Gladstone QLD - How is it Going????
- Thread starter charlieandkath
- Start date
http://m.gladstoneobserver.com.au/#M More pain on it's way for Gladstone.
Same Terry Ryder said in 2012 that Gladstone is the boom town to invest. Infact his very famous Boom Town report in 2012 had Gladstone the place to invest. He had Emerald and Mackay as boom town till 2013 and now he states it is no go zone. DO NOT TRUST THESE SO CALLED EXPERTS and do your own due-diligence before you buy. Gladstone is close to bottom if it hasn't reached the bottom already and the 8000 workers never lived in Gladstone but in a camp. Once the project is completed due to safety reasons some of the workers cannot stay in the camp hence have to live in Gladstone and on top of it some percentage of workers who live in camp will move to Gladstone to find work after the project is over.
If they were living on camp they wont be staying in Gladstone after the project is over. They would be moving on to the next camp job.
Those who moved here for the construction jobs may stay but without another large project then there wont be much work around.
Agreed. By the time everyone is calling a place a boomtown it is too late. By the time everyone's calling it bust it's probably time to buy.
Warren Buffett ? 'Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy and Greedy When Others Are Fearful'
A few pros for Gladstone:
- Many of the workers on the island are FIFO and living in the camp. Many of the temporary "locals" who have moved to Gladstone just to get a job with Bechtel are sharing houses - I inspected a 3 bedroom house for sale being rented to Bechtel workers and there were 4 workers living in there - mattress on the lounge room floor. To me this means in a house like this when 4 jobs go, only 1 house comes on the market. (obviously this is not the case for EVERY worker)
- As prices get cheaper younger people are moving out of share-houses and renting their own place. Likewise first-home buyers are propping up the lower end of the market ($300-350K) now that they can afford a decent house.
- As the plants move into the operations phase local maintenance service jobs for QCLNG are just beginning to be recruited now - these are permanent roles for locals. Remember these plants will still need scaffolders, electricians, crane drivers, cleaners. When the LNG ships moor/pass through the harbour they will need tug boats which need tug boat drivers.
- Arrow LNG project has been put on hold but it looks likely that Arrow will be proceeding with a pipeline from the Bowen basin to Gladstone. This could eventually supply Arrow's proposed LNG plant which has been shelved, provide additional gas reserves to expand one of the existing projects or provide gas for a gas fired power station.
- Dwelling construction has massively slowed down due to drop in interstate investors. The supply is not increasing like it was previously. Some of the existing estates are still developing/have land for sale but it's not a great amount.
- Many houses are selling for cheaper than their 2007-2008 prices. There is probably a little more to drop once the construction dies down but I feel it's very close to the bottom now.
- Gladstone's population increase has created flow-on jobs in retail and hospitality and there are still more to come. Many new restaurants/cafes have recently been opened. The 144 room Oaks hotel has recently opened. Beginning soon will be an expansion of Kin Kora mall. These people don't work in industry but they still all need houses to live in. People in Gladstone earn good money and have a high disposable income to spend eating out or shopping (which will increase now their rents have gone down).
- As the cost of living/cost of doing business here decreases, you will see more businesses move back to Gladstone, the quality of service increase, and less people going to Rockhampton or Bundaberg to do things like get their car serviced.
Yes, there are many negatives too but those have been mentioned many times recently. I just thought I'd share some good things that not everyone may be aware of.
It'll only be in the hundreds so there will still be several thousand leaving
And as the big money jobs leaves who can afford to stay in these hotels or eat at the restaurants?
All happening to late and they'll most likely close like they did last cycle.
Certainly not the $100k plus work they were accustomed to.
There are two Bechtel workers car parks close to where I live at Boyne island. Both would have at least 40 cars maybe more. Once the construction stage finishes its more then likely these guys and girls will not have jobs and be forced to move on. That will mean a lot more vacant houses and that's only out here I imagine the same through-out Gladstone.
New house and land development might of slowed but they hasn't stopped, there are a few hundred blocks ready to go as well as thousands of blocks that have been given the green light to develop once the market shows any signs of life.
New house and land development might of slowed but they hasn't stopped, there are a few hundred blocks ready to go as well as thousands of blocks that have been given the green light to develop once the market shows any signs of life.
I was talking with a gentleman recently who told me he had just finished building a 55 odd townhouse development in Gladstone and he had leased the whole lot to a mining company. I would have thought this indicated an increase in mining activity.
Not necessarily. This company may have a contract to do and they are finding it easier to rent a single complex and FIFO all their workers rather than separate houses all over town. 55 is a good pickup though as this happens a lot with smaller number. I have seen this happen to 5 and 6 developments. Not sure how this will pan out when their contract finishes if this is the case.
No doubt. But once the operational phase begins there will be more jobs created than some realise.
There are mechanical valve/pump servicing workshops in town that are flat out just with business from Rio Tinto Yarwun. Wait until there are 3 operational LNG plants....a lot of this type of work will not be done on site by the quoted operational workforce. Likewise the jobs such as tug boat drivers wont be part of the quoted operational workforces. Nor will the jobs such as the trainers at the technical training centres that deliver the confined space, working at heights training for the operational workers.
Another number of workers who will be earning $100K+ and aren't taken into account in the "Operational Workforce" numbers are the shutdown workers. Each plant will have a shutdown at least once a year, lasting at least 2 weeks sometimes up to a month. During these periods hundreds more workers are required. There will no doubt be local workers who go from shutdown to shutdown at each of the local plants and earn $100K+. The workers that are flown in will not be staying in the camps on the island as they will be closed and removed - so they will need accommodation, food in town. There will also be additional maintenance workers required to plan these shutdowns that will be doing that full time a year in advance.
Another point I've noticed is many highly skilled tradesmen call Gladstone home. Many do FIFO and work interstate in WA but still choose to live in Gladstone. When the Curtis Island jobs dry up I will not be surprised if they cannot get a local job, that many locals continue to work FIFO on other LNG projects such as Wheatstone in WA or Ichthys in the NT, and continue to live in Gladstone.
Another fact some might be interested in - 4x new McDonalds restaurants have opened up in the last 12 months or so in the area. Gladstone city, Kirkwood, Boyne Island and Calliope. I think it's pretty impressive and shows the growth in Gladstone. These workers won't be earning $100K but they will need places to live, their kids will need somewhere to go to school, they will need somewhere to shop...it all flows on.
New restaurants/bars/cafes in Gladstone:
- 4x McDonalds
- Coffee Club
- Ribs and Rumps
- Hog's Breath Cafe
- Lightbox bar
- Thai Basement restaurant
- Yoghurt Land
- Guzman & Gomez
These places all need managers, chefs, franchise owners, waitresses, cleaners, someone to deliver the food. As before they need somewhere to sleep, school/day care for kids yadayada. They aren't going to close up once LNG construction finishes.
I'm not telling anyone BUY NOW - just saying look further than what you read in the paper or hear from the property spruikers because they don't look in depth and they are often wrong - they didn't see the crash coming did they?
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You can't compare a construction workforce to an operational workforce. Certainly their will be local contractors and full time staff. But no where near the level of staff during construction. Especially when the developers have built to supply a construction workforce. There are bound to be lots of vacant property.
An lng plant is not as Labour heavy as people think. The company's have just outlayed massive capital building the plants and infrastructure now they will be cost cutting like crazy to improve their margin. Training services such as working at heights/confined spaces will also feel the pain. As they won't be training hundreds of construction workers anymore. Just full time staff which renew every 2 tears or so.
It's just the cycle unfortunately.
An lng plant is not as Labour heavy as people think. The company's have just outlayed massive capital building the plants and infrastructure now they will be cost cutting like crazy to improve their margin. Training services such as working at heights/confined spaces will also feel the pain. As they won't be training hundreds of construction workers anymore. Just full time staff which renew every 2 tears or so.
It's just the cycle unfortunately.
I also know that these people that call Gladstone home wont get a job here as they have burnt their bridges. Hence the need to work at Wheatstone, etc.
Another fact is that just as many restaurants have closed down as have opened. Most of them have not made the news so unless you did a drive-by you would not have known. The staff that worked at these closed outlets will just move to these newly opened ones.
Yes would be good to know. Mattt you have a lot of positives for Gladstone do you own a IP in town?
Ronald must be banking on people not being able to afford eat at the expensive new restaurants that opened and on having a steady supply of unemployed engineers to flip burgers for the new stores.
