Construction industry struggles with staffing and resources
A recently released report from Pacifecon is giving insight into the state of the construction industry throughout Aotearoa.
The findings of the five-page report were based off a survey that was sent out to their database, which received 440 responses. Two of the main findings were that the pipeline in New Zealand is slowing and that inflation and staffing are two of the biggest gripes the industry is battling.
Pacifecon has been reporting on and researching the nation’s commercial, residential, industrial and infrastructure projects for more than 30 years.
Their team of New Zealand-based researchers spend close to 1,000 hours each week researching what’s going on.
The survey they sent out went to a number of key stakeholders in the industry and responses were received from a variety of sectors including architects, construction companies, subcontractors and product manufacturers/ suppliers. In addition to a comment box, four key questions were asked:
• What are your biggest challenges right now
• What does your forward pipeline of work/sales look like?
• How does your pipeline compare to the same time last year?
• How have the recent weather events affected you?
The results show that the biggest concerns to those in the industry at the moment are inflation, rising costs, staffing and resources. It also shows that the forward pipeline of construction work within Aotearoa is slowing – 61% of those working in the residential sector reported having slightly less or less than half the amount of work in their pipeline compared to the same time last year. 51% of the commercial sector, 49% of the civil sector and 47% of those in industrial also reported this.
“The focus was to try and capture the current state and sentiments within the construction industry. We see that commercial and residential construction are impacted more than civil and industrial – this might be because of the differences in how long the projects last, who the customers are, and the level of confidence different sectors have,” says Philip Dawes, Research Manager for Pacifecon.
Queenstown builders aren’t quite seeing the slowdown in the pipeline of work, but are seeing the effects of rising costs. They say that in addition to the issues that the industry as a whole is facing, Queenstown is also having to deal with lack of staffing due to the accommodation problems we’re facing.
Paul Rogers from RBJ Construction reports that they have a good forward pipeline and the main challenges they’re facing are freight and rising costs – in the past 18 months or so, they’ve seen increases of 25-30%. They’ve been working in Tahuna for 35 years and feel lucky have a solid base team, so the staffing issue isn’t affecting them greatly at the moment, they have noticed colleagues facing this issue though.
“It’s hugely staff accommodation. It seems to be the challenge everybody has and it’s more going through the sub-trades trying to fill their holes and replace people such as plasterers, plumbers, and sparkies – people in those industries are finding it really hard to get staff to do the work,” says Paul.
Rob Lund at Wakatipu Builders also supports this sentiment. He doesn’t think the pipeline is slowing down in our region and while freight is an issue here, the accommodation shortage is causing bigger problems. He explained that one of the people he is working with had to rent a house as they had hired two people from Auckland who couldn’t find accommodation. This practice is becoming more commonplace and not just among the construction industry.
“I don’t think it’s slowing down – I think people might think it’s slowing down because stuff is being built slower due to us not being able to get the materials, but I think there’s still plenty of work out there at the moment. With the massive accommodation issues in Queenstown, it’s hard to get new people when they can’t find anywhere to live,” says Rob.
You can download the full report at mkt.pacifecon.co.nz
