Is it cheaper to build during a downturn?

I've got two properties on the Central coast that I want to knock down and put townhouses up eventually.
From a cost perspective, would it be significantly cheaper to do it soon, while there's not a lot of work for builders?
While I'm very short in cash, I wanted to start investigations into developing once Labor releases more info on NRAS2.

 

In my experience of over 35 years in the industry...generally no
Materials costs never decline. Labour and materials ratio is about 50 - 50
One may find some contractors with less work, but not so many as to affect industry prices
The downturn, and yes it's happened a few times, needs to be EXTREME and SUSTAINED, not just a bump to really have an impact.
Building in a downturn is good, and is usually a little more competitive - it's usually about the availability of people to do the work

 

Beware of the builder going bust mid-way through your project too - this can be an expensive PITA.

 

We built our current PPOR in a downturn. We asked 3 x builders to tender.

The difference between the highest and lowest tender was 0.06%.

I was expecting a bigger gap and was using price as part of our selection criteria .

Also, we found tradies didn’t flip from job site to job site as there wasn’t a lot of work around. They came to ours and worked at our site until their task was done.

 

I asked this of my own builder recently. He said he's having trouble getting contractors in because they're all moving to infrastructure projects. Not everything is in downturn I guess.

 

My experience from building in a boom 2004 was that the busier contractors were the more they charge. Many had so much work on that they didn't return calls, rushed jobs and over quoted.

10 years earlier in the mid 90's we arranged for renovations at a property, quotes were highly competitive and all trades returned calls. Totally different experience.

2008-9 I got a significant discount building as construction other than government projects had ground to a halt.

Quotes probably won't vary much until the work starts to dry up.

 

It can be a far higher risk to build in a downturn. There are loads of builders who are happy to drop prices to keep working but their cashflow could disappear. They cut corners. They then impact all their incomplete properties when they go belly up. It can then sit for months or a year before anything happens.

More and more reports of insolvency matters in construction across the country