Too Few Builders in Australia: Why Skilled Construction Workers From Overseas Are Needed
News · 2026-09-02 · 4 min read
Australia has a housing shortage. But it also has a shortage of builders, and each problem is making the other one worse.
New figures shared this week show an industry that is shrinking. Every year, tens of thousands of construction businesses close, and the trend is not slowing down. For people who follow Australia's skilled migration pipeline, this is more than bad news for tradies already working there. It suggests the door for overseas construction workers needs to open wider, and quickly. If you want to work in Australia from Indonesia in a building trade, this is worth understanding.
How Many Building Firms Are Closing
Primara Research, working on behalf of OurTop10, found that more than 67,000 construction businesses closed last year alone. It was the fourth year in a row above the 64,000 mark. Almost half of all new construction businesses will not last beyond their third year. That survival rate has not been seen since the early 2010s.
Why does this matter so much? Large apartment projects often take several years. Many of them last longer than the companies hired to build them. So buyers, developers and subcontractors are making long-term plans with firms that have roughly a coin-flip chance of still being around when the work is done.
Confidence is also falling. According to Kennards Hire's latest White Paper, industry sentiment dropped sharply between 2025 and 2026. Decision-makers named rising costs, labour shortages and financing pressure as their top worries.
Can Australia Still Reach Its Housing Goal?
The National Housing Accord's aim is 1.2 million new homes by 2029. That goal was ambitious even before this wave of closures. Official projections now push the realistic finish date out to December 2030 across the country, and as late as March 2032 in NSW. If the closure trend continues, tens of thousands of businesses that opened in the past year could be gone before the target date. Their capacity, contracts and warranties would go with them.
Still, not everything is negative. There were 244,000 dwellings under construction in the March 2026 quarter. That is the highest number on record since data collection started in 1984. It shows that demand and approvals are not the problem. The real problem is capacity: enough workers, enough firms and enough stability to finish the work that has already started.
A Chance for Overseas Tradespeople
This is where a local crisis becomes an international opportunity. An industry that loses tens of thousands of firms each year is not short of projects. It is short of people, and of stable businesses, to complete them. Skilled tradespeople, project managers and construction business owners from overseas are exactly the kind of capacity Australia's housing pipeline needs so it does not slow down even more.
Inside the industry, government policy is already a sensitive topic. Around half of construction decision-makers list policy settings among the main factors likely to harm the sector over the next five years. Making skilled migration pathways simpler for construction occupations, such as carpenters, electricians, site supervisors and civil engineers, could be one of the most direct tools for policymakers. It could help them meet housing targets without waiting years for local training pipelines to catch up.
For people thinking about a move, the message is simple. Australia's construction sector has more work available than workers to do it. Visa pathways linked to in-demand trades and construction management roles are likely to stay a priority as the labour shortage grows. This is especially true in NSW, where over 3,000 construction firms have closed in just two years.
Getting Your Papers Ready Early
If you are looking at jobs in Australia for Indonesians in construction, start preparing now. Write a clear English-language CV that lists your trade experience. Take an English test such as IELTS or PTE if your visa or employer asks for one. When a police certificate is requested, apply for an SKCK from the Indonesian National Police. And have your Indonesian-language documents translated into English as the visa rules require.
The Main Lesson for Job Seekers
Australia has big plans for housing. What it lacks are builders who can stay in business long enough to deliver them. Closing that gap with skilled migration is not a side issue in the housing crisis. It may be one of the quickest ways out of it, and a real reason for skilled construction workers to keep watching this market.
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