Director of Armidale's Rossbuild Constructions and New England Sheds Ross Burgess said as a result of the cornavirus his business was now able to work seven days a week, but he had no expectation that his staff would work those hours.
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"That's obviously to try to help the economy go forward," he said.
"I think that's OK, but I have had a yarn to my boys and that availability is there, which is going to help. There is a safety issue there about working seven days a week.
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"It's reassuring that we are able to work, and there is a lot of anxiety gone away from the boys, now that that has been announced, but the important thing is that the inquiry continues."
Mr Burgess said the construction industry would not see the spin offs of the changes for about six months because it had that amount of work ahead of it now.
"That's the way the industry is. We need to be talking to people now about housing, about construction. Anything that needs to be approved needs to happen now," he said.
"Otherwise there's a massive back-up effect in six months time, when we're trying to get approvals for jobs jobs.
"The developing side of things is very interesting. When you do a development, for example, a set of eight units, we don't get paid for a minimum 12-months because we have to carry that development."
Mr Burgess said the construction industry was very used to not having that cash flow.
"In the industry we're used to things being spanned out in payment terms," he said.
"What we're not used to is if, at the end of the development, we didn't get the sale or we didn't get paid. And this is what the uncertainty is with this at the moment.
Mr Burgess said he thought many people had forgotten that the rural sector was still in drought.
"We're seeing in our business the spin offs from the drought now. Farmers have got no money, they've spent it all on feed and we're getting very little inquiry from the rural industry in terms of sheds," he said.
"In terms of were we go in the construction industry, I worry that there is going to be a big concertina effect in about six to 12 months in our construction side of things. I think we're really going to struggle then. Now we're OK, we've still got jobs, but everybody's worried.
"We've had people come in here and they've said they were worried about proceeding with a new home, worried about the banks giving them the approvals now. There is a lot of uncertainty."
Mr Burgess said he spoke about the mental health aspect of the work in toolbox meetings.
"I don't know if you know it, but the construction industry has the highest rate of suicide in Australia," he said.
"So, we address that very highly and make sure everybody is OK. I think that wasn't talked about once, but it is now."
