Boom for improvement?

Have you had to make any changes to your business to accommodate the building boom? If so, what?

Firm: Custom Construction
Principal: Nathan Mumby
Location: Taranaki
Staff: 30

We’ve had to ramp up our staff numbers – both in the office, to cover the compliance side, and also on site because there’s more work around.

We’ve streamlined a lot of our systems and processes to make them more efficient, because there is a lot of compliance required these days.

We make sure we do the important stuff first to ensure a smooth process for our clients – from their first call to the project’s completion. In terms of the boom itself, we’re a general construction company and we do everything from architectural houses to commercial projects.

The government has been adding to the boom by investing a lot in the region’s schools, which is great for Taranaki and means there’s more work around for builders.

There are also a lot more big projects happening at the moment, so there’s an opportunity to tender for those as well.

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Firm: Little Pig Building Company
Principal: Nick Marer
Location: Nelson
Staff: 4

We’re constantly looking at updating the way we do stuff, so we’ve improved some of our systems and procedures to increase our efficiency.

Areas we focused on include how we set up jobs, the way we schedule and programme work and we’ve also been getting staff more involved in thinking about the way a project should proceed.

With the boom on, those changes have benefited us by making our timelines more accurate, which helps us see where we have gaps for more work and any potential clashes.

It’s also helped us to put through more work by improving our efficiency and productivity. Generally, the boom has been great here, it’s really busy.

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Firm: Emandee Homes
Principal: Mike Potter
Location: Pukekohe
Staff: 11

Yes is the short answer! We’ve had to beef up both our office staff and teams on site – I’ve employed a qualified carpenter, two apprentices and added an extra office worker, while also stepping into more of an office role myself.

It’s helped us make our processes more economical and has streamlined everything we do.

The benefits are starting to flow through to the team on site and it’s all beginning to take shape.

With the amount of extra compliance required these days, it’s important you take proper care of that side of business.

It’s definitely a lot busier here at the moment.

Last year was a big step up and the workload really intensified. It’s forecast to carry on and I think it will get busier for us, as there are a number of big projects coming up in the area.