The 1940’s Housing Boom}
The 1940’s Housing Boom}
Often described in the post-war years as `the housing shortage’, the national effort to fix a very serious issue has over the years 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 dogged individual effort and years of sacrifice.
Changing social conditions offered new opportunities, but also narrowed the options. Emphasis in government housing social engineering was at first on rental dwellings; later there was a swing toward the ownership of low-cost housing. 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 a wider range of opportunities for home ownership. Ironically this was at a time of a rise in constuction input costs.
High on the list of factors linked to rising construction costs were the passing of legislation for the 40-hour week, and drastic increases in the cost of construction materials. By 1948 an employer had to pay an unskilled building worker a higher wage than a tradesperson had received in early 1946.
To keep both labourer and tradie productively employed the builder needed a continuous flow of materials which was a rare event during this period. A shortage of skilled workers also meant lower 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 a reasonable output.
Unexpected costs could arise when, for example, hardwood 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 interstate was sometimes bought at nearly three times the price. When compared to 1939 prices timber flooring material had, by 1948, doubled 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 at least 40 per cent by 1948.
When added to rising costs and shortages of materials the government restrictions, limiting the area of a new dwelling to 1200 square feet (111.48 square metres) for a timber house and 1250 square feet (116.12 square metres) for one in brick, 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 a minimum area. Ceiling heights had been gradually 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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