2009 Q4 Building Industry Confidence Survey Results
eboss, the online technical library for the New Zealand building industry, has conducted its quarterly survey of building industry professionals to assess confidence levels amongst the architects, architectural designers, builders, engineers, interior designers, specifiers and suppliers that comprise the New Zealand building industry. More than 175 building industry professionals representing every region of New Zealand responded to the survey.

5.  Where the work is:  Renovations keeping the industry buoyant

As reported by eboss in previous surveys, and in line with recent media reports, the single biggest type of work currently on the books for the industry is residential renovations, at 25.9%.  The biggest category overall is a mix of residential and non-residential (29.5%), followed by residential new builds (24.2%) and finally non-residential (20.5%).

Mike Flooks is not surprised by the numbers, but predicts a gradual increase in new builds in the coming months.

“People tend to stay put in recession rather than shifting and building something new. We’ve had a predominant swing toward renovations over the last year or 18 months, but over just the past four months we have seen a return of new build work to the point that we now have an even pool of residential and renovation in our own firm,” said Flooks.

“Residential renovations have been steady at 1.3 billion for three years," adds Derek Baxter. "About a year ago, changes to Schedule 1 of the Building Act freed up the amount of work needing consent.  The statistics data only calculates consented renovation work, so there’s a whole lot of unconsented work being done as well as that recorded 1.3 billion."

Download the full Building Industry Confidence report here.