Builders Russell Silcox and Richard Birt on site at Aldershot yesterday.
A PROPOSAL to change the Fraser Coast’s cyclone rating zone could see the cost of building a house soar by up to 27%.
Hervey Bay and Maryborough are listed under wind zone region B, which is considered to be non-cyclonic.
But the Australian Building Codes Board has launched a proposal to move the boundary for the cyclonic region from just below Bundaberg to north of Caboolture, including areas 50km inland.
The changes mean all new houses would have to be built to withstand cyclones, with extra work and materials pushing up the price for builders and buyers.
According to the report, the new regulations could add between 11% and 24% to the cost of a new three-bedroom, one-storey home – in some cases, this would be more than $50,000.
Maryborough builder Russell Silcox said while prices would jump, he did not believe they would go up by more than about $5000.
“We’d need to increase the tie-downs and bracing, upgrade windows and tighten the battens on the roof,” he said.
“People are paying enough already and I don’t think it’s needed here.”
He said first-home builders would be particularly hard-hit, particularly with changes to energy efficiency regulations that recently added about $5000 to the cost of building.
“It means people will be paying about $10,000 more for a new house than they would have a year or two ago,” Mr Silcox said.
Urban Development Institute of Australia Fraser Coast chairman Daniel Poacher said the government needed to tread carefully when considering extending the regulations.
“The market is not confident at the moment, and an increase in building costs will have another impact on the confidence of the market,” Mr Poacher said.
“Obviously safety is paramount but if they make it too costly to build, we won’t need to worry about safety because no one will be building anyway.”
Master Builders Wide Bay-Burnett region manager Tony Mitchell said people may need to scale back their dream homes in order to afford them, if the regulations came in – but it could be worth it if disaster struck.
“We have a duty of care to the safety of occupants, and the building codes are effective – in Cyclone Yasi, the houses that were built in accordance with the codes have fared reasonably well in terms of damage,” he said.
Australian Building Codes Board manager Ivan Donaldson said the issue was a contentious one, but the board’s primary concern was to ensure people were living in safely built homes.
“We are evaluating submissions on the report, and it will be handed to the board within the next two or three months so the government can have a look at it before the next cyclone season,” he said.