With healthy profits and a large amount of work in the pipeline, Australia's builders are optimistic about their futures, according to a recent survey by the Master Builders Australia.
The National Survey of Building and Construction for the December 2005 quarter showed that although the survey index for the builder's own current business conditions fell slightly, the index for activity generally is still strongly positive, showing an expectation of rising activity.
As well as being confident about their own business prospects, builders are reasonably confident about the likely level of overall building and construction industry activity over the next six months.
Furthermore, against a backdrop of record employment in the construction industry and the problems experienced in attracting workers, the survey results show that builders generally expect that they will be taking on more employees over the next six months. The number of apprentices put on is expected to rise as well over the same period.
