Tony Ricciardello is the Managing Director of Weststyle, a family company with an unwavering commitment to quality. Weststyle’s success over the past 38 years has solidified their impeccable reputation for high quality, luxury award winning custom homes and client satisfaction.
Tony has recently been appointed President of the Housing Industry Association WA region following two years in the position of Vice President and time previously spent as Chairman of the HIA Technical Committee. “I am proud and excited to be appointed President of the HIA WA region, I come into this role with much gusto and a fresh enthusiasm to tackle the next two years. As we move beyond the post-covid cycle, there are challenges that lay ahead in the construction industry but I am optimistic and believe that as President I can work effectively with our Executive Director Michael McGowan and the HIA team to achieve positive progress.”
“Like many in the industry, I grew up on building sites, developing an innate knowledge of how they moved and worked. Joining the industry as an 18 year old and going into business with my family to start Weststyle a year later, I learned as much as I could from my father and mentor, Tindaro. My team thrives on the modern challenges of contemporary construction the needs and desires of a variety of clients.”
It is the company’s relentless pursuit of the creation of truly exceptional architecturally-designed homes that enables Weststyle to successfully tackle the challenges of a custom designed home. Tony explains, “Clients work closely with our in-house architect and design team, to create their unique custom home.”
“We are seeing aspects of the construction industry settle now, we went through material price rises of between 30-40% on categories such as timber and steel. Supply chain issues have dissipated, material and labour prices have stabilised but we won’t see them come back down to pre-COVID times. The current issue is around labour shortage, we still have a serious amount of work in the WA building pipeline for the next 12-24 months and we will feel the pinch with trade availability.”
“There are areas of the construction industry that are still volatile, but pricing and labour shortages aside we are also dealing with a lot of Work Healthy and Safety laws that have come into effect. Falls from heights, high risk work licenses, density codes, are just a few critical items that the industry are processing. The National Construction Code 2022 is now delayed by three years, it will come commence February 2025. This will bring significant challenges for all involved as we adopt these changes whilst concurrently balancing our businesses and their own challenges.”
“In regards to the shortage of skilled labour, the State Government and the HIA are doing all the right things focusing on apprenticeships and training for our workforce. Pre-apprenticeships and the future of our workforce is critical if we want to be able to manage the 20,000 homes that are currently under construction.”
“There is now so much information to be across, changes to be abreast of, and responsibility to hold, that I believe the role of HIA, as the peak industry body for the housing industry, is more important than ever in providing the support, information and resources to allow members to focus on the delivery and quality of the work that makes them so proud and delivers the quality outcomes their clients deserve.”
