The Post-War Housing Shortage}

Often described in the post-war years as `the housing shortage’, the nationwide effort to address a very troubling problem has in time come to be called `the housing boom’. Without a doubt it was a boom in demand and activity. There was also a marked increase in home ownership, achieved in many cases through heroic individual effort and years of sacrifice.

Changing social conditions offered new opportunities, but also narrowed the options. Emphasis in government housing schemes was at first on rental dwellings; later there was a swing toward the ownership of budget dwellings. At a time when various influencers had reduced the availability of rental dwellings, governments, banks, finance companies, building societies and housing co-operatives were offering a wider range of 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 passing of legislation for the 40-hour working week, and steep increases in the cost of construction materials. By 1948 an employer had to pay an unskilled building worker a higher wage than a tradesman had received in early 1946.

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

Contract prices were loaded with an increasing profit margin as an insurance against unseen problems. 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 happen when, for example, timber flooring was suddenly out of stock, and a higher price would then have to be paid for imported flooring.

With locally made cement taking forever to turn up, a delivery from across the border was sometimes bought at nearly three times the price. When compared to 1939 prices timber flooring material had, by 1948, increased 100 per cent in value. Cement had risen by almost 20 per cent and clay roofing tiles by more than 25 per cent. A gallon of first-grade 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 home 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 economy.

The economical floor plan was necessary; cost-saving and limitations on area made large single-purpose rooms a luxury. Verandahs and wide open porches were deleted, reducing the shade at the front entrance 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.

Building a pool to go with your Australian dream? For glass pool fencing Brisbane and pool fencing Brisbane, get a quote from Oz Glass Pool fencing. Frameless glass pool fencing looks great, is safe and affordable.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!