Queenstown's construction industry 'volatile' with critical labour shortage

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from Otago News

From reporter Debbie Jamieson:

Queenstown’s construction industry is stuck in a volatile labour market with staff leaving New Zealand or moving to other towns, and difficulties attracting new workers.

Naylor Love Central Otago director Greg Boland said the labour shortage was a nationwide problem affecting highly skilled positions in the construction industry as much as carpenters and labourers.

It was particularly felt in Queenstown due to the high cost of living and the town being less enjoyable, with closures and queues at restaurants and bars due to worker shortages in hospitality, he said.

“People are going off to Whistler, they’re going off to Auckland. They’re going to Christchurch because they believe it’s cheaper to live there.”

Larger projects such as the new $1.4 billion Dunedin Hospital and a $683 million stadium in Christchurch would also attract people, he said.

He could easily increase his worker numbers by 10%, but there was no-one to fill the roles.

“The labour market is volatile at the moment,” he said.

There was also frustration with Immigration NZ’s handling of applications, he said.

In one instance the company applied for two separate project manager positions based in Auckland with exactly the same details and salary. One was accepted and one was declined.

Naylor Love chief executive Rick Herd, backed up Boland’s comments saying it was a struggle to get any workers, including professional people such as engineers, surveyors and project engineers.

“Some of these people are paid over $200,000 a year,” he said.

Naylor Love lost up to 12 good staff during Covid-19 due to the difficulties of getting their families into New Zealand.

“The government needs to be not only opening the door but actively encouraging them. It’s not only our industry,” he said.

Staff turnover at Naylor Love was lower than other companies as they put effort into looking after their people, he said.

However, with 10% less staff than they wanted, they had to be careful not to overcommit to projects.

“That means we turn work away and that in itself drives costs up.”

It also put strain on existing staff working to deadlines if others quit halfway through a job.

The company is working on a large project to upgrade the Skyline Terminal in Queenstown and an upgrade of Mt Aspiring College, in nearby Wānaka.

It is also signed up to work on the billion dollar Lakeview, Tamata project on Queenstown’s former Lakeview camping ground.

“The heavy part of the construction for that is really two years away so we’ll make sure we’ve not taken on other jobs.

“We’ll probably have to bring in other people from other centres,” he said.

Cook Brothers Construction business development manager Simon Glass said they were also looking for more staff.

“It’s a real mix of roles – project managers and quantity surveyors right through to builders – all trades.”

There was higher than usual turn round at the moment due to the change in seasons, he said.

Queenstown Lakes District Council chief executive Mike Theelen said the cost of housing in the district was one of its biggest challenges.

The Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust had about 700 households on its waiting list.

Kāinga Ora had only 12 social housing units in the district.

The district had the highest average house cost in New Zealand at $1.7m but a below average per-person income of around $52,000.

It also had the fourth-highest building consent numbers in the country but was serving a wider New Zealand and Australasian market, he said.

Recent figures showed about 40% of all new house builds in Wānaka were for holiday homes, he said.