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Welcome to Reed Construction Data's Housing Reports

Do you already subscribe to one of our Housing reports? You can access a range of documents and other helpful resources by clicking here.

If you subscribe to Cordell eHousing, you can click here or select the Cordell eHousing option from the 'Online Services' menu to go directly to the login page.

If you're not already subscribing to a Housing report, keep reading to learn more about how our housing building permit information can help you to grow your business.

Whether you require the latest residential building approval information so that you can make direct contact with a potential client, or market intelligence data to monitor your competitors' activities, we've got the solution for you. Maybe you simply need a list of the most active builders in a particular geographical area to keep your database up-to-date - we can help you with that too.

For more information on our range of Housing Reports, download our brochure, and read on to find out more about each report.

The Building Permit Report

Our most popular Housing Report - the Building Permit Report - provides details of residential building approvals across Australia for houses (single dwellings), duplexes, multi-dwellings (townhouses, units, villas), extensions/alterations, and swimming pools. Most records contain the permit number and date, the relevant local authority (council), the builders' name and address, the site address and details of the job, including the value, area and a brief description. The information is available in electronic and paper formats.

If you manufacture, supply or distribute domestic building products or services, this is the report for you. You can see which builders are building where and target your product or service directly to them. Better still, if your product or service calls for direct contact with the end user (ie, the home owner) you can subscribe to our Extensions or Swimming Pools reports and in most cases you can be sure that the site address is also the owner's address, meaning you can send relevant material directly to the decision maker. Sales leads delivered directly to your PC or door - what more could you want?

To trial the Building Permit Report online via eHousing free of charge for 7 days, request a Temporary Login. You'll need to provide an email address so that we can send the access details to you.

The Moving Average Totals (MAT) Report

The Moving Average Total (MAT) Report gives a 13 month overview of the number and value of building permits approved in a geographical area, displayed either by builder ranking, or by council in alphabetical order. This report is available for houses (single dwellings), duplexes, multi-dwellings (townhouses, units, villas), extensions/alterations, and swimming pools, and can be tailored geographically by region.

The MAT report is primarily used to ascertain who the top builders are and how much work they are doing, or which councils have processed the most approvals, thus showing the areas of growth in the residential market. This information is useful for targeting your marketing activities towards particular builders or areas.

The Active Builders Report

As the name suggests, the Active Builders Report provides details of all builders who were active according to the building permit approvals, within the specified time period and geographical area. As well as the builders' name, this report provides their address and phone number, number and value of jobs, and the average job value. The Active Builders Report is available for houses (single dwellings), duplexes, multi-dwellings (townhouses, units, villas), extensions/alterations, and swimming pools, and can be tailored geographically by region.

This report is useful for suppliers, manufacturers or distributors of building products who want to be able to quickly and easily promote their products to the most active builders. It also allows market segmentation - for example, your prestige product can be specifically targeted towards the builders who are working on high value jobs. Conversely, your product may be aimed at a more budget conscious market, and typically you want to speak to builders who work on lower value jobs. It is also an effective tool for ensuring your database is up-to-date, and you can keep on top of any new builders who enter the market.

The Range Report

The Range Report is another of our statistical tools, allowing you to see the spread of single dwellings for the current month. For each builder listed, the number of jobs is broken down into dollar value or square metre ranges, so that you can determine the mix of contracts.

This report shows you which builders work on high or low value, or small or large sized projects, better enabling you to target your product to the appropriate market segment. The Range Report also acts as a useful trend analysis tool - allowing you to isolate areas or times of high growth.

Housing Resources

Sample Reports

You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the sample documents below. Visit www.adobe.com to download this for free.

Report NSW VIC QLD WA SA TAS
Building Permit Report Single Dwellings, Duplexes & Extensions
MAT Report
Active Builders Report All categories Single Dwellings, Duplexes & Multi-dwellings Single Dwellings & Duplexes Single Dwellings Single Dwellings & Duplexes
Range Report

Definitions of categories used in the Housing Reports.

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Geographical reference documents

Councils providing us with permit information

Below are a series of documents outlining the councils in each state that we are able to get building permit details from. We update these documents regularly to reflect any changes.

Builders providing us with permit information

In addition to the information we obtain from councils, a number of builders also provide us with permit information. Click here for a list of the builders who currently provide us with written building approval information on a regular basis. We update this document regularly to reflect any changes.

Documents for clients receiving ASCII data

Instructions using ASCII Macro file
(For Building Permit Report & Active Builders Report only. MAT Report clients scroll to the bottom for instructions).

Opening an ASCII file

To use the data we have sent, the attachments must first be saved. To save the attachments, right click on the first attachment (usually info.txt) then select the 'Save As...' option. Save the attachment in your required folder ('C:\My Documents' is as good as any). Repeat this process for ALL attachments. IMPORTANT - ALL attachments must be saved and ALL must be saved to the same folder. Take a note of the data file name (that is, the attachment that is NOT 'info.txt' and NOT 'xl97---.xls') as you will need this file name when using other software with the data.

You have now successfully placed the files on your computer. You must now use your software of choice to manipulate this data. When your software of choice requires a file name, navigate to the folder where you saved the attachments and look for the file name you noted above - that is, the data file. If one of the files listed with the data file is xl97---.xls (where --- can vary), then we have supplied a Microsoft Excel macro that will convert the data into an Excel spreadsheet. This macro will only work with Microsoft Excel 97 and above (if you have a previous version of MS Excel, scroll to the bottom of this section for instructions).

Using the Microsoft Excel macro

All Housing data can be converted to an Excel spreadsheet for further manipulation (lists, labels, etc). If you have Microsoft Excel 97 or later, you can use the macro provided (file name xl97---.xls) to convert the data. Use Windows Explorer to navigate to the folder that contains the information from Reed Construction Data that you saved (as above), then double click your mouse (left button) on the file that starts with xl97.

If you do not have Macros enabled in MS Excel you may get the following warning:

To overcome this, open MS Excel, go to Tools, Macro, then Security. Select Medium and then click OK. You should then be able to open the Macro file, so try double-clicking on the ‘xl97---.xls’ file again. This time it should bring up either of the following two messages:

If you get the above display, make sure you click Yes.

OR:

If you get the above display, make sure you click on Enable Macros.

Finally you should get the display above. Click on Yes and the information will automatically be converted into Microsoft Excel. To complete the conversion you should save your spreadsheet under a different name.

To do this click on 'File', then click on 'Save As...' and you will get the following display:

Make sure you change the file name to something that is meaningful and recognisable to you, and most importantly, you must make sure the 'Save as type:' field is set to 'Microsoft Excel Workbook (*.xls)' as above (do NOT leave it as text *.txt file).

You can now open this Excel spreadsheet at any time without going back to your email or completing the conversion process again.

For older versions of Excel & clients using the MAT Report in Ascii format

Older versions of Excel (prior to 97) can be used to manipulate our data, but the xl97 macro will not work, so you will need to perform the conversion through a series of steps. Similarly, there is no Macro available for the MAT Report in Ascii format, but the conversion can still be done through these simple steps. To carry out the conversion:

  1. Save your data file (this will be the file that we sent you that has a series of numbers and then .txt.).
  2. Start Microsoft Excel
  3. Choose File, then Open (or click on the Open icon on the Standard toolbar) to access the data file provided by Reed Construction Data that you previously saved. In the 'Open' box, you will need to make sure the 'Files of type:' field reads 'All Files (*.*)'. When you click 'Open', a 3 step wizard will start.
  4. In Step 1, select 'Delimited' text. Click 'Next'.
  5. In Step 2, select 'Comma' as the Delimiter (and un-select any other delimiters). Click 'Next'.
  6. In Step 3, just click on Finish. The data will now be converted into columns in an Excel spreadsheet which you can save, and then manipulate as required. Other functions such as mail merge to labels can also be performed. The columns will not have headings, but you can use your info.txt file to see what the appropriate field labels are.

If your version of Excel does not automatically start the 3 step wizard when you open the file, the process may differ. You might like to try the built-in Help function, and search for topics relating to converting text to columns. Some important things to watch out for when converting the text are:

  1. Make sure you indicate the file is delimited (also referred to as ascii delimited, comma delimited, or comma separated variable [CSV])
  2. Make sure the delimiter is a comma (NOT tab).

Help for clients using an Acrobat (pdf) file

The file you have received is in 'Portable Document Format' or more commonly know as a PDF. This is an industry standard format which can be easily read by the FREE Adobe Reader. You must have Adobe Reader installed on any computer that you want to view/print the report from.

To open the report, right mouse click on the '.pdf' file attachment in your email and select Open. If you get the following display, it means you do not have Adobe Reader installed on your computer.

You can download it for free on the Adobe website at www.adobe.com. Once you have downloaded it, you will then be able to open the '.pdf' file we have sent you.

For more information please call 1800 80 60 60

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