Nathan Haymes from AJ's Electrical has two trades under his belt. Photo / George Novak
Nathan Haymes from AJ's Electrical has two trades under his belt. Photo / George Novak
Some builders in Tauranga have work on their books for the next two years. Other tradies also say demand for some services has soared.
But the looming recession and lack of qualified staff is putting a big dampener on business confidence.
Classic Builders director Peter Cooney said the housing market is strong at the moment. Photo / File
Classic Builders director Peter Cooney said the housing marketwas strong at the moment in Tauranga but one concern was how the economy ''is going to do over the next few years''.
Everybody was uncertain how the economy would play out, he said, but the trades were flat stick.
Tauranga Master Builders Association president Todd Grey said there was a lot of different sectors within the housing industry and some were faring better than others.
Todd Grey, president of the Tauranga Master Builders Association. Photo / File
''We've got the group housing, more bespoke, one-off architectural homes and then there is the commercial sector. I hear sales are down in the group housing and there are probably quite a few contributors to that.
''One of them I have heard of is KiwiSaver as some of the values have dropped, which means some clients haven't got enough deposit to be able to build.''
Grey, who specialises in architectural builds, said one of his jobs could last for 12 to 24 months.
''Once we get those we are quite comfortable for quite a while.''
That also meant Grey had the ability to take on more workers - he had just recruited one builder from Queenstown and another from Auckland.
''I think because they have lost their jobs they thought 'where do I really want to be?' So at the moment, there is a little bit of skilled labour but there is definitely still a shortage.''
But Grey remained hopeful for those in the industry and within the Master Builders Association.
''We work together and some guys will have too much work and can palm some off plus we get a lot of referrals and they can get paired up with those who have the capacity, so being part of an association we have that network behind us to fill in the gaps for everybody.''
Donna Williams from AJ's Electrical said they had been getting calls from other businesses asking if they had any work their tradies could do.
"It's an important time to help each other out."
She said they had been looking for both a qualified tradesperson and another apprentice for a while but had mainly received CVs from overseas.
They had seen a "100 per cent increase" in people interested in apprenticeships since the Government's Fees Free initiative came in, she said.
But they could not take another apprentice on until they had another qualified person or else they would be "outnumbered", she said.
Their calendar was looking "healthy" over the next few months because of their partnerships with building companies, she said.
Staff member Nathan Haymes had two trades under his belt and was a qualified electrician and a telecommunications technician.
The 27-year-old said he would definitely recommend the trades to others as it was a solid career pathway and ''every day is different''.
''You are always meeting new people. And there are always new concepts that you've got to learn and adapt to and overcome.''
In the future owning his own business could be on the cards or else he planned to progress into a managerial role.
Owner of Mauao Panel & Rust Repairs Zac Nicholas said they were booked out for the next two months but were not sure how the calendar may look after that.
"There's a lot of uncertainty around for everyone at the moment. It's hard to know."
Nicholas' biggest problem was finding qualified tradespeople or keen apprentices looking for work, he said.
"We are not actively hiring but we would take someone on."
He had one apprentice and was looking for another to train up.
He said the Government's apprenticeship initiatives would hopefully get more people in the panel-beating trade.
Masterlink regional manager Russell Walsh. Photo / Supplied
Masterlink regional manager Russell Walsh said it was getting increased inquiries from plumbing businesses in the region and had a couple of new apprentices starting at Bay of Plenty companies next week.
For many years only about 19 per cent of its industry has been training apprentices ''so there's now a shortage of qualified tradespeople''.
It takes up to five years to complete a plumbing, gasfitting and drainlaying apprenticeship and a few more years to become a certifying tradesperson. Drain laying alone only took two.
