Rates go up, but hardest task is to find builder

By JULIET ROWAN

The best place to live if you need a builder: Palmerston North.

The city has come out tops for cheap builders in a Consumer magazine survey of trade rates.

Builders there charge between $28 and $41 an hour (including GST), the survey found.

In Auckland, rates run from $32 an hour to $51.

Wellington is the most expensive across the board, with rates ranging from $39 to $51 an hour.

Consumer reveals how builders, painters, plumbers and other tradespeople have been riding the wave of a building boom where demand has far outstripped supply.

Statistics NZ figures show building consents are at a 30-year high.

Growth is strongest in Auckland and Wellington.

Consumer's survey of more than 1000 companies in 18 centres found that builders now earn an average $39 an hour, up 21 per cent from the last trade-rates survey by the magazine in 2001.

By contrast, inflation rose just 6.8 per cent over the three years.

Plumbers' rates jumped 16 per cent, from $45 an hour to $52.

In Wellington, the most expensive plumber located by the survey commands $73 an hour.

But Consumer says people are happy to pay. "It's so hard to get a good builder, plumber or electrician these days - they're all so busy - that most people are more concerned about keeping them on the job than how much they cost."

The magazine attributes the rising hourly rates to a scarcity of skilled labour, and the Master Builders Federation backs that up.

Chief executive Chris Preston said the shortage of qualified tradespeople was still apparent in the building sector.

In two years, the number of apprentice carpenters had nearly doubled to almost 7000.

"The industry is still short of the number it needs."

Mr Preston said prices had been rising steadily because of demand, and the time it was taking to complete a house was lengthening.

Ten years ago, the average house would be finished in three months. Now it takes about five months.

Although qualified carpenters on the big jobs remained scarce, there had also been an increase in demand for specialist firms for smaller one-off jobs, such as renovations.

He said there had been solid demand for companies such as Hire-A-Hubby, which employed tradespeople but might be more "nimble" and have fewer overheads.

Mr Preston said the key for the industry was to get into schools and promote the building trade as a strong career option.

Tradespeople have also had to shoulder a 10 per cent increase in building costs in the past year.

Also surveyed were mechanics. The cheapest - $39 an hour - were in Rotorua, Nelson and Westland, while in New Plymouth and Palmerston North, charges had reached $79 an hour. The tradespeople surveyed were all listed in the Yellow Pages.

The highest prices for repair services for whiteware, computers and televisions fell from 2001 and the lowest prices rose, suggesting there were fewer small, independent repair shops. Some repairers said demand had dropped because people were choosing to replace cheap appliances.

Builders' rates

Whangarei $30-$45/h

Auckland $32-$51

Hamilton $37-$48

Tauranga $32-$39

Wellington $39-$51

Christchurch $34-$45

Dunedin $31-$45

* Consumer magazine