Engineering work in Queensland has significantly boosted the state’s productivity in the construction industry according to research by international property and construction consultants Davis Langdon.

Queensland’s productivity is lagging Victoria and Western Australia in terms of building work, however, the engineering sector contributed a high level of jobs per million dollars worth of work done, second only to Western Australia.

Davis Langdon’s Knowledge Manager, Michael Skelton, said Queensland was behind only Western Australia in terms of overall construction productivity, needing 6.3 jobs for every $1 million of construction work done, compared to WA’s 3.5.

“However, Queensland was more productive in this measure than South Australia, Victoria and NSW,” he said.

“This could be due in part to the high proportion of engineering work done in Queensland – 55% of construction work – which was the second highest in the country, next to Western Australia which has 70% engineering work.

“When the engineering work is excluded and building work only is considered, Queensland moves a bit further down the ladder of productivity, behind Victoria and Western Australia.”

To complete $1 million of building work in Queensland, 13.9 jobs are required, compared to only 10.6 in Victoria and 11.6 Western Australia.

Labour productivity in the Australian construction industry rose through 2009 and into 2010.

Mr Skelton said the research took an in-depth look at the number of jobs versus each dollar of work done nationally.

“What we have found is that the Australian construction workforce utilised an average of 6.3 jobs for each million dollars of work done for the year ending March 2010, compared to 6.8 jobs per million dollars for the same period in 2009,” he said.

“All states, with the exception of Queensland, reported construction industry labour productivity improvement over this period.”

Mr Skelton said two factors combined in Queensland to see its productivity versus work done fall behind.

“Firstly there has been a significant slowdown in construction activity generally and secondly there is a tendency in local areas such as the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast, which experience fluctuating workflow levels, to hold onto workers even as workloads diminish,” he said.

“Mindful of the difficulties in finding labour in boom times some developers tend to hold on to workers as demand drops away.

“The margins they experience in boom times give them the luxury of doing this, but only up to a point.”

Davis Langdon’s findings showed that New South Wales remained the least efficient state for overall labour productivity requiring 8.3 jobs for every million dollars of work completed. Mr Skelton said Western Australia clearly has the most efficient construction workforce requiring only 3.5 jobs to complete $1 million in construction work.

“Reflecting the less labour intensive nature of engineering construction, Victoria had the most efficient building industry workforce with 10.6 jobs required for each $1 million in building work done compared to the least efficient state of New South Wales that required 16.7 jobs per million dollars in activity,” he said.

“Western Australia remains just behind Victoria in terms of labour productivity requiring 11.6 jobs for every $1 million in building work compared to Victoria’s 10.6.”

For further information, contact Meaghan Jones on +61 3 9933 8800 or email mjones2@davislangdon.com.au 

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