Canberra building industry feeling the pinch from wet winter

Both the construction union and Master Builders' Association ACT have confirmed work has been delayed on about 90 per cent of the city's building sites as the national capital experienced its third wettest winter on record, with more rainfall forecast for the rest of the month.

CFMEU ACT branch secretary Dean Hall said he was concerned the delays were putting extra pressure on workers, while those on casual contracts were living under "a whole lot economic pressure".

"I think they've all been impacted really, anything that isn't at lock-up stage yet has been having problems, from getting access to movement of materials, any road works as well as potential safety issues for electrical work given the rain," Mr Hall said.

"We have been getting calls that pressure has been mounting across the industry, and as the pressure mounts on building firms, we've been told that some workers are being put under enormous pressure to work in the rain."

He said anecdotally he believed there were casual labourers and builders and their families who were "struggling to put bread on the table", due to the inclement weather.

"Some of them are living on a day-by-day, hand-to-mouth situation and where there's been weeks of this, where you can't work, some of them would be living off their credit cards now, or worse," Mr Hall said.

But Canberra Contractors managing director Paul Macor said that wasn't the case for the firm behind several recent Canberra subdivisions, including Throsby, which had been delayed about three months due to the rain.

He said all the firm's 50 or so workers were employed full-time and some had to take annual leave or leave without pay due to the rain, while others were kept on.

"That's been a conscience decision of our company, to employ full-time and some of those workers have been with the company since it was set up," he said.

"But it does mean that every day we have rain, there's an extra day at least for it to dry, then a third day spent cleaning up the site before actual work can start again, and through all of that time we're paying workers and machinery is sitting idle."

Mr Macor said the winter had been the worst season he had seen for construction delays since he started in the industry in 1989 and falls on some days exceeding 50mm had meant several days waiting for the ground to dry to allow work to resume.

Master Builders' Association executive director Kirk Coningham said the winter had been dreadful for builders, particularly those on civil contracts for road works, bridges and new sewers.

But he said while there had been "significant time pressures" on some contracts in Canberra, most clients recognised there was not much that could be done about the delays.

"If it becomes an issue of safety, we will not compromise on safety and when you work outside, rain is one of the hazards," Mr Coningham said.

"I think it's also sometimes a case that subcontractors and workers actually want to get stuck in and finish a job, and really everyone needs to be accountable and empowered on safety issues – more speed, perhaps, but less haste."

Bureau of Meteorology senior climatologist Agata Imielska said this year's winter had been the third wettest on record for Canberra and a huge 48 "rain days" were recorded during the season – the fourth-highest on record.

She said a number of factors were contributing to the wet weather, including a "negative Indian Ocean dipole event", and the dipole was expected to continue to create more rain throughout September.

Local bureau forecasts showed some rain was likely each day for the rest of this week, with a 90 per cent chance of rain on Wednesday.