Data confirms continued lockdown impacts on the building and construction: MBA

Small businesses in the building and construction sector have yet to show an accelerated recovery from COVID lockdowns in Victoria and NSW. The data, released by MYOB in its Small Business Health Index, shows continued impacts on the building and construction sector. As of 22 October total invoice creation was down 31%, gross pay was down by 23% and employment was down by 16% - compared to baseline. Denita Wawn, CEO of Master Builders Australia said the data highlighted the challenge for SMEs in construction to manage cashflows. “Digitisation will help small building businesses to better manage their projects so they can more accurately factor in the costs of building products and specialist tradespeople into their quotes,” she said. “With the construction industry home to more SMEs than any other industry, meaningful digital adoption will have perhaps the greatest impact in business recovery and improving business resilience. “MYOB modelling shows there are nearly 80,000 SMEs in the construction industry with no or very low levels of digitisation of their business processes. “We know that the greatest current challenge for SMEs in construction is managing cashflows given the stresses caused by supply disruptions, COVID delays and a mini housing boom which has meant SMEs have had to take on more work than usual," she said.