Building and construction industry remains resilient in the new year – The West Australian

I will begin by saying Happy New Year and thank you for your engagement in recent years. I look forward to embarking on my New Year’s resolutions in the building and construction industry.

In 2021, the building industry experienced many challenges. Despite this, the industry has displayed a copious amount of resilience during the pandemic, among other outlying factors.

These are unprecedented times – they are about adapting to circumstances and navigating our way through the pandemic and other challenges that may arise within the building and construction industry and their clients.

Uncertainty will always exist around the reopening of borders on February 5, however Master Builders Association of Western Australia (MBA WA) and its members are prepared to undertake the hard work and come up with pragmatic solutions.

MBA WA has played a pivotal role in keeping the industry operational despite the impact COVID-19 had on employment figures.

The nation’s unemployment rate decreased to 4.6 per cent in 2021, with the construction industry ranking second in Australia for full-time employment out of 19 industries, employing more than 960,000 workers. In WA, the unemployment rate decreased to 3.8 per cent.

With the borders reopening, tourism will increase, creating new infrastructure and building projects and, in turn, new employment opportunities.

Our primary focus for 2022 is to strengthen the industry, making it more resilient and working with our members to ensure our sector remains an essential service and employs more people.

Last year, our efforts kept 4000 small and medium businesses open and more than 130,000 people employed. We plan on continuing these same efforts.

Let us put aside our hesitancies this year and look forward to new beginnings and new opportunities.

MBA WA will continue to be the leading voice for WA’s building and construction industry, ensuring the industry remains operational.

As I said in my last article of 2021, builders will face challenges during 2022 and fall behind on contractual obligations but, so long as communication and consideration is involved, the end goal will always be clear.

CONTACT Master Builders WA, 9476 9800, www.mbawa.com