The 1940’s Housing Boom}
Sometimes described in the post-war years as `the housing shortage’, the Australian effort to address a very serious issue has in time come to be called `the housing boom’. Without a doubt it was a boom in demand and building. There was also a notable increase in house 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 state housing schemes was at first on rental dwellings; later there was a swing toward the ownership of budget dwellings. At a time when various factors had cut the availability of rental homes, governments, banks, finance companies, building societies and housing co-operatives were offering more opportunities for home ownership. Ironically this was paralleled by a rise in constuction input costs.
Top on the list of factors linked to rising construction costs were the introduction in 1948 of the 40-hour working week, and steep increases in the cost of construction materials. By 1948 an employer had to pay an unqualified building worker a higher salary than a tradie had received in early 1946.
To keep both labourer and tradesman productively employed the builder needed a continuous flow of materials which was a rare occurrence during this period. A shortage of skilled workers also meant poor quality work and a blow out in construction time.
Contract prices were loaded with an increasing profit margin as an insurance against unseen circumstances. 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 wages to ensure building completion.
Unexpected costs could arise when, for example, timber flooring was suddenly unprocurable, and a higher price would then have to be paid for imported Baltic timber for flooring.
With local cement taking forever to turn up, a truckload from interstate was sometimes purchased at nearly three times the price. When compared to 1939 prices hardwood flooring material had, by 1948, increased 100 per cent in value. Cement had risen by almost 20 per cent and terracotta roofing tiles by more than 25 per cent. A gallon of first-grade paint costing around 30s ($3) in 1939 had risen some 40 per cent by 1948.
When added to rising costs and shortages of materials the government restrictions, limiting the area of a new house 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 essential; cost-saving and limitations on area made large single-purpose rooms a luxury. Verandahs and spacious porches were deleted, reducing the shelter at the front of the house to the absolute minimum. Ceiling heights had been slowly reduced from the turn of the century and were now typically 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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