Often described in the post-war years as `the housing shortage’, the national effort to address a very troubling problem has over the years come to be called `the housing boom’. Without a doubt it was a boom in demand and building. There was also a notable 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 plans was at first on rental accommodation; later there was a swing toward the ownership of affordable houses. At a time when various factors had cut the amount of rental accommodation, governments, banks, finance companies, building societies and housing co-operatives were offering a wider range of opportunities for home ownership. Ironically this was paralleled by a jump in building costs.

Top on the list of factors linked to rising building costs were the introduction in 1948 of the 40-hour week, and marked increases in the cost of construction materials. By 1948 an employer had to pay an unskilled building labourer a higher wage than a tradesperson had received in early 1946.

To keep both labourer and tradesman economically employed the builder needed a continuous flow of materials which was a rare thing in those times. Lack of skilled workers also meant poor quality construction and a blow out in construction time.

Contract prices were loaded with an increasing profit margin as an insurance against unseen contingencies. 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 salaries to ensure house completion.

Unexpected costs could arise when, for example, timber flooring was suddenly unobtainable, and a higher price would then have to be paid for imported Baltic timber for flooring.

With locally made cement taking forever to turn up, a batch from interstate was sometimes bought at nearly three times the price. When compared to 1939 prices timber flooring material had, by 1948, increased 100 per cent in value. Cement had risen by almost 20 per cent and clay roofing tiles by more than 25 per cent. A gallon of quality paint costing around 30s ($3) in 1939 had risen some 40 per cent by 1948.

When added to rising costs and shortages of materials the government restrictions, limiting the area of a new house to 12 squares (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 plan was necessary; cost-saving and limitations on area made large single-purpose rooms a luxury. Verandahs and wide open porches disappeared, reducing the shelter at the front entrance to the absolute minimum. Ceiling heights had been slowly 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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