Builders find business somewhat patchy

Press, 20 May 1981, Page 10

Builders find business somewhat patchy

While business is good for some : members of the Canterbury Master Builders’ Association,, others are still inactive, according to Mr B. J. Phillips, the association’s past president. Some‘members said that' they were busier than in the mid-19705; These employed up to five people and were engaged in medium to highcost- alterations, maintenance, and light. commercial work, Mr Phillips said yesterday. ' However, there was - little movement in .low-cost housing and heavier commercial building, in which . most members were employed, he said; In the last month, or.so, there had been newspaper advertisements ... for carpenters after, an absence. for several years. Ttie demand for carpenters reflected the needs of. the private sector,; for renovations, extensions,and new homes.

There was no sign of improvement in Canterbury for those in low cost housing and commercial work, however, and work-: and staff levels were still falling. Many firms had only skeleton staffs and some were planning to close, the cost- of redundancies being a factor delaying their shutdown,-Mr. Phillips said., Limited funds were, available from the .Housing Corporation Toe renovations and low-cost housing, and he suspected, that the value of renovations : on corporation loans had diminished over the last few months. . Unless there were immediate mbves to fget more big projects in Canterbury’s public and private sectors out to tender, -even more of the province’s -labour pool would be siphoned off overseas and ■ into big energy projects on the- Government’s “fast track.” :: • ■ • If the ..trend continued, unskilled and semi-skilled people would move - into the.

building industry to fill the gap. Because they were less practised, the consumer would be faced with greater costs, said Mr Phillips. There would be an addi- ■ tional cost to the community if the main contractors, in the major projects, many of whom ~ Came from overseas, negotiated-wage agreements with thefuhidns without other interested - parties being involved;' Because-these contractors- were competing for an already -depleted labour pool, higher wages might be paid, and, the cost of building work in the community would rise as, well, compounding the already serious inflation rate within the industry. Mr Phillips said that he . ' was not sure yet whether builders < and,.- carpenters forking on., the;. projects would' receive higher wages than in the; community at present because’ negotiations were not being made public.