ADF News

Often described in the post WWII years as `the housing shortage’, the national effort to fix a very troubling problem has over the years come to be called `the housing boom’. Undoubtedly it was a boom in demand and building. There was also a marked increase in home ownership, achieved in many cases through dogged individual effort and years of sacrifice.

Changing social attitudes offered new opportunities, but also narrowed the choices. Emphasis in government housing schemes was at first on rental dwellings; later there was a swing toward the sale of affordable houses. At a time when various influencers had cut the availability of rental houses, governments, banks, finance companies, building societies and housing co-ops were offering a wider range of opportunities for home ownership. Ironically this was at a time of a jump in construction costs.

Top on the list of factors linked to rising construction costs were the introduction in 1948 of the 40-hour week, and marked increases in the cost of building materials. By 1948 an employer had to pay an unskilled building labourer a higher salary than a tradesperson had received in early 1946.

To keep both labourer and tradie economically employed the builder needed a continuous flow of materials which was a rare thing in those times. A shortage of skilled workers also meant poor quality building and a blow out in construction time.

Contract prices were loaded with an increasing profit margin as an insurance against unseen contingencies. Under commonwealth price control, builders were entitled to a 10 per cent `profit’ on the contract price. Above award payments were not recognised in price control and yet builders often found a need to pay above award salaries to ensure a reasonable output.

Unexpected costs could arise when, for example, hardwood flooring was suddenly out of stock, and a higher price would then have to be paid for imported Baltic flooring material.

With local cement taking forever to turn up, a delivery from across the border was sometimes purchased at nearly three times the price. When compared to 1939 prices timber flooring material had, by 1948, doubled in price. Cement had risen by almost 20 per cent and clay roofing tiles by more than 25 per cent. A gallon of quality paint costing around 30s ($3) in 1939 had risen by 40 per cent by 1948.

When added to rising costs and shortages of materials the government restrictions, limiting the area of a new dwelling to 1200 square feet (111.48 square metres) for a timber house and 1250 square feet (116.12 square metres) for a brick house, completed the recipe for an imposed cost-cutting.

The economical plan was necessary; cost-saving and limitations on area made large single-purpose rooms a luxury. Verandahs and generous porches disappeared, reducing the shelter at the front entrance to a minimum area. Ceiling heights had been slowly reduced from the turn of the century and were now usually nine feet (2745 mm). Until the government construction restrictions were lifted in 1952 the acceptance of no-nonsense functionalism was as much a mandated state as it was a fashionable philosophy. This was the era of the great Australian Dream.

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