How busy is the building trade?

Press, 28 May 1981, Page 12

How busy is the building trade?

In Residence

Bronwen Jones

PROPERTY REPORTER

Building permit records issued by local councils are used as'activity indicators by building industry observers, including the news media. Unless the facts and 'figures are analysed correctly, however, any' comparisons made are misleading. Only 42 per cent to 45 per cent of the work for which permits are issued in metropolitan Christchurch is done by builders and carpenters, according to analyses made by the Canterbury Master Builders’ Association.

Permits are required for work such as installing space heaters, pot-bellied stoves, spa pools and swimming pools, demolishing buildings, putting up sheds and glasshouses, and for cladding houses with stone. But builders and carpenters do not do this type of work.

Most of this work, like reroofing and garage building, is done by specialist, groups. “Do-it-yourselfers” do some of it too, and a few even ■carry out major alterations and build their own houses.

For example, although the most expensive, work for which permits were issued in Waimairi County last month ■went to builders and carpenters, only 97 of the total 212 permits created work, for them.

The 212 permits included 44 for the installation of heaters and fireplaces, 38 for garages and 17 for sheds, glasshouses and carports.

Of the 97 permits which Created work for builders and carpenters. 42 were for new houses, 33 were for alterations and additions, five were for flats in blocks

of two, and 17 were for commercial work.

Meaningful comparisons of the total monthly permit figures can be made to gauge the amount of work available for building tradesmen only if the proportion of permits representing their work remains around the same percentage of the total. The quest for-accuracy can also be obstructed by the amount of builder-carpenter work done by "handymen.” Sorting these from the

tradesmen can be. difficult when examining the permit lists, but the councils’ building inspectors and the local master builders’ association are able to do this because they are familiar with the names of the tradesmen operating in their area.

In addition, at least one newspaper has been guilty of leaving out flat permits when comparing the lists to show how many new homes arc being built. Ncarlv all the blocks built

arc sold singly as ownership flats, and these provide homes for three important sections of the market.--young couples, solo parents, and elderly people. Permit lists analysed by the Canterbury Master Builders’ Association show a steady improvement for house's and flats since a drop in October, 1979. when the Housing Corporation tightened its purse strings.. The average number of house and flat permits for the area since March. 1980, is now 89, compared with an average of 60 between Alarch and October. 1979.

Although most of the total permits for work involving carpenters and builders has been issued by the Christchurch City Council in the last seven months, Waimairi County has led

with the highest number of dwellings. The average increase in dwellings for Christchurch city has been 26 houses and flats per month since last October, while the average for Waimairi County has been 39.

This may sound good for the building industry, but business is patchy, according to the association's immediate past president, Mr Brian Phillips. Builders employing up to five people and engaged in medium-to high-cost housing, alterations, maintenance and light commercial work say they are busier now than in the mid-19705.

But there is little movement in low-cost housing and heavier commercial building, where most members are employed, he says.