A drastic materials shortage is affecting builders across the country, including regional cities like Ballarat.

Previously, building suppliers have spoken out about how hard it has become to fulfil orders, and now builders have expressed their concerns as well.

READ MORE: Ballarat suppliers warn of timber shortage as construction boom continues

GJ Gardner Homes Ballarat owner Wayne Jones said the wait for trusses was the tip of the iceberg for the industry as land continues to sell.

"With the volume of work that's come on board due to the government grants and initiatives, it's creating a worse backlog of materials that are obtainable," he said.

"We've had issues with waffle pods that go in slabs, they seem to have come back online now but we've gone through a period where they were unobtainable and we were on a four week lead time to organise for a slab.

"There is a drastic shortage of framing timber - a lot comes from what we've been through with COVID, but not only that, bushfires and floods have affected our own forests and the timber we would have milled, that's given us delays in the framing sector.

"That's happening right now - I believe it'll get worse."

Dennis Family Homes, which also builds in Ballarat, is experiencing similar problems.

Chief executive Peter Levinge said construction in Ballarat had doubled in the past 12 months, and while demand is expected to "ease gradually" by the end of the 2021-22 financial year

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"The surge in building activity has led to significant shortages in the supply of materials and trade labour which are being felt right across the country," he said in a statement.

"In the case of timber, inventories in the distribution channel had become depleted during the pre-stimulus period as the pandemic resulted in a softening of the housing market. The supply chain's ability to respond to the rapid uplift has been challenging.

"Australian housing construction uses a lot of imported timber. Other markets have also experienced a big rise in building activity, particularly the US where a large amount of timber is used in construction. Australia is a relatively low-priced timber market by world standards, so more timber from overseas is being channelled to higher income markets.

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"The limited availability of raw materials both locally and abroad for the manufacture of items such as steel reinforcement, electrical cabling and plastic piping has also been an issue because of the impact of the pandemic on supply chains.

"We are seeing some labour shortages in trades, however it is predominantly timber supply issues that will be pushing out the length of time to build homes."

Statistics show eight homes were being approved for building every day in March in Ballarat alone, as growth areas continue to swell to the south-west of the city.

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