He said there had been less work in the building industry lately, but also fewer builders to compete for it - a trend he put down to a tough regulatory environment.
"You either go along with it or get out and we decided just to get along with it," Mr van Arendonk said.
"People are scared, scared to take on all that liability, all the responsibility."
He also expressed concern that not enough young people were being trained as builders.
"It's never going to get any better than this, it's only going to get worse I think."
Master Builders' Association Rotorua chairman Bill Clement agreed the industry was being targeted by restrictive health and safety regulations which was making it harder for many to stay in the profession.
"They are legislating us out of it," Mr Clement said.
"I personally know a few guys that have got out because they can't handle it anymore."
Mr Clement believed the profession was still attractive for many young people, and claimed knowledge of a high take-up of apprenticeships provided by the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation.
"I think possibly we're losing a level of skill that was there before, but ... the way industry evolves, there's possibly people coming through to take up the slack," he said. But, Mr van Arendonk's diagnosis of his industry was not shared by some other Rotorua builders.
Martin Dobbe from Urbo Homes said a shortage of tradespeople - especially for building new homes - was inevitably driven by demand.
"Rotorua is not a boom town like Tauranga and Hamilton."
But he was confident independent builders were still looking for trained people.
"It's a positive time for people to get into it, people just need to get connected with training facilities and tradesmen."
Andrew Burton from Burton Construction believed the regulatory environment for building and construction was manageable.
"We've all got liabilities to do things properly and follow the rules," he said.
"You just have to learn the rules," he added.
