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Katie Woolf spoke with Master Builders NT CEO Dave Malone · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining us on the line right now is Dave Malone,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Executive director of Master Builders. Good morning
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: to you, Dave, Good morning Katie.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: How are you very well?
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Well, let's start off with obviously the Excellence in Building
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: and Construction Awards held on the weekend, and gee, you
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: had a record number of entrants and some unbelievably good
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  Speaker 1: projects recognized.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely. You know, when we looked at this in twenty twenty,
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: we were thinking, my god, how hard will it be
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  Speaker 2: to put on a great Excellence night? And then along
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  Speaker 2: came what we saw on Saturday night, which was fantastic.
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  Speaker 2: It really showcased the very best projects that the Territori's
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  Speaker 2: got to offer you, the best companies, and then our
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  Speaker 2: rising stars as well, of course you were Our MC
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  Speaker 2: did a fantastic job, and the companies like Sun Build
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  Speaker 2: and Mactee Designer Constructions and Hali Costs and others scooped
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  Speaker 2: some fantastic prizes.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they really did. And I always think it's a
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: fantastic event because it's wonderful to hear and see about
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: the construction work which is happening in the Northern Territory,
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  Speaker 1: and we know that there's you know, there is quite
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: a bit still despite it being a tough year with COVID.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and I think sometimes we forget how big our
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: industry really is. There's twelve thousand people even in the
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  Speaker 2: middle of COVID still work in construction and that they're
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: employed by up to twelve hundred firms. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: I think you've heard me say before that we look
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  Speaker 2: at it as in every street, in every town there's
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: a family or someone relying on construction for a living.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: That's exactly right. And you know, from our smaller projects
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  Speaker 1: like house extensions and even your home builds to some
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  Speaker 1: of the biggest infrastructure projects in the Northern Territory, it
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: just goes to show you really how diverse the industry
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  Speaker 1: is as well.
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  Speaker 2: I agree. And many of those winners from the weekend
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  Speaker 2: they'll go forward now to our national awards and there's
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  Speaker 2: about five thousand projects that all line up to pick
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  Speaker 2: up a few of the most preeminent awards in Australia,
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  Speaker 2: and year in year out, Territorious do really well. We
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: sometimes have a bit of a cringe about what we're
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: capable of, but other people don't see it that way.
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  Speaker 2: They know the Territory does well now, Dave.
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  Speaker 1: When you talk about just how much is happening in
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory at the moment, very often we look
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  Speaker 1: at the Fidelity Fund which shows you sort of how
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: many new builds there are, how many extensions there are,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: and some of that other work that's underway. Now for
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: the last quarter or for four October, we've actually seen
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: quite a good month, haven't we.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, And it's actually quite interesting to me that, you know,
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  Speaker 2: as we've been coming out of this COVID process, just
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: how the market's responding. And one of the strongest indicators
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: that we've seen so far is the new build market.
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  Speaker 2: You know, that's mums and dads trotting down to a
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  Speaker 2: display village or talking to a builder and committing to
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: build a new home. And last month in October, forty
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: four family signed contracts to get a new home built.
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  Speaker 2: That's just in Dale and Caturing, Tenter Creek and Aalyis
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  Speaker 2: So doesn't include the bush work. That's a lot of
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  Speaker 2: work for a lot of firms around town.
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  Speaker 1: How does that compare two other months throughout the year,
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  Speaker 1: or even to last year, well, last.
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  Speaker 2: Year, it's a really interesting comparison to be honest that
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  Speaker 2: the result we've got in October this year is over
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  Speaker 2: one hundred percent higher than the same results we were
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  Speaker 2: getting last year. Wow, we did seventy five certificates in
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  Speaker 2: October and we did thirty seven in October twenty nineteen,
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: which was a pretty tough time. And I think you
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: and I spoke about that at the time. But you've
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: got to acknowledge as well that you know, in the
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: middle of a crisis, we seem to have convinced people
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: that with low interest rates and all the great incentives,
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: it's time to build.
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  Speaker 1: I was going to say, what has changed over the
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: last year, Dave, Is it just that or rather is
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: it the incentives what's really keeping things moving?
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  Speaker 2: In that way, you have to think that the incentives
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  Speaker 2: are having a huge impact. You know, we've got to
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  Speaker 2: build bonus from the territory government, you know, offering significant
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: amounts of money. You've got the Commonworth government through home
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Builder as well. If you're a new home buyer today,
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  Speaker 2: both governments will give you fifty five thousand dollars cash
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  Speaker 2: to build your home, and then when you trot off
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  Speaker 2: to your bank, they're going to give you an entry
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  Speaker 2: level interest rate that starts with it too. I'm old
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: enough to remember when interest rates are seventeen percent. So
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: you put all that together, and I think that's the
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  Speaker 2: reason that people have come back into the market.
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  Speaker 1: And Dave, you know, we know that there's I guess
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: there has been over the last sort of a couple
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  Speaker 1: of years as well, a real push from each level
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  Speaker 1: of government to keep the construction industry going because we
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: know that, you know, when the construction industry and housing
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  Speaker 1: industry is doing well, that then you've got your builders,
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  Speaker 1: you've got your subbies, you've got everybody out there spending
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: money in the community.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: That's very true. You know, we use some stats to
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  Speaker 2: say that, you know, somewhere between sixty and about one
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  Speaker 2: hundred and twenty different firms will turn up and be
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: involved in a housing project. As incredible as that might be,
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: you know, from the first plumber who turns up with
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  Speaker 2: a back hoe and digs a hole right through to
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  Speaker 2: the last person who you know, water's in the grass,
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  Speaker 2: there's a lot of people who get benefit from that.
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  Speaker 2: And then residential construction in particular is really quite interesting
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  Speaker 2: about how quickly the money spent there starts to spin
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: through the wider economy as well, and the numbers say
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  Speaker 2: that for every one job in construction, there's two outsider
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: construction that are benefiting from that work as well. So
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: I think it's all part of what we're seeing, you know,
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  Speaker 2: as we drive around our community right now, there's just
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  Speaker 2: a little bit more activity because that money is being spent.
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  Speaker 1: Dave. One of the other things that we do get
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: asked about quite a bit, and it came through a
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  Speaker 1: little earlier this week as well, was a question wondering
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: if there was any chance or any way that the
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: government could speed up the payments when it comes to
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: you know, when it comes to the trading scheme or
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: the home improvement scheme and the way in which our
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: trades people are being paid right now. Is this something
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: that's being raised with you in the industry sporadically.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: I think there are some people are who send to
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: be doing fine and others that have, I don't know
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  Speaker 2: for what reason, have struggled to be paid. The government
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: has worked really hard to get payment out of the door,
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  Speaker 2: and you know, considering the scale of the program, I've
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: always been pretty prepared to cut them some slack. I
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: know it's not easy if people have got a cash
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: flow much longer periods until they get paid, and that
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: shouldn't happen. But at the same time, they're spending one
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  Speaker 2: hundred million dollars of taxpayer's money to support activity in
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  Speaker 2: our community, and you want some checks and balances in
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: place as well. So it's a bit of a you
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: know six you know, like a beout each way, and
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: in many ways that you're really high hope that no
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: one has to wait. But by and large it hasn't
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: been so bad either.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, and I guess this is the thing. There
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: is always going to have to be those checks and
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: balances in place. Like you said, it is taxpayers dollars,
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  Speaker 1: so we've got to make sure that things are done properly.
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  Speaker 1: And from what I can gather, they have tried at
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: different times to speed things up a bit, but like
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  Speaker 1: you said, it's obviously not ideal if there are people
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: that are waiting extended periods of time to receive those payments.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and we all know that the trading who comes
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: around and puts the fence up, or you know, does
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  Speaker 2: the new kitchen or whatever, more likely than not they'd
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: have to pay for all those materials before they've installed them.
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  Speaker 2: So they're already carrying those costs, and then if they've
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: got to wait, you know, another four weeks to get paid,
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  Speaker 2: that's a lot of money that you might be carrying
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  Speaker 2: by the end of the month. So I really have
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  Speaker 2: a lot of sympathy for those people. Yeah, and we
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  Speaker 2: really hope they don't struggle too much. It's just that
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  Speaker 2: balancing act.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: Absolutely well, Dave Malone, it is all good to catch
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  Speaker 1: up with you. I really appreciate your time this morning
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  Speaker 1: and keeping us up to date with what is happening
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  Speaker 1: in the construction sector. Master Builders NT Director Executive Director,
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  Speaker 1: Dave Malone, thank you for your time.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: Have a great day, Cattie, you too,