Cost of house building in NZ?

[sAsLEX]

Its because all of us builders want to drive porsches... Yeah right, I'm dreaming again.

Plumber in Auckland has a Bently as his work van......

[JimO]

Plumber in Auckland has a Bently as his work van......

he made his money in britan.........regarding consents it takes 8 weeks to get a consent in Dunedin at the moment,(ODT yesterday) i was talking to a builder yesterday who said after waiting 7 weeks he rang the council about a fire damaged house he was reinstating to be told that his consent will be through next week he said thats good but im ready for the first inspection now

[Winston001]

...regarding consents it takes 8 weeks to get a consent in Dunedin at the moment,(ODT yesterday) i was talking to a builder yesterday who said after waiting 7 weeks he rang the council about a fire damaged house he was reinstating to be told that his consent will be through next week he said thats good but im ready for the first inspection now

Yeah councils are up against it at the moment. New building regs and not enough inspectors. I understand that a lot have retired in the past 5 years because of the leaky homes stress and demands from homeowners. It just ain't a popular job.

Other inspectors have left to go building themselves. Plenty of work, not dealing with a hundred angry/frustrated builders etc etc.

[peasea]

Its because all of us builders want to drive porsches... Yeah right, I'm dreaming again.
Lets not forget excessive and prohibitive compliance costs, beaurocratic bungling, and NZers general inability to plan beyond a week in advance with any accuracy when it comes to construction.
Oh, and materials cost a hell of a lot here!

Bravo! Resource consents, council fees, permit costs, Carter Holt Harvey being greedy bastards, the list goes on. You can build houses for reasonable money but you don't get much more than a 3brm box. Then you have to put it somewhere and if you're anywhere between the Bombay Hills and the Brynderwyns you're very likely to get stiched up for a poket-handkerchief sized section.

I'm getting out of Auckland altogether and I'm advising my children to do the same.

[Kwaka14]

hi costs = fletchers own every thing to do with building supplys

Actually it's more like CHH now....

[xwhatsit]

While I lived in Brisbane the family built a house. Not ourselves, mind -- hired somebody to do it.

Anyhow, it was dirt cheap. Ridiculously so. The reason being as has been stated already; just pour a big concrete slab, stick some prefab wooden structure up, then the bricklayers come in and lay down a single layer of bricks on the outside. Far more simple over there.

The biggest factor, though, I think is economies of scale and competition. Brisbane, and many other parts of Australia, is undergoing rapid expansion and has been for years. Subdivisions seem to go up overnight. As a result, you've got building companies by the bucket-load, and stiff competition between them. In NZ (well Auckland at least) nobody builds much, they tend to buy an existing house. Sometimes people hire builders to do work on existing houses.

So you've got a much smaller pool of builders. That's self-explanatory, don't need to iterate the higher costs you get in a situation like that.

[spookytooth]

Actually it's more like CHH now.... Ok i will start hating them instead thanks :P

[SPman]

While I lived in Brisbane the family built a house. Not ourselves, mind -- hired somebody to do it.

Anyhow, it was dirt cheap. Ridiculously so. The reason being as has been stated already; just pour a big concrete slab, stick some prefab wooden structure up, then the bricklayers come in and lay down a single layer of bricks on the outside. Far more simple over there.

The biggest factor, though, I think is economies of scale and competition. Brisbane, and many other parts of Australia, is undergoing rapid expansion and has been for years. Subdivisions seem to go up overnight. As a result, you've got building companies by the bucket-load, and stiff competition between them. In NZ (well Auckland at least) nobody builds much, they tend to buy an existing house. Sometimes people hire builders to do work on existing houses.

So you've got a much smaller pool of builders. That's self-explanatory, don't need to iterate the higher costs you get in a situation like that.

In Perth - lots of building companies, double brick construction on a concrete slab on a sand pad!, - they make bricks in Perth (Midland),so its almost the last bastion of this style of construction. About half the houses have steel roof trusses and any internal framing is usually steel. Cost's are around $1300/m2 for a 180m2 house of "good" quality. There is a major use of specialist subtrades over here.
As an ex NZ building inspector, just walking around, a lot of the houses are as crappily built as in NZ and, if they ever have another earthquake down on the plains, I wouldn't want to be in any of the houses. There are virtually no inspections - the builders have to be licensed to do work over $12,000 in value, unless you are building your own home, in which case they have what they call an "owner/builders license. A permit is required for everything though - in NZ, there are things you can build without a permit. I think the theory for no inspections is, that if you are an owner builder, it's your house and you wouldnt want it to fall down, and the registered builders can be prosecuted and possibly lose their licenses, if they build a shoddy house!
Builders generally earn more over here.
NZ is stymied by exorbitant pricing of materials under the excuse of "small market" It has been possible to by NZ sourced timber over here for 1/2 to 2/3rds the price it sells in NZ, for years. Plasterboard is kept artificially high to protect Winstones Gib board - importers have to pay a large duty to bring it in, which sees the cost at twice what it is in Aus.
CHH and co have got the consumers over a barrel.
Compliance costs have become ludicrous, but won't get any less, because the councils are required to implement the laws set down by the Gov. - and it costs! Auckland City inspection division just breaks even - the only dept that comes near! Land costs are even worse, but the same situation has developed over here - unless you want to live 100k out of town, like I do.

[peasea]

In Perth - lots of building companies, double brick construction on a concrete slab on a sand pad!, - they make bricks in Perth (Midland),so its almost the last bastion of this style of construction. About half the houses have steel roof trusses and any internal framing is usually steel. Cost's are around $1300/m2 for a 180m2 house of "good" quality. There is a major use of specialist subtrades over here.
As an ex NZ building inspector, just walking around, a lot of the houses are as crappily built as in NZ and, if they ever have another earthquake down on the plains, I wouldn't want to be in any of the houses. There are virtually no inspections - the builders have to be licensed to do work over $12,000 in value, unless you are building your own home, in which case they have what they call an "owner/builders license. A permit is required for everything though - in NZ, there are things you can build without a permit. I think the theory for no inspections is, that if you are an owner builder, it's your house and you wouldnt want it to fall down, and the registered builders can be prosecuted and possibly lose their licenses, if they build a shoddy house!
Builders generally earn more over here.
NZ is stymied by exorbitant pricing of materials under the excuse of "small market" It has been possible to by NZ sourced timber over here for 1/2 to 2/3rds the price it sells in NZ, for years. Plasterboard is kept artificially high to protect Winstones Gib board - importers have to pay a large duty to bring it in, which sees the cost at twice what it is in Aus.
CHH and co have got the consumers over a barrel.
Compliance costs have become ludicrous, but won't get any less, because the councils are required to implement the laws set down by the Gov. - and it costs! Auckland City inspection division just breaks even - the only dept that comes near! Land costs are even worse, but the same situation has developed over here - unless you want to live 100k out of town, like I do.

Thanks for insight into the Ozzie scene, thought I was right about CHH, kiwis stitching up kiwis really sucks.