A West Australian engineering firm was in Melbourne late last month to oversee a concrete pour on a house build in a big masterplanned housing estate at Melton, about 35km west of the capital.

That there was a concrete slab being poured by Hermitage Home builders for a four-bedroom house on the 215-lot Skylark Rise estate was not unusual.

In fact, at least a half-a-dozen concrete mixers were backed up against an equal number of boom concrete pumps in the 17.4ha estate’s neighbouring streets, grano workers guiding the huge arms across reinforced steel, while others sifted through the mix with vibrators or hurriedly levelled the pour.