BUILDERS SAY COSTS ARE STILL RISING

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 October 1948, Page 2

BUILDERS SAY COSTS ARE STILL RISING

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The New Zealand Master Builders’ Federation, in a statement, claims that rather than falling, as was claimed recently by the Minister of Rehabilitation, Mr Skinner, building costs are rising. The federation says that, while it was probably a fact that some tenders received by the State Advances Corporation showed a decrease in the actual cost per foot, the square foot method of pricing is a “snare and a delusion.” The statement adds that schedules are in existence which prove a variation of up to 2s 6d a foot in State houses which are of similar design and construction, having the same amenities but showing a variation of up to 211 square feet in actual area. “It can be definitely stated,” the statement concludes, “that, rather than dropping, the overall costs of building are steadily, if slowly, rising, and, although there may have been a decrease in some lines, the actual costs kept of a standard unit indicate that since January 1 last there has been an increase of more than 2| per cent in the total cost of materials.”