed just under $18 million, although it was partially bought out less than 24 hours after going bust.

Dozens of homeowners and hundreds of tradies were left reeling after a Victorian building firm called Langford Jones Homes went into liquidation on July 4 owing $14.2 million to 300 creditors.

News.com.au also raised questions about NSW builder Willoughby Homes, which is under investigation by the Government after builds stalled and debts blew out to 90 days.

There are between 10,000 to 12,000 residential building companies in Australia undertaking new homes or large renovation projects, a figure estimated by the Association of Professional Builders.

– with Sarah Sharples

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