Ford Sydney

Often described in the post WWII years as `the housing shortage’, the Australian effort to fix 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 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 state housing schemes was at first on rental dwellings; later there was a swing toward the sale of affordable dwellings. At a time when various influencers had reduced the availability of rental homes, governments, banks, finance companies, building societies and housing co-operatives were offering greater opportunities for home ownership. Ironically this was paralleled by a rise in building input costs.

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

To keep both labourer and tradesman rationally employed the builder needed a continuous flow of materials which was a rare event in those times. A shortage of skilled workers also meant lower quality building and further loss of time.

Contract prices were loaded with an increasing profit margin as an insurance against unseen problems. 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, hardwood flooring was suddenly out of stock, and a higher price would then have to be paid for imported flooring material.

With locally made cement taking forever to turn up, a batch from across the border was sometimes purchased 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 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 house 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 design modesty.

The economical floor plan was essential; cost-saving and limitations on area made large single-purpose rooms a luxury. Verandahs and spacious porches disappeared, reducing the shelter 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 an imposed state as it was a fashionable philosophy. This was the era of the great Australian Dream.

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