Photo: 123RF
Builders affected by the economic downturn have gone from turning away work, to fighting for jobs.
But the sector says a snappier start to 2025 signals a positive shift in the market, and if you have a building project now's the time to pull the trigger - especially in Wellington.
After 12 months of struggling to survive Wellington builders were cautiously optimistic for the year ahead with a spike in inquiries in January.
Master Builder's chief executive Ankit Sharma said there was no doubt that last year was tough for the industry, which saw building activity fall off a cliff, and record numbers of liquidations.
Stats NZ data published on Tuesday showed new home consents were down almost 10 percent nationwide in the year to December 2024.
While Wellington had one of higher numbers in the country, with 1833 new homes consented, it was still a drop of 24 percent on the year before.
Sharma said Wellington would likely recover more slowly than other centres due to higher levels of job losses, but said reports at the grassroots level were indicative of a turning tide.
He said homeowners should capitalise on the current market conditions - stabilising material costs and quality builders looking for work.
"Generally in Wellington it's hard to find good builders, because they're always busy with projects.
"It's actually a good time to secure a really good builder because they're actually looking for work, it's quite a significant shift.
"So, if you have the ability to get funds and you're looking to do a project ... [it's] a really good time to plan a building project now."
Just surviving an achievement - builder
For Wellington-based builder Digby Tattle, the past 12 months were easily the toughest since going out on his own - merely surviving was an achievement.
He said the after years of consistent growth all of a sudden the tap turned off with the scarcity of work triggering a fierce race to the bottom.
"Every job I was pricing there were three or four other builders I was competing with. It got to a point on a few jobs where I couldn't actually go any lower."
He said fortunately a couple of lucky bounces kept his New Digs crew of seven going, but without family support he might have buckled under the stress of scrabbling for work.
"When you're seeing all these numbers and work's getting tight you can lose hair, for sure.
"There were a lot of times where I look back and go 'shit, we're lucky we got signed', God knows what we would be doing otherwise."
Owner of architectural design firm Abode Architecture, Nate McGimpsey, saw the writing on the wall as early as 2022.
He said with the skyrocketing cost to build - a 41 percent rise since 2019 - he knew the boom times were coming to an end.
"I was experiencing a lot less inquiry and I'd tell these builders, but they'd just be under the pump and didn't seem to take much notice.
"But I've been talking to them recently and they're like, 'man, I remember you saying it's getting really quiet and now I'm scratching around. Do you have any jobs?'"
He said the past two years had been characterised by piecemeal jobs and a shrinking team, dropping from a staff of five to two.
Having worked for years as a builder before going into design, he said economic downturns were particularly hard on tradies.
"It's just disappointing you spend all this time trying to scale up and build something and then the rug's almost pulled out from under your feet and you're squabbling and scrapping over really small meagre jobs, just trying to last y'know, survive."
Lessons learned in lean times
Resolute Construction owner Hayden Nation said reputation and relationships were key to survival when the work died off.
"A good name goes a long way. We never really had to go and look for work pre-Covid or even just after Covid - the work just turned up.
"We got a bit caught out when the tap got turned off. You had to get out there and find the work - it was a bit of a shift."
He said 'bitsy jobs' were enough to keep his team of 10 afloat after the new-build work dried up, but plenty of quotes went nowhere.
"We've had jobs fall through, sometimes through finance. There was one where they lost their job, they were public servants, so that one fell over last minute."
Kinley Plus plumbing specialist Cole Leary said he saw many tradies burned by conservative lending - which "can be pretty devastating" after finalising a quote - and has since changed the way he operates.
"Budget is front of mind. Before we spend too much time, we try and get numbers together to make sure the client is comfortable and on a lot of projects we require proof of finance, the bank will provide a statement saying there are funds available."
Cautious optimism after snappy start to 2025
Master Builders chief executive Ankit Sharma said while quotes weren't converting into sales as quickly, a spike in inquiries last month showed the sector was recovering - a feeling shared by those on the ground.
Plumber Cole Leary said his team was flat out with a much busier January than usual, while builder Hayden Nation said people were coming out of the woodwork asking about jobs he'd quoted years ago.
"They're coming back and inquiring again so that's probably a sign that things are starting to turn in the right direction for us."
Meanwhile, Digby Tattle said he wasn't going to count his chickens, but said after signing enough work for the next six months, finally took a break over Christmas.
"I could actually sit down on the beach and enjoy a beer and since we've started back we've had huge amounts of inquiry.
"It's really picked up. It's a really nice feeling to start the year as busy as we are."
