FOR Gold Coast-based builder James Elliott, using inputs made offshore went from being a cost-saving solution to an expensive headache. “Our biggest headache in getting stuff out of China was that every man and his dog says he can deliver it and send it. But … there’s either something incorrect or it’s not compliant with Australian standards, so you’ve got to send it back or resource it,” Mr Elliott says.
His company Red Dog, a commercial and residential builder, has opted to bring manufacturing back onshore as it eyes expansion into South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia. “We believe we can provide a superior product (to the modular prefab components previously sourced from China) at the same price, if not cheaper, in this country,” he says.
Mr Elliott and a business partner are investing about $75,000 to open a factory in Adelaide. They will spend about $500,000 in the next three years on the factory. He says the long-term aim is to also open a factory on Australia’s east coast. “We have the resources here, we have the people here… I don’t see why everything shouldn’t be manufactured here,” Mr Elliott says.