Navigating economic recession – North Island

Question: Given the economic climate over the past year or so, have you felt a reduction in available work? 

Name: Ross Ward – Direct 

Fleward Builders Limited 

Staff: 3 

Location: Auckland 

At the moment, it’s been quiet for a lot of guys – but thankfully I’ve got a lot of loyal clients who have kept me busy. At the moment, we’re doing a job renovating some old apartments. 

It’s residential work that has kept me going over the years. During the post-Covid heyday I was doing a lot of housing and that momentum has kept me going. I’m actually too busy to advertise, which is a really nice position to be in! 

But that said, if I had advice to new builders it would be to advertise as much as you can just to get your name out there quickly! 

Name: James Dixon – Director 

James Dixon Building Solutions 

Staff: 3 

Location: Wellington 

We’re small, so we’ve been able to go from job to job with limited commitments such as debt. However, there was a period where I didn’t know what we were doing the next week, but normally something would come through to keep the wheels turning. 

Those would normally be smaller jobs, which you have to work a little harder to get and you need to be a little more flexible about the type of work you’re taking on. That doesn’t mean you should reduce margins or prices though! 

We mainly work on renovations, although we’d also be keen to take on new builds, or any small studio homes – I find that work really interesting. Saying that, I don’t really know what to think about granny flats yet. The onus on shifting responsibility for sign-off to builders makes me a little nervous! 

Name: Paul Jackaman – Director 

Bathrooms Inc 

Staff: 4 

Location: Auckland 

To be honest I haven’t really experienced a downturn, we’ve been lucky. We don’t advertise much – we get a lot of word of mouth and repeat business. I think I put that down to how I like to operate. I don’t do anything in someone’s house that I wouldn’t in my own house – and that’s obviously working for us because we get a lot of repeat work!  

I don’t worry about making big profits. I enjoy what I do, and the company does ok financially, I prefer that to worrying about how to make big margins. Sometimes I don’t make a huge amount of profit on a job, but I don’t really mind. If I’m contracted to put three lights in someone’s bathroom, and I think it’ll be better with four, I just put the fourth in at no extra charge.  

In addition to that, I’ve also cut some expenditure – for example, we used to have a showroom that cost us around $100,000 a year, but that’s gone now so that’s a huge expense taken out of the business.