800 STATE HOUSES IN SIGHT

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 173, 19 April 1937, Page 10

800 STATE HOUSES IN SIGHT

Progress of Scheme

FIRST CONTRACT LET FOR DUNEDIN

Palmerston North and Wanganui Next

Activity on the State housing scheme is brisk and extensive. Approximately 800 houses are already in view, with construction provided for under several contracts in the four main centres, and tenders will be called this month for similar dwellings in secondary towns. The demand is such as to make it obvious to the authorities tliat as many more will have to be built in the cities alone before it ean be said that the housing shortage is less thap acute. Costs of building, so far, notwithstanding all-round increases in wages and prices, are working out at rather less than £1 per square foot. Although no official statement has yet been made, it is gathered that the rent of a four-roomed house will be about 25/- a week. This, on a comparative basis, will mean to the tenant a saving of at least 11/weekly.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister of Finance, Mr J. A. Lee. who is carrying out the administrative work on the Government s housing scheme, said on Saturday in an interview with “The Dominion that a contract had bien let for the construction of the initial group of some 50 houses in Dunedin. The successful tender was that of the Love Construction Company, and the price compared favourably with the costs of contracts in the other centres.

Test of Tendering Methods.

There had been some delay over the Dunedin scheme, Mr. Lee explained, but this was entirely due to building contractors themselves. The Government had agreed to adopt a procedure in calling for tenders in Dunedin so as to test the methods of tendering suggested by various builders who had assured the Department of Housing that it would be preferable for contractors to take out quantities themselves, instead of submitting tenders on the data supplied by the department, as was done for the Wellington and Auckland contracts. The builders contended that if their methods were adopted, many more tenders would be received at much better prices for the Government. “This advantage to the State, however, lias not been proved,” said Mr. Lee. ' “We had scarcely taken steps to advertise the first group of houses in Dunedin before we had a large number of requests for delay on the plea that each contractor had to extract his own quantities. The successful construction company had made its own quantity survey before tendering, and its tender, the lowest submitted, compares favourably with others received throughout New. Zealand. There is no doubt that the number of tenders was kept down and not increased by the procedure adopted in Dunedin. However, quantities will be made available to '• builders in dealing with further contracts in the large centres.” New Type of Small Houses. Mr. Lee mentioned that the Dunedin tontract included an experiment in the building of a double-unit house under the one roof, but so constructed as to appear externally as a single unit. In other words, two small houses would thus be provided, each with three rooms, but with a dear front, and no visible dividing wall; This type of; house would lie tried out with a view io meeting the residential needs of childless married people and elderly couples. Unfortunately a separate tender had not been called for this type of double-unit house, and it would be some time before the actual cost of building could be determined. Obviously, the subsequent rental value of each small house in the double unit would be much less than the rent of a. single-unit dwelling. Variation in Costs. Discussing prices, Mr. Lee said that building costs varied as between towns, this being one of the reasons why initial prices of the different contracts had not been disclosed. Reliable information in the hands of the Housing Department several months ago gave convincing evidence that building costs were Jess as a mile in Christchurch and Dunedin than in Auckland and Wellington. In the south, however, particularly in Dunedin, many of the basic materials were available at much lower cost than in the other centres. Experience had shown that the cost of construction of houses in Hie Lower Hutt district would work out at about 19/8 a square foot. The cheapest house would cost £B5O and the most expensive typo about £l3OO. Without going, into detail. Mr. Lee made it clear that the demand for State houses was such that construction would have to be extended, not only in the main cities, but also in the secondary towns. It was hoped to call tenders this week for the building of houses >'< Palmerton North and Wanganui. Land had been acquired in other places all over New Zealand, and plans would be in hand soon for the construction of a group of houses in Hastings, where very suitable areas had been secured 'by the Government. Lt was already obvious that within a few months many more houses would have to be provided. Auckland, for instance. would require at least an additional 200. Wellington’s need was no loss great, while Christchurch and Dunedin also would require many more than the numbers for the building of vhieh provision had been made. Prospective Rents. No official information is yet available as to Ihe rents to be charged for the houses now under construction, but it is certain that these will be much lower than the rentals for similar houses built under the State Advances scheme. It has been pointed out that for a £l2OO house built with a loan at I 1-8 per cent, for 35 years it costs the occupant £l/10/9 a week. The rents of Imuses being constructed by the State Housing Department will not run to anything like that, oven allowing for ‘he marked increase in building costs. In the absence of official information, it may he recalled that when Mr. Lee recently addressed some °OOO citizens in the Auckland Town Hall, ho mentioned fhur tin' weekly rent of a fourroomed house in I lie Government’s scheme would be slightly in excess of a day’s wages for a carpenter employed on building the houses. Carpenters at.

Miramar probably are peing paid not less than 2/9 an hour, plus 'mif an hour’s I ravelling lime. On this basis if seems very likely Hint the rent of a four-roomed house will be 20/ a week, which is the rate a large number of people have to pay for one-roomed and two-roomed “flats” iu Wellington.