Ann: H1 FY2021 Results Presentation, page-9

With this situation, there's a very good chance that JLG is using its expertise to expand and to go full bore at this difficult problem.

Not long ago it became a key ally of RACQ in Queensland. Fortuitous, or very wise, timing!

Note well the comment about 'insurance companies paying more'. This is JLG's specialisation.

The one assertion I'm not so sure about is where this article from the Monday 5 April 2021 'The Australian' claims that tradesmen are fully employed. In NSW and Victoria, there's been a substantial decline in apartment construction while from memory commercial and industrial construction also entered a downturn. The question remains: have all these contractors found work - JobKeeper statistics had indicated not, although the figures had been improving as more in many sectors found work.

Thank God we have Scomo's Federal Coalition Government that understands how to create jobs and has a good track record in doing so, rather than Albanese's and Labor/Greens' belief in such "initiatives" as encouraging job-destroying unions. The latter's absence in residential building (and areas where JLG operates) is a major reason why this sector is so productive.

'One of the country’s biggest building supply companies has warned of a coming insurance calamity as a shortage of tradespeople due to the housing boom leaves unfinished homes across south-east Queensland.

Brisbane-based Stoddart Group says the need to repair thousands of hail-damaged roofs following a massive storm last year in south-east Queensland has resulted in a shortage of trades people to install roofs on new homes across the region.

Stoddart Group director of corporate development Nick Cook said there was now a risk of homes not being handed over to families on schedule, due to roofing delays.

Master Builders has warned the issue threatens to stymie Queensland’s home building boom with shortages causing a surge in costs. The cost to install one roof has in some cases risen from $25,000 to $38,000.

Nick Cook said there was now a risk of homes not being handed over to families on schedule, due to roofing delays.

Mr Cook said the number of roofs in south-east Queensland that needed to be installed had more doubled to 30,000 compared to last year as housing subsidies such as HomeBuilder coincided with the storm that had damaged thousands of roofs across the region.

“Last year, there were only 12,000 roofs that needed to be installed but now we are dealing with 15,000 new homes and 15,000 insurance claims for damage to existing roofs,” said Mr Cook, whose company provides roofing material and contractors across the country.

He said there was a need for collaboration between insurance companies and the construction industry to work out a fair and reasonable way to deal with the trade labour shortage and ensure another insurance calamity did not eventuate due to timber frames being exposed to the elements.

“We have heard of instances of roofs being delayed for months,” Mr Cook said. “Frames should not be exposed for extended periods, especially with the weather we have been having.”

He said industry efforts to obtain tradespeople from interstate and New Zealand had not been successful because governments were using housing to kickstart their economies to counter the COVID-19 downturn.

“Typically, we could bring trade from other states but this is the first ever national boom, where every state is at capacity. We thought we had enough trades people in south-east Queensland, but no one could have predicted the hail storm and how much damage it would cause,” he said.

The number of roofs in south-east Queensland that needed to be installed had more doubled to 30,000 compared to last year.

Master Builders Queensland deputy chief executive Paul Bidwell said insurers were paying contractors substantially more than builders of new homes and were under enormous pressure to get the work done...'