A tough 12 months?

Builders’ Business is a column by builders for builders. Its objective is to provide a forum, particularly for small business operators, in which to share knowledge, experience, tips and ideas

Q. As a builder, what has been your biggest challenge, and your biggest help, over the past year? 

 

Firm: Stonewood Homes Whanganui 

Interviewee: Anthony O’Leary 

Role: Co-director 

Location: Whanganui

Staff: 18

Compliance has been the least fun part of the job over the past 12 months! Funnily enough, the changes to clause H1 of the Building Code haven’t been too difficult to manage. My biggest complaint has been the consistency of information I’m hearing about it. We deal with a lot of suppliers and are told different things by all of them. To combat that, I brushed up on the BRANZ calculation method and now I can work out what I need to do to reach the required R-values. 

Another challenge has been with consents. In my local area, a lot of builders are struggling to get them signed off, because the council is outsourcing consents. They don’t have the staff numbers to deal with them in-house, but that leads to painful and tedious delays, which has made life difficult for all of us. 

One of the biggest helps we’ve had has come from our local PlaceMakers store, which has been so easy to work with. We have a branch manager who values close relationships. We can chew the fat or catch a rugby game with him and that makes it a lot easier to work together and overcome any challenges we have.

 

Firm: John Creighton Builders

Interviewee: John Creighton

Role: Director

Location: Christchurch

Staff: 15

The past 12 months have seen a lot of regulatory change but none of it has been too challenging from my point of view.  

People might assume the new H1 requirements, or the Code of Ethics, or the CCA changes could be pretty challenging, but we haven’t had any issues. We’ve found PlaceMakers ‘All over H1’ content to be very helpful, plus there’s plenty of information out there about everything that’s happening in the construction space. 

The biggest issue we’ve had to deal with is the rise in interest rates, which has cooled off some of our work. I see it as a chance to catch up on legislation and sharpen the tools before we get busy again. 

I also use slower periods to review our marketing and revise some of our internal processes, so we’re good to go when demand picks up. The New Zealand construction industry has always had a terrible boom and bust habit, but I’m trying to make sure our business has the correct process in place to ensure an even flow of work, rather than huge peaks and troughs. 

 

Firm: Gregg Builders

Interviewee: Craig Wilson 

Role: Project Manager

Location: South Island

Staff: 30

There’s always something going on in this industry – it’s a bit of a rollercoaster! You’ve got to be mindful of what’s going on in the regulation space but, that said, we haven’t found H1 too challenging. We work with architects, who are on top of it all, so all the designs we receive specify insulation R-values, which we follow with great care and attention to detail. 

We always try to keep our finger on the pulse and I’ve found the PlaceMakers literature helpful in that respect. We take our foremen to LBP seminars, so they stay on top of any new laws and we also get information from sources such as Registered Master Builders and LBP updates. 

In terms of the Code of Ethics and CCA changes, we’re up to speed with it all. The biggest challenge I see the industry facing relates to interest rates, which I think will squeeze the middle market most heavily. There’s also the Resource Management Act and consent process to deal with!

Thankfully, we’re a bit insulated from that, as we have great workflow for the next year and referrals from past clients that keep us busy in quiet times. That said, nobody is safe in this industry, so we’ll keep working hard to stay in the game.