Builders hopeful a wind down of Melbourne's Big Build will bring tradies back
The Victorian government is preparing to open the Metro Tunnel project from December. (Supplied: Victorian government)
In short:
As major projects such as the metro and West Gate tunnels wind down, tradespeople will be looking for work.
Hundreds of regional tradies were lured to the city by higher government wages to work on the West Gate and Metro Tunnel projects.
What's next?
Regional leaders are hoping those contractors look to regional areas to fill jobs.
As Melbourne's mega builds start to wind down, there's hope skilled tradespeople will return to regional areas to fill a construction jobs gap.
Hundreds of regional tradies were lured to the city by higher government wages to work on the West Gate and Metro Tunnel projects.
As those Victorian government projects near completion, construction industry leaders are hopeful labourers will return to the regions rather than seek work in Queensland, where building activity is supercharged ahead of the Brisbane Olympics in 2032.
The Victorian government has a draft target of building more than 448,000 new homes across regional and rural Victoria by 2051.
Willing to move
On an average day, Traralgon builder Jye Neilson oversees between 200 and 500 contractors across multiple construction sites.
They include a multi-million-dollar aged care facility in Mentone and a regional arts centre in the Latrobe Valley.
He says as work begins to dry up in Melbourne, subcontractors in plumbing, electrical and other trades are seeking work in the regions.
"There is an appetite, and there's definitely movement," he said.
"There are workers and subcontractors who are willing to commute out to the regions because there is a need for skilled labour.
"We've got a lot of metro companies that in previous years probably wouldn't want to get out of the city and now they're looking for more work," he said.
Mr Neilson said there was a sense of positivity across the sector, particularly for the regions dogged in recent years by natural disasters and pandemic pressures.
"There was so much construction, but it didn't feel overly sustainable," he said.
"It was too busy, people were taking on too much work.
"I think we've come back to the norm now, rather than that big boom that we had post-COVID.
"People will be tendering to be more competitive and to win projects now."
HIA has analysed availability of trade in regional Victoria compared to the rest of Australia. (ABC)
To the north
While regional Victorian trade shortages have been consistent with the national average, interest rate cuts have led to a spike in building activity, according to the Housing Industry Association (HIA).
"The traditional problems of sourcing good trades have continued to be an issue,' HIA executive director Keith Ryan said.
He fears that it could worsen as tradespeople look to Queensland for government-paid construction work in preparation for the Olympics.
"Once they're essentially adjusted to being paid those rates, it's very hard to get them to go back to a lower salary," Mr Ryan said.
Reductions to interest rates this year have improved housing activity. (ABC News: Kristofor Lawson)
"People who work in trades tend to have more of an outdoor lifestyle, and Queensland does have a very attractive lifestyle for that."
He said metro projects had siphoned labourers into Melbourne with attractive wages.
But years of compounding issues, such as increased bureaucracy and the fallout from the pandemic, meant Victoria had a long way to go to encourage skilled labourers back.
"As much as I would love to think that those workforces from the big build would be easily transferable to home building, and particularly home building in the regions, hopefully you'll get some people who decide they like living in Victoria.
"But for many of them it's going to be a difficult choice about salary, and so they'll make a call and look to Queensland, gearing up for the Olympics."
A spokesperson for Victorian Housing Minister Harriet Shing said the government's Local Jobs First Amendment Bill and the Regional Worker Accomodation Fund aimed to bolster the construction industry workforce.
“We're taking action to build a strong pipeline of skilled workers to deliver the homes that all Victorians need, including in the regions," the spokesperson said in a statement.