Increased interstate migration spurred on by the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a building boom in Australia’s sunny state, with Brisbane's successful bid to host the 2032 Olympics in Queensland set to accelerate this demand even further.

With adequate resourcing and enough preparation, the influx of residential and commercial projects has the potential to bolster Queensland’s economy and position it as a leader in construction.

Tradesmen are in high demand as the construction industry undergoes a significant growth period, with Master Builders’ Queensland 2022 Outlook predicting a ‘challenging’ but potentially prosperous year with pandemic-driven price hikes, shortages and delivery delays in building materials as the stumbling blocks. As a result, the sector is reportedly facing cost blowouts of up to 20 per cent.

In addition to this, the recent announcement of the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane is set to trigger a $1.8 billion construction boom for South-East Queensland with plans for major infrastructure and construction projects already underway. This is an exciting and lucrative opportunity for Queensland which has the potential to supercharge the state’s economy, drive massive amounts of tourism and showcase all Queensland has to offer. However, this will also apply further pressure on the construction industry, meaning labour shortages and the limited supply of building materials cannot be ignored.

The state’s success will rely on adequate preparation and risk mitigation. Now is the time to be thinking of cost and time-effective solutions to combat the rising costs of labour and building materials, and place Queensland in a prime position to fully reap the economic benefits of this construction boom, rather than suffer from it.

The use of prefabricated construction methods could be one of these solutions, providing certainty of quality and efficiency to deliver projects in full and on time. The method controls cost and minimises waste by confirming deliverables up-front and accurately calculating the materials required to build the components. Once built, the components are transported and installed on-site.

Modern-day prefab building standards and technology afford builders the flexibility to create high-end, luxury components or ‘pods’ at a lower cost, which look just as good or better than non-prefab alternatives.

Other benefits of prefab include the elimination of defects by precise quality control processes and rigorous testing on the factory floor. This step ensures the highest possible quality, saving significant costs on future maintenance.

Additionally,time than traditional construction methods. For example, SYNC manufactures a high volume of bathroom pods every week in a quality-controlled factory environment – a process which simplifies twelve trades into one and can help speed up a project by 30 per cent.

Construction businesses in South-East Queensland are currently embarking on a whirlwind of waitlists and roadblocks due to ongoing labour shortages, with the upcoming build for the state’s 2032 Summer Olympics applying further pressure. Innovative and reliable construction solutions are what’s needed to pull this industry out of this unfavourable situation, and best position the state to ride the current and predicted building boom.

Prefabricated building methods and off-site manufacturing offer an agile, efficient and affordable service, which could very well be the perfect solution.

Chris Ong, Commercial Director, SYNC