HUTCHIES’ A QUARTERLY NEWSLET TER FOR HUTCHINSON BUILDERS
MAY 2023
Urgent need to work together CHAIRMAN Scott Hutchinson is preaching restraint during the current building boom. Scott said Hutchies would take on only as much work as it could handle and work with reliable team members and in-house trades, partner with proven clients and consultants, and engage known and trusted subbies. “Now more than ever, builders need to have genuine working relationships with clients and subbies so we all survive,” he said. “There is strong demand for property, with builders struggling to keep up with supply, trade and material shortages and costs, exacerbated by the impact of COVID-19. “Ironically, in these boom times, many builders slip into negative profit territory, as the rising cost of labour, products and services on fixed-price contracts present a real test of a builder’s management skills … a test at which some fail.
Safety advisor, Ryan Cameron, toasts the success of Hutchies’ Travelling Undies from Sayulita, Mexico. More pics, see Pages 16 & 17.
“Subcontractors experiencing financial difficulties also put additional pressure on building companies.” In June 2022, figures from the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) showed the construction industry had 1,284 entities entering external administration for the first time for that year – a 35 per cent increase from the previous 12 months. Less than one year later, those statistics for April 2023 stood at 1,672 (up from 967) – an increase of 73 per cent in a similar 10 month period. High profile companies, such as Probuild, Condev, Porter Davis and PBS, were among the builders who collapsed during this loss-making boom. Scott said Hutchies is surviving because it has good cash reserves, a strong and long-serving team, and a loyal repeat business client base, covering a broad spectrum of project types and values in a wide spread of locations throughout Australia. “In recent years, financiers demanded that developers look to builders with a sound balance sheet and subbies look to builders who pay on time and who they trust to be there at the end of the project,” Scott said. “Hutchies has benefitted from this trend.”
It’s a girl! Jack Jnr and wife, Fatya, are proud parents of a baby girl, Marianne Farrah Hutchinson. She was born the evening of Tuesday, May 2nd. • See first picture on Page 21.